Diyarbakır

An ancient black-basalt city on the Tigris, with World Heritage walls, the Hevsel Gardens, Kurdish culture and a famous breakfast street.

Diyarbakır lies in southeastern Turkey on a basalt plateau along the west bank of the Tigris. One of the largest cities in Southeastern Anatolia, it is also a major centre of Kurdish culture, known in Kurdish as Amed. The old city (Sur district) is ringed by about 5.5 km of black basalt walls, which together with the Hevsel Gardens in the river valley were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015. Inside are the Seljuk-era Great Mosque, Ottoman caravanserais, and Armenian and Assyrian churches, reflecting a long history of many peoples and faiths living side by side.

Highlights: spend 1–2 days in the old city – walk the walls from Mardin Gate to the Keçi Burcu (Goat Tower) for sunset, visit the Great Mosque and the Four-Legged Minaret, have breakfast at Hasan Paşa Han, listen to dengbêj singers, and head out of town to the Ten-Eyed Bridge and the Gazi Pavilion. Further afield, make a day trip to the Roman fortress of Zerzevan, or go north to the Eğil gorge and the Neolithic site of Çayönü. Mardin and Hasankeyf are usually visited with a separate overnight stay.

The best seasons are Apr–May and Oct–Nov; summer often exceeds 40°C, and winter sees occasional snow. Getting there: Diyarbakır Airport has flights to Istanbul, Ankara and elsewhere, and a taxi from the airport to the old city takes about 15 minutes; the city is best explored on foot. Parts of Sur were rebuilt after the 2015–2016 conflict, so check the latest travel advisories before you go, take care when photographing military or police facilities, and dress modestly when entering mosques.

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