Vocalchemy: Southeast Turkey-Mardin 土耳其東南山城Mardin

To go to Mardin from Ankara, it take 16 Hrs by bus so we took a flight instead (92TL, but if we bought earlier it would be 69 TL and only 1.5 hours). --Turkish airline offers a lot of campaigns.Mardin (

Ottoman Turkish: ماردين, Mardīn, Kurdish: Mêrdîn, Syriac: ܡܪܕܝܢ‎) is a city in southeastern Turkey. The capital of Mardin Province, it is known for its Arabic-like architecture, and for its strategic location on a rocky mountain overlooking the plains of northern Syria.

The name of the city is derived from the

Syriac-Aramaic word "ܡܪܕܐ" meaning fortress. Most Syriac Orthodox churches and monasteries in the city were built on ancient Assyrian-Babylonian temple sites and some are still active today. The Syriac Orthodox Saffron Monastery was founded in 439 AD and is one of the oldest monasteries in the world and the only one that is still functioning in southern Turkey. From 1160 until 1932, it was the seat of the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch, until the Patriarchate relocated to the Syrian capital Damascus. The site of the monastery itself is said to have been used as a temple by sun worshipers as long ago as 2000 BC.Mardin is likely the Maride and Marida of the Greeks and Romans. Another important church, Kırklar Kilisesi (Church of the 40 Martyrs), originally built in the name of Behnam and Saro, the two sons of the Assyrian ruler who executed them because they chose to become Christian, dates from 569 AD, and even during its use as a capital by the Artukid Turkishdynasty which ruled Eastern Anatolia and Northern Mesopotamia between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. The 12th century Sitti Radviyye Madrasa, the oldest of its kind in Anatolia, dates from this period.

The lands of the Artukid dynasty fell to the Mongols sometime between 1235 and 1243, but the Mongols never directly governed the area. The Artukid family ruling Mardin became vassal state of the Mongol Empire.^[4] During the battle of Ain Jalut in 1260, the Artuqid ruler revolted against the Mongol rule. Hulegu's general and Chupan's ancestor, Koke-Ilge of the Jalayir, stormed the city and Hulegu appointed the rebel's son, al-Nasir, governor of Mardin. Although, Hulegu suspected the latter's loyalty for a while, thereafter the Artukids remained loyal unlike nomadic Bedoun and Kurd tribes in the south western frontier. The Mongol Ilkhanids considered them important allies. For this loyalty they shown, Artukids were given more lands in 1298 and 1304. Mardin was later controlled by the Turkic tribes who came from Central Asia Akkoyunlu kingdom. The Kasımiye Madrasa was built by Sultan Kasım, son of the Akkoyunlu Sultan Cihangir, between 1457 and 1502. In 1517, Mardin was conquered by Ottoman Turks. During 1915-1916, Arab, Assyrian/Syriacand Armenian Christians of all denominations were massacred or driven away.After the genocide in 1916, the Christian survivors fled mostly south to Syria and Iraq. The most common destination was either Al-Kamishli or Al-Hasaka, Syria; there is even a Mardin Club in Detroit, MI today.

The Mardin airport is smaller than the restaurant in my university :D

walk out from the airport and parking lot to reach the big street where you take a dolmus (minibus) to Yenisehir (New City) It costs 2 TL and takes 30 min.

When you arrive at new city, stop at "Belediye" (city hall) busstop to see Hotel Bilen. It's 50TL/person and 110 for each (since we went in low season, I bargained for 30 TL/each person including breakfast). The rooms are clean and large, and you can even swim or have a Turkish Bath) There are bus companies beside this hotel that operate buses to other cities like Urfa (3 Hrs, 25 TL) so we compared 2 companies for good timing (8AM next day). Then we took a blue bus 1TL to go to old city (eskisehir).

In the old city, Mesopotamian plain is visible everywhere.

Mother Mary Church looking at the museum, the building has been constructed by Antakya patriarch İgnatios Behnam Banni as Syrian catholic patriarchate.

Mardin Museum
The museum has three floors:

on the first floor; reception, conference, exhibition and resting halls,

on the second floor; ethnography exhibition hall, library and work warehouses;

on the third floor; halls where some works obtained from Girnevas Tumulus excavation and archaeological works provided to the museum by purchase are exhibited and administrative sections are located.

The works in the museum are works belonging to the period between 4000 BC and (the) 7th century BC. In the archaeological halls, slabs, cylindrical and stamp seals, cult pots, figurines, metal awls, Jewellery, ceramics, golden, silver and copper coins, tear bottles and candles belonging to the Old Bronze, Asyrrian, Urartu, Greek, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Grand Seljuk, Artuklu and Ottoman periods are exhibited.

In the ethnography hall, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, anklets, diadems, hair Jewellery, which are elite samples of silver ornamenting special to Mardin and its surroundings, especially to Midyat District and besides them old clothes, swords, coffee (mırra) sets, bath goods, prayer beads, heating tools and copper goods are exhibited.

this is a primary school

Next, we went up the hill to see Zinciriye Medresesi, dating from 1385, where you can see spectacular view of the city and the Mardin Castle.

For lunch, we went to Mardin Eye with a terrace located across the Zinciriye. We ordered Mardin local dish semburek (the bread) and ırok (the meatball).

Mardin was rich for gold.

Ulu mosque

Alaaddin Mosque

Kirklar Kilisesi(Chuch of the 40 Martyrs) Syrian Orthodox church built in 6th century

In the afternoon, we walked about 20 min to Kasimiye medresesi (Built in 1469, two domes stand over the tombs of Kasım Paşa and his sister, but the highlights are the sublime courtyard walled with arched colonnades and the magnificent carved doorway. Upstairs, you can see the students' quarters, before ascending the stairs to the rooftop for another great Mardin panorama. It's 800m south of Yeni Yol.)