| All About Nemrut / TURKEY Karatayhan ( Turkish: Karatayhan )
This han is perhaps the best preserved of all Anatolian hans, and is one of the most monumental examples of Seljuk architecture. It is especially famous for the relief sculpture on the walls of the tomb and on the pillars of the external walls. The han faces north and was built on the old Kayseri-Malatya road, part of the main trade route into Syria. Like the towns and villages through which the trade roads passed, the vicinity of the hans turned into small commercial centers. This was true of the Karatay Han, which in the 13th century stood at a junction of roads leading from Syria, Iraq, eastern Anatolia and Iran to Kayseri and Sivas. It is hard to imagine that the quiet rural village of today was once a teeming trade center
Kahramanmaraş Ice-Cream ( Turkish: Kahramanmarş Donturması)
Maras Ice Cream has been made in Maras since 16th century. Maras Ice Cream is a creamy, smooth Turkish ice cream with an elastic texture. You have to chew it; it melts as you chew. It is served with a knife and a fork. Maras Ice Cream is made from milk, sugar and powder from the tubers of wild orchids ("Dactylorhiza Osmanica") which the Turks call "Osmaniye orkidesi." These oval tubers grow in pairs. The best ones dry to the colour of alabaster, indicating high mucilage content. The tubers are dried, then ground into a whitish powder called "salep" which is used in the ice cream. The milk used can be goat's, sheep's or cow's.
Mt. Nemrut ( Turkish: Nemrut Dagı )
Mt. Nemrut is a 2,134 m (7,001 ft) high mountain in southeastern Turkey, notable for the vast statues at a 1st century BC tomb on its summit. The mountain lies 40km north of Kahta, near Adıyaman. In 62 BC, King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene built on the mountain top a tomb-sanctuary flanked by huge statues (8-9 meters high) of him, two lions, two eagles and various Greek, Armenian and Persian gods.
Mt. Nemrut was excavated in 1881 by Karl Sester, an engineer from Germany. Subsequent excavations have failed to reveal the tomb of Antiochus. However, this is still believed to be the site of his burial. In 1987, Mt. Nemrut was made a World heritage site by UNESCO.
Cendere Bridge ( Turkish: Cendere Köprusü )
A surviving Roman bridge built in the time of Septimus Severus; it spans the Kâhta River in one single arch. It is constructed of 92 stones each weighing about 10 tons. The three columns, two at one end and one at the other, are 9–10 metres in height.
Karakus Tumulus ( Turkish: Karakus Kayamezarlıkları )
According to some experts, Karakus Tumulus is a small model of the Hierotheseion (last resting place) on the' summit of Mt. Nemrut. It is the burial ground for the women of the, Commagene Royal Family. Surrounding the tumulus are four Doric columns 9 meters high. The statue that should top one column is missing. On another column there is a relief of two human figures, on the third is a statue of a lion and on the fourth an eagle. It is thought that the word Karakus, meaning’s black bird, is used because of the presence of this eagle.
Şanlıurfa ( Turkish: Şanlı - Urfa )
Şanlıurfa (often simply known as Urfa in daily language), formerly cited as Edessa in Aramaic; Riha or Urhāy, is a city in south-eastern Turkey. Urfa is situated on a plain under big open skies, about eighty kilometres east of the Euphrates River. The climate features extremely hot, dry summers and cool, moist winters. The urban population of Urfa is mainly Kurdish while the outlying regions are mixed Arabian and Turkish and to a lesser degree Zaza, Yezid, Armenian and Jewish.
Harran ( Turkish: Harran )
Harran, also known as Carrhae, is a district of Şanlıurfa Province in the southeast of Turkey. A very ancient city which was a major Mesopotamian commercial, cultural, and religious center, Harran is a valuable archaeological site. It is often identified as Haran, the place in which Abraham lived before he reached Canaan.
Göbeklitepe ( Turkish: Göbeklitepe)
Göbekli Tepe (Turkish for "Hill with a Belly") is a hilltop sanctuary built on the highest point of an elongated mountain ridge about 15km northeast of the town of Şanlıurfa (Urfa) in southeastern Turkey.
The massive sequence of stratification layers suggests several millennia of activity, perhaps reaching back to the Mesolithic. The oldest occupation layer (stratum III) contained monolithic pillars linked by coarsely built walls to form circular or oval structures. So far, four such buildings, with diameters between 10 and 30m have been uncovered. Geophysical studies suggest 16 further structures.
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