Cycling through Mesopotamia

Mustafa spoilt us with a huge and very delicious breakfast this morning - Kurdish style on the floor. Then we left to discover more of the Mesopotamia region. Our first stop was Hasankeyf. Until February this year, Hasankeyf was an impressive site of cultural importance with an old castle, cave houses and ancient mosques. However, the current Gouverneur built a dam and flooded the area, so that about 90% of Hasankeyf is under water now. They saved the mausoleo and are rebuilding some other buildings like the old bridge in a cultural park. They also built many new look-alike houses for the population. All of "new Hasankeyf" appears more like a ghost town and it's difficult to imagine how it looked before. It's really sad this formerly impressive site got destroyed!
After Hasankeyf, we had to climb up the mountains again. Herbert suddenly had a flat tyre - caused by his favourite metal pieces. He had to repair it straight away as the hole was quite big.
Then we rolled into Midyat where we found a hotel. They told us they won't have electricity until tomorrow, so we got a very good price for the room. Exploring Midyat was fun as it's very different from other cities here in Turkey. It has a Christian origin with current Arab and Kurdish influences. The ancient houses are very cool, especially the ornaments, and walking around the small streets was good fun. Food is delicious here with all the Arab spices used. And you can also get some nice wines that are special in this region.Weiterlesen