Harran and Sanliurfa

Imagine Abraham's herds grazing on this very spot thousands of years ago.

Of course, God told Abraham to separate himself from everything that was going on in Harran and to move to the land of Canaan. Maybe it was what was going on in the tents!

Rochelle, Martha, Selda, Duygu and Judy

On a serious note, it was mind-boggling to stand on land with such an ancient history and to think that this is the very spot Abraham's father settled with his family after leaving Ur. Today Harran is an impoverished mostly Arabic-speaking village. It's a tourist destination for several reasons. One is the presence of what is called the first "university" in the world. It was an eighth century mosque complex where astronomical research was carried out. Very little remains of the original structure and it is fenced off. Guidebooks say you can see remains of a pool and seats that were part of the Arab "university." There is an on-going excavation project nearby, fenced off with a barb-wired topped chain link fence. So at least someone is paying some attention to this place.

Ruins of Mosque and Arab University

Another reason tourists come here is to see the "beehive houses." These are only a couple hundred years only -- practically modern! They're all made from mud bricks. Actually the houses in the village are now interspersed with more modern dwellings, and the old beehives used mostly for animals or storage. This is probably not a bad thing because it was the mud brick construction that caused houses to collapse during the recent earthquake that took place not too far north of Harran.

Looking into the courtyard of one of the complexes of mud brick, beehive houses.

There are also ruins of an old Crusader castle. You can scramble around and it looks like it's been shored up here and there. But it's still pretty much just ruins. It was the Mongol's who laid waste to the city -- like many other place in Turkey. However, unlike other places in Turkey, Harran never recovered.

From Harran we drove back into Sanliurfa, a city of about 400,000 east of Gaziantep. It's said that Urfa is 40 percent Kurdish, but probably that's too high. There are also Arabic speakers living there. It has a very different feeling from Gaziantep, whose population had been 30-40 percent Armenian prior to the First World War. Urfa is know for religious conservatism. I don't know if it really is any more conservative than Gaziantep, but it certainly feels less "Western" than Gaziantep -- maybe you could use the work provincial. Sanliurfa's bazaars and narrow shopping streets are also much more interesting, somehow more "authentic." You just get the feeling you've crossed some sort of cultural line in moving east from Gaziantep to Sanliurfa.

We ate lunch in a two hundred-year-old house that had been built by a furrier. It was warm enough for us to eat on a second floor terrace. Very relaxing and the food was good.

Restaurant. You can see the terrace where we ate. And the trees had oranges on them.

Then we wandered through the streets and bazaars to the carp pond I described in my posting on the Mardin trip. Back then it was dark when we arrived. This trip we went on a warm Saturday afternoon and the whole area was packed.

Carp Pond

There are probably thousands of carp in that pond. You can buy fish food and feed them. As soon as you raise your arm, there is a feeding frenzy.

Try clicking on this. I tried to capture the mayhem that arises when the fish even think there's food around.

We walked to the top of the castle ruins on the hill behind the pond/park/mosque complex. We had a great view of the city. Since so many of the houses were built of the same sandstone as the surrounding hills (or are painted that color), parts of the city seem almost invisible. Of course they are building apartment building on the edge of town, but a good percentage of what you see seems old.

Castle in Sanliurfa

I do hope to come back. You can get to Urfa easily by public bus and there's lots to see that we didn't have time to see.

International Women's Day

Last Monday (March 8th) was International Women's Day. On Friday afternoon we got one of those e-mail summons, telling us the university rector would be observing the day with a speech and lunch -- at noon. Those of us would teach until 12:10 PM should come directly from class. Actually it was a nice occasion. Women faculty and support staff were invited. The senior administration, all of whom were men, was also there. The rector did give a speech in Turkish, followed by some words in English, none of which referred to women. He had a specially wrapped red carnation for everyone present. One of our Turkish English language teachers was supposed to say a few words, but someone her presentation got lost in the shuffle.

At the lunch one of the other Turkish teachers told us that her mother was singing in a concert of traditional Turkish music that evening. My colleague Judy and I decided to go. And what a great decision that was. In honor of International Women's Day, a local chorus specializing in Turkish music had prepared a concert of music written by the Turkish composer Neveser Koekdesh -- her picture is partially visible in the photo above. From what I could deduce from the program, the music was composed in the 1930s and 40s. It's know as Turkish Art Music. First there is folk music, traditional music sung by the "people" -- like traditional American folk music. Then there is Art Music. Art music which has moved into the realm of pop is called Arabesque. Then there is Fantasie, which is strictly pop. Anyhow, the music was thoroughly enjoyable.

As you can see in the photo above, especially if you click on it to enlarge it, the chorus was mixed. However, they did not sing in parts but rather in unison, presumably in different octaves. In front was a small orchestra of traditional instruments like the Ude and Ney as well as violins, a viola and traditional drum (the women clear to the right.)

Another nice part about the evening was that we were mixing with regular people from the community. I'm sure the audience was composed in large part of family and friends of the performers. During the intermission everyone came out into the lobby where there were serving free Turkish coffee. Judy and I realized that our entire lives in Gaziantep revolved around Zirve University and the people who work there. We don't know anyone else. It was so refreshing and uplifting, like a whiff of normalcy.

So it turned out to be a wonderful International Women's Day.

Spring in Gaziantep

Yesterday was March 1. Somehow it felt like we had turned a corner. It had been rainy and chilly most of Sunday (the previous day). However, that has one advantage; it washes the air clean. Monday dawned beautiful and clear. You could see mountains in the distance, and there were patches of puffy clouds. I'd noticed blossoms on some of the trees in the mixed orchard below the campus. Yesterday seemed like the day to photograph them. We don't know what the "bush" is that is so full of pink blossoms. The tree behind it is likely apricot, given that we found a few pits still hanging on branches.



The tree with the green leaves (photo above) is obviously an olive. The branches on the far left belong to either a fig or pistachio.

Here's a look at the mystery tree full on. We'll revisit the orchard when the leaves are on and let you know what you're are actually looking at. Meanwhile, enjoy the photos.