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CITY GUIDE / 14 discovery ideas

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Şanlıurfa.

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1. History · Haliliye

   Tour Göbeklitepe

   Witness history being rewritten at the world's oldest temple complex, 12,000 years old, with its T-shaped totems — and photograph it.

2. City discovery

   Lahmacun

   Try lahmacun — and photograph it.

3. History · Haliliye

   Visit Karahantepe

   Tour the T-pillar site, the sister of Göbeklitepe with new discoveries, while it's still uncrowded — and photograph it.

4. Nature

   Visit Tek Tek Mountains National Park

   Visit Tek Tek Mountains National Park in Sanliurfa — and photograph it.

5. Food · Eyyübiye

   Eat çiğ köfte in its homeland in Urfa

   Eat çiğ köfte — kneaded with bulgur instead of meat and flavored with isot — in a traditional home setting — and photograph it.

6. Culture & art

   Explore the Euphrates River

   Explore the Euphrates River in Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia — and photograph it.

7. Food · Eyyübiye

   Find isot drying on a Şanlıurfa roof

   Urfa's own pepper is sweated under cloth on flat roofs for days until it goes almost black and turns oily — that is what gives half the city's food its colour and its slow heat. Find a roof laid out with it — and photograph it.

8. History · Harran

   See the conical beehive houses in Harran

   The domes of Harran’s beehive houses reused bricks collected from the ancient ruins. The surviving houses are much younger than the millennia-old town; their domes rise through brick courses that step inward. In a house open to visitors, ask permission to examine and photograph the dome narrowing overhead.

   Story and sources →
9. Culture & art · Eyyübiye

   Go to a cave concert in Şanlıurfa

   Listen to Urfa music in cave-concert acoustics at venues such as the Şanlıurfa Music Academy — and photograph it.

10. Culture & art · Eyyübiye

    Hear the legend of Abraham at Balıklıgöl

    Feed the sacred fish; tie it together with the Halil-ür Rahman and Rızvaniye mosques around the lake — and photograph it.

11. Culture & art · Halfeti

    Boat the sunken town and see the black rose in Halfeti

    Pass beside the minaret of old Halfeti, submerged under the dam waters; see the black rose grown only here — and photograph it.

12. Culture & art · Haliliye

    Join a 'sıra gecesi' (turn night) in Urfa

    Spend an evening with traditional music and conversation at a sıra gecesi, with mırra coffee served — and photograph it.

13. City discovery · Eyyübiye

    GAP tour (Şanlıurfa-Gaziantep-Mardin-Diyarbakır)

    Do the Southeast's ancient-history-and-food triangle in turn over 7-10 days — and photograph it.

14. Culture & art

    Hike Abraham’s Path in Sanliurfa

    Hike Abraham’s Path between Sanliurfa, Harran, and Gobeklitepe — and photograph it.