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16 July, Şanliurfa
Otel Urhay 75TL (breakfast included)

Harran, south of Şanliurfa, is one of the oldest continuously-inhabited places on earth, is mentioned in Genesis as the 1900BC home of Abraham, and is the site of the first Islamic university. But it was to see the beehive houses we took the local bus this morning. The design of these homes may date to the third century BC, but the current examples were built around 200 years ago using bricks from ancient Harran ruins. The village is poor and dusty, the inhabitants predominantly Arab (as opposed to Turk), the pace slow. We were particularly taken with the family beds built of metal around 1.5m above the ground and accessed by a ladder for outdoor summer sleeping. This evening we visited Göbekli Tepe, a series of concentric stone circles constructed 12,000 years ago by nomadic hunter-gatherers. Still being excavated, Göbekli Tepe predates Stonehenge by 6-7000 years and is the oldest man-made place of worship yet discovered. The stones weigh 10 to 50 tonnes each, vary in height from 3 to 6 metres, are carved with animal and human images, and stand upright on specially flattened bed-rock. Quite something to see. 

Harran
Harran
Harran
Harran
Harran
Harran
Harran
Harran
Harran
Harran
Harran - family outdoor bed
Harran - family outdoor bed
Harran
Harran
Göbekli Tepe
Göbekli Tepe
Göbekli Tepe
Göbekli Tepe
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