Day 11
Today was going to be a mixed day with a visit to another place of pilgrimage for all Muslims and also a visit to an old Turkish friend who lived on the Euphrates.
To begin with we traveled back for 100km's to ŞANLIURFA better known to us as just URFA to visit the BALIKLI GÖL, in the same location is the Kale (castle) and also the local market place. The major industry here is Pistachio nuts so everywhere we drove we saw pistachio trees away to the horizon.
The Balıklı Göl is an artificial lake situated next to a mosque and it is believed that Abraham, the father of prophets, was born in Şanlıurfa, whose citadel and Lake Balik were the scene of his struggle with Nimrod and casting into the flames. Abraham is recognized as a prophet by the Jews, Christians and Muslims, so that as his birthplace Şanlıurfa is considered holy by adherents to all three faiths.
The castle overlooks the grounds where the mosque and lakes are situated and from the gardens we wondered into the çarşı (market) and spent some time wondering around looking at the various tourist items that are mixed with the everyday needs such as hand made digging tools and clothes.
From here we headed back to Biricek and detoured to see the Syrian border. We could have driven south at any time as the border runs parallel with the main road from Urfa to Biricek, but in Biricek it was the closest. We drove along a single lane road through several small villages passing the Biricek Barage (Dam) which gave us a view of thousands of birds on the man made lake. Then we reached KARKAMIŞ which is a railway station town on the border between Turkey and Syria.
Everyone around was friendly even the president of Syria smiled down on us.
We then returned to Biricek and headed for a meeting with an old fried who lives in Halfeti, Halfeti is a village on the Euphrates that was partially covered by water when the dam was built. Many of the buildings are lost under the water including the local school. We spent the rest of the day with him and his family enjoying a great home cooked meal as well as looking around the half sunken mosque in Halfeti. Pete climbed up to the top of the minaret and has asked me not to tell everyone that he had to come down the steep steps on his bum, so I wont. Muço (my friend) used to be the local school teacher, he proudly showed us his latest find, the school record book from 1880, of course, all in Ottoman Arabic script but also with photographs of the now long gone students.
Later that night, we returned to the hotel, full to the brim and, as we intend to leave early in the morning and get some miles in on our return to Akbük we crashed out immediately.
Akbuk Turkey .com
The Independent website about Akbuk in Turkey
