Harran

As we journeyed east the weather became hotter and hotter and the landscape more arid. Typical biblical landscapes arrived: dry, rocky, mountainous, scrubby bushes and lonely goatherds. We stopped for the night in a forest park outside Gaziantep and drove on. As the landscape became more hostile the roadside truck stops became more welcoming: huge wooden tented buildings, with cool shaded veranda occupied by truckers drinking cay and eating aci kebab, picnic alani under the eucalyptus trees, pitstop barbers, ugly garden ornaments for sale and ten lira tepid showers welcomed us. The smell of ev yemek beckoning us in. We went first to Harran, avoiding desperate tour guides attempting to show us around. Harran is
famous for Abraham having stayed there on his pilgrimage to Mecca but little was made of this. It is also famous for having the First eighth century Islamic university.
It was disappointingly all closed and fenced off with no sign of any archaeology or restoration. As we drove the campervan through the dusty streets inside the walled city, the most interesting sight you can engage with are the beehive houses, traditional houses consisting of a series of inter joining square but conical roofed houses.Read more