Day 01
Explore Historic Mardin
- Meet your hotel's tour guide, explore the Mardin Museum's regional history, and learn more about Mardin's Christian heritage. The museum is housed in one of the town's greatest 19th-century palaces, originally serving as the administrative center of the Syriac Catholic Patriarchate. Although small, the carefully managed collection illustrates the extensive history of southeast Anatolia. Excellent exhibits include Assyrian and Bronze Age ceramics in particular. The structure itself is worth a visit even if you're not a museum fan, just to wander around its elaborate courtyard and up to its terraces with their regal colonnades.
- Walk around the rooms to get an excellent picture of the elegant way local merchants and other people at the top of Mardin society would have lived in the past. It has been restored to an impressive standard.
- See Mor Behnan Church (Forty Martyrs Church). The upper part of the Mardin Museum area is known as the quarter where Assyrian families live, and this church is located there. Built by the Assyrians in 569 in the name of Mor Behnam and his sister Saro, it was originally called the Kırklar Church after being converted into a mosque in the 12th century. The church takes its name from the 40 soldiers exiled to the ice lake in Sivas because of their rebellion against the Roman Emperor Dokios, who put great pressure on Christians in the 3rd century, and who became associated with the city after they froze there. This 4th-century church still holds services every Sunday, which tourists are welcome to attend. If you're not here on Sunday, the church is open daily for visits, and the current opening times are posted on the gate. Although small, the interior holds beautiful icons and paintings that are definitely worth a peek.
- Head to the Ulu Cami (Grand Mosque), constructed in the 11th century by the Artuqid Dynasty and tucked away on the eastern end of the bazaar neighbourhood. One of the highlights of a visit to Mardin is its enormous internal courtyard and minaret, one of the city's most identifiable and photographed sights because of its distinctive stone carvings. The internal prayer area, divided into three sections, was severely damaged during a Kurdish rebellion in 1832 and is relatively plain today. There are many more mosques in the city to see if you're interested in mosque architecture, most of them scattered along or near Cumhuriyet Caddesi.
- Go to the Şehidiye Mosque, built in the 14th century, with a needle-like tower featuring intricate carvings. After travelling about 200 meters east along the road, you will reach the massive Melik Mahmut Mosque, also from the 14th century and made of golden stone.
- Explore Mardin's alleys. For many visitors, the favourite activity in Mardin is simply wandering the town's cobblestone lanes, looking for small details in the exquisitely preserved stone facades and exploring the narrow back alleys, even though the city is home to several significant historic buildings. Expect plenty of uphill and downhill walking on an aimless stroll, because Mardin is spread over a hillslope, with some roads connected by steep staircases. Mardin is also filled with cafés, many of them located in restored stone-cut cottages, making them ideal places to pause while wandering.
