The road toward Göbeklitepe

       On September 19, 2026. For the past few years, I have wanted to see Göbeklitepe, Karahantepe, Zeugma, and Mount Nemrut. Finally, this year, I was on the road driving to Eastern Anatolia. I planned to sleep in my car without looking for any hotels along the entire route. My first break was in Alanya, where I charged my car and slept.

        The Taurus Mountains drop vertically into the Mediterranean, creating a dramatic landscape of sharp  turns and sheer cliffs. I saw dozens of beautiful bays while driving from Gazipaşa to Mersin. I stopped at one of them and took a video. 

        The next day I was in Gaziantep. To avoid the chaotic traffic, I parked in front of a chain furniture store that had an electric charging station, without entering the city center of Gaziantep. As you might guess, the old town of Gaziantep is not suitable for parking a car due to its incredibly narrow streets. I connected the charging cable to my car and walked toward the bus stop at sunset.

          My original plan was to eat something at the famous İmam Çağdaş restaurant. However, after I saw their prices, I gave up on that idea and preferred to sit at a street food spot instead. By the way, the price at the street food spot was less than half the price of İmam Çağdaş, and the spicy lahmacun was absolutely tasty.

         There is a historical mosque right in front of the İmam Çağdaş restaurant. According to what I read, this mosque was built before 1515 by Alaüddevle Bozkurt Beg, the ruler of the Dulkadiroğlu Principality. It is called the Alaüddevle Mosque, though locals also know it as the Ali Dola Mosque. According to records, this mosque was rebuild in 1901 . Only minaret was stayed original.

           Returning to my car from the city center of Gaziantep turned out to be a challenge. After a certain hour, the local buses stop running, so I had to take the tram for a short distance toward my parking spot. I still ended up walking a long distance through Gaziantep at night before reaching my car. During my walk, I spotted a massive building, and I asked a passing girl what its function was. She replied, 'Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs' 

I repeatedly asked her, 'Are you sure? She said "yes!  My surprise was inevitable. Because no other directorate is in such a massive, huge building. Wherever you go in any corner of Turkey, they are only a few office rooms inside the governor's building.  

                Then I remembered that Gaziantep is an immigrant city of Syrians.

        Actually, Gaziantep was known only for its culinary arts, sweets culture, and baklava until recently. Nowadays, locals especially have added another feature to its fame: the Zeugma mosaics and the 'Gypsy Girl'.

       Honestly, I prefer to see antique artifacts in their original locations. However, in the case of these mosaics, that would not have been possible if they hadn't been moved to a museum.

          This is because the ruins of the ancient city of Zeugma went underwater following the construction of the Birecik Dam. 

          These basalt steles, which were saved from the ancient city of Zeugma, show King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene shaking hands with Apollo-Mithras-Helios and Heracles. His aim was to show the unity between the Gods of the West and the East. The small The Kingdom of Commagene located souteastern Anatolia, Adıyaman,Turkey. The heart of the kingdom was in Adıyaman, and its borders reached all the way to the cities of Kahramanmaraş and Gaziantep in the 1st century BCE.

         Can you imagine the scale of these mosaics? The medium-sized ones were 15 to 20 square meters, and some were as large as 40 to 50 square meters. I can't even fathom how rich the owners of these houses must have been.

      As for the 'Gypsy Girl'... Her mosaic, which everyone comes to Gaziantep specifically to see, is exhibited in a dark room. It is only a small fragment of a larger main panel that was saved from the hands of antiquities robbers.

                                              The view of the Zeugma Mosaic Museum from above

       The same day I visited the Zeugma Mosaic Museum, I drove 56 km outside of Gaziantep to Belkıs village, near the town of Nizip, to see the remaining ruins of the ancient city. And here is where the main story begins: the city was founded in 300 BC by Seleucus I Nicator, a general of Alexander the Great, who originally named it 'Seleucia ad Euphratem'. 

           In the ancient world, kings often named cities directly after themselves. In this context, more than 30 cities named Seleucia were founded. To avoid confusing these cities with one another, they added meaningful geographical descriptions to the name, such as 'Seleucia ad Euphratem'. The preposition 'ad' is not related to AD (Anno Domini); the city's name simply means 'Seleucia on the banks of the Euphrates'.

         After the Romans took control of the city around 31 BC, its name was changed to Zeugma. In Ancient Greek, this means a bridge or a link between the East and the West. The city of Zeugma sat right at the intersection of the famous Silk Road and the Euphrates River

          This mansion didn't stay underwater because of its high location. I wonder if the owner of this house ever thought about the future. I know there were no modern technologies like TVs in this mansion. But, as you may know, they had some amazing comforts and luxury furniture back then.. 

             The view from the mansion is great! You can watch the huge dam basin below. I liked so much..

               I didn't think about leaving without swimming in the Euphrates dam basin, despite seeing some warning plates written 'Swimming forbidden in the dam lake.' I didn't think that kind of warning plate was serious. Finally, my legs were in the water of the dam, watching so many lake fish among my feet. I managed to dive a few times.

      It was around 2:00 PM when I finished visiting the ruins of the ancient city of Zeugma. Şanlıurfa is not far from here, just about a one-and-a-half-hour drive

       The same day, on September 21st, around 5:00–6:00 PM, I was in Balıklıgöl, Şanlıurfa. This spot has been a traditional visiting place since ancient times. According to the local people's belief, as Prophet Abraham was thrown into the fire, flames and woods   converted into water and  fish. Therefore, nobody fishes for the fish in the pool.

         In my opinion, there was no interesting place to visit in the city center of Şanlıurfa. In this context, I preferred to spend the remaining time until evening trying to find an affordable restaurant. I still remember a bowl of spicy lentil soup that I ate there. I understand now that I should have taken a photo in the restaurant. Through that, I could have put my trip memories in chronological order. 

.            Evening was setting in. I had to find a suitable parking spot to sleep in. I browsed the maps to find the location of Göbeklitepe. It is on the northeast way out of Şanlıurfa, about 40 km away. I found an AC charging station by the Zeplin firm along the same route, which was within the grounds of the Jockey Club of Turkey.

         It was surprising to see a jockey club in Şanlıurfa. Moreover, I came across a horse race there too. I watched the races for a short time at least. After that, I slept in the car while it was charging until the early morning. I should also talk about my fight with mosquitoes during my sleep too.

Finally, in the early morning of September 22, 2026,  I was on the road heading to Göbeklitepe, as it had been three days since leaving my house in Ortaca. 

       The road that provides access to Göbeklitepe from Şanlıurfa was a narrow asphalt road. But, I saw a new road construction near the existing road. Probably you will see a much larger and smoother road that accesses Göbeklitepe after a few years.

       

         It is impossible to speak about this place without mentioning the importance of Göbeklitepe. Naturally, I must quote the archaeologists' evaluations of this site.

               Archaeologist Klaus Schmidt was the leader of the excavation team and introduced it to the whole world from 1995 to 2014. According to his research, this site is dated to 12 thousand years ago, around 9600 - 9500 BC. Therefore, it is much older than other famous ancient structures; it is 7,000 years older than Stonehenge, and 7,500 years older than the Egyptian Pyramids In this period, people did not know about metals like copper and iron. They didn't even use pottery. So, this was the Neolithic Age, the hunter-gatherer period of humanity.

            I am thinking now about how much similarity there is between the inhabitants of Göbeklitepe and me while looking at my photo in. It is not possible to know that. No one has found any human skeletons in this area. According to archaeologists, they lived here and left. They say that this field was not a permanent residential place for them, just a meeting place for rituals

          My photos were taken by an Australian photographer. According to the Ministry of Culture, 781 thousand people visited Göbeklitepe in 2025. It is very clear that Balıklıgöl in Şanlıurfa will no longer be the main destination for tourists. Already, almost all travel agencies in the city of Şanlıurfa  include Göbeklitepe on their banners.

      I finished my visit to Göbeklitepe before noon. I checked the maps to find the ruins of Karahantepe. It is located southeast of Göbeklitepe, about 60 km away, and takes an hour by car.

       I was watching the views along the road with pleasure. It was so hot! Because of the hot weather, I really wanted to dive into a lake, a river, or a watering canal. Finally, I stopped near a cornfield where a few young guys were watering the field. They had quite dark skin and said they were from the local Arab community. I asked them if they swam in the watering canal. They said it was dangerous and there had been drownings. Even so, one of them kindly showed me a suitable spot to enter the canal. Not only that! This youth brought a sack full of corn to me as a gift of friendship when he returned to his field. Whereas, I had spoken with them for just ten minutes

          I am sorry because I really forgot to take a photo of this young man and the watering canal. I just downloaded a watering canal photo from the internet.

          As it is seen from the date stamp on the photo, I was in Karahantepe in the afternoon. I took a video from the entrance spot of the Karahantepe ruins. This blog doesn't upload videos if they are over one minute. That's why I edited it and divided it into four parts

            Like almost every visitor to Karahantepe, I asked myself why the ancient people of Karahantepe focused so much on the phallus form. They erected 11 phalluses in a small area. Also, a 2.3-meter-high stone figure holds his penis directly. Some evaluations of these ruins explain that this area was an initiation spot back then. If you consider that this was a Neolithic period with no pottery and no farming, don't look for a symbol of fertility or a woman figure there.     

               There are so many questions that should be answered. Neither at Göbeklitepe nor in the area around Karahantepe are there any trees, forests, or greenery, today. But,archaeobotanical scientists say that there were wild pistachio and almond trees, as well as oak forests here 12 thousand years ago. In this context, there was a plenty of wild animals to hunt in these areas.

             In this spot, I had to decide where my trip would end. Actually, at the beginning of planning my trip, I had thought of going to Hakkari. Hakkari is in the southeastern corner of Anatolia. It even takes almost 6 hours by car from Mardin. So far away... I wouldn't see many ancient historical destinations there anyway, just the Nestorian Monastery in Konak village. 

              

          I went to Mardin in the evening, passing through Viranşehir and Kızıltepe. These cities, Şanlıurfa, Viranşehir, and Kızıltepe, are very close to Syria and the desert. Maybe for this reason, there was dust in the air. Not good.

              It was very hard to find parking in the old town of Mardin. I only drove through the city center and took a photo from the foot of the old town. 

              At that moment, I decided to continue on the road to arrive at Mount Nemrut, within the borders of Kahta, Adıyaman.     

            I didn't want to go back directly using the same route. I preferred to drive along the northern route through Diyarbakır and Siverek. At the end of the day, I had to sleep in a suitable place. The charging application was showing a Zeplin charge spot at the Jockey Club, Beşpınar, Diyarbakır, which was perfect for me. 

            I spent the night at the Jockey Club, Beşpınar, Diyarbakır. The next day, I was in Siverek around noon. I ordered lahmacun to eat at a stone- bakery there. Thus, I sorted out my lunch meal.

           I saw black basalt stones scattered along the road around the area in Siverek. I remembered the volcanic mountain Karacadağ from geography lessons. I stopped near the road, halfway between Siverek and Mount Nemrut. I was eating watermelon next to a small tree. After that, I saw that the area around this spot was full of plastic bottles, paper, etc. There was no garbage box there, of course. I collected these waste items and burned them in a controlled manner. You could see only weak, yellowed, and faded wild grass among the sea of basalt stones. No tree or forest.

            A man from a nearby village who was like my peer, saw the fire, stopped his car, and came near me. He greeted me and said, 'This fire might spread to the dry grass. This grass is the main food for our sheep.'" While he was describing the danger, I thought about how the sheep would be able to walk among the sea of basalt stones without breaking their legs. In any case, no animals appeared to be there at the time. Even so, I watered the remains of the fire to be sure the danger was gone.

           When this villager found out the main motivation for my trip, he recommended me to see the basalt formations which were a few kilometers away..

Honestly, I would have passed in front of these basalt formations without being aware of them if the villager had not talked about it. This basalt formation was unveiled during the road widening project. This spot was already marked on the maps

             I saw some facilities on the road while going to Kahta from Siverek

. One of them was the Nissibi Bridge, connecting the two sides of the Euphrates River over the Atatürk Dam.

                 I should mention the road to Mount Nemrut. I had to drive about 20 km uphill. It was quite a challenge to get the car up to 2,000 meters, especially considering it’s a fully electric, and a 2-ton !  But, The fun part: earning free electric charge on the way down!

Cars can only go as far as the parking lot, right in front of the ticket office and rest area. From there, you have to climb 750 meters more to reach the statues. Luckily, there were a few benches to rest along the path. I went up to  the East Terrace. I went down via the West path!

            While resting on the bench and looking at the statues, I can mention the true importance and history of this monument. The king of Commagene, Antiochus I, built this monument in 62 BC. Almost 2000 years ago!  Antiochus accepted himself as a living god. In this context, he erected his own statue side by side with the gods of the East and West. The tumulus behind the statues was built over his grave. Due to centuries of tough climate conditions, the worn statues broke, and their heads fell to the ground.

             The thing that makes this monument so amazing is exactly its high location, right on the top of the mountain.

             If you think the dates and locations of other ancient ruins are a good comparison, let's look at them.

                The Kuélap residential place was built in the 6th century AD by the Chachapoya people, at the top of the Andes at 3,000 meters above sea level

               The second amazing place, Machu Picchu, was built in the 15th century AD by the Inca people, at the top of the Andes at 2,430 meters above sea level.

As for where I slept today, I stayed in the parking lot of Mount Nemrut. It was quite silent. 

No one walked around the car, only me. 

While it was 30 degrees during the day, the night felt like 15 degrees. 

             

 I woke up early and didn't wait long to drive down from Mount Nemrut.

 My itinerary was toward Malatya.

                         Kuelap (on the internet)

               

                       Machu Picchu (on the internet)

             After about one hour, I stopped near the Cendere Bridge. This historical bridge was built on the Kahta Stream by the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus at the end of the 2nd century AD. This bridge had one of the largest Roman arch spans in the world. According to internet sources, they didn't use any mortar while constructing this bridge. 

I didn't want to miss the opportunity to dive into the water there.

It was a 90 km drive to Malatya via the town of Sincik after passing Cendere Bridge, which took about 2 hours by car. Along the way, I picked up two local people who were waiting for a ride to the city center of Malatya.

I didn't stay for a long time in Malatya city center. I only stopped by my old neighborhood where I lived for a few years, ordered some local lahmacun from a stone-oven bakery, and after having lunch, I drove toward Arapgir.

I arrived in the city center of Arapgir at sunset. By that time, it was too late to explore or discover the city. After having dinner at a restaurant, I parked the car in a quiet and safe spot to sleep.

Arapgir is a small town; its center is only a few hundred meters long. The next morning, I walked in the main street. I saw grape boxes everywhere—outside hardware stores, jewelry shops, and even in front of the butcher.

You don't see sights like this in metropolitan areas

. Here, all the shop owners have a connection to farming, and especially to growing the unique Köhnü grape."

             I almost forgot to mention a taxi driver—he told me his name, but I forgot it. We sat outside a cafe in the heart of Arapgir and talked about how the town could improve!

           I left Arapgir to go to Kemaliye. The drive between Arapgir and Kemaliye took about an hour by car. To drive along the Euphrates River was an amazing experience for me.

           This spot is the exit of Arapgir that leads toward Kemaliye. I stopped on the road next to the cemetery of the Arapgir community before leaving Arapgir. . I really like these kinds of quiet places.

            The Euphrates River consists of two main branches: the Karasu River and the Murat River, which merge with each other downstream from the town of Kemaliye. 

           This is the Karasu River (the Western Euphrates), which originates in Erzurum, passes through Erzincan and Kemaliye, and forms the Karanlık Kanyon (Dark Canyon)

                                  

               

                         The town of Kemaliye is a rather small town, with the Karasu River flowing down right next to it. Like other Eastern Anatolian towns, Kemaliye's residents mostly visit during the summer. However, in recent years, Kemaliye has become a popular tourist destination well-known by many people.

                                    

             On the road back home, I saw quiet small towns of Eastern Anatolia. 

         Divriği is to the northeast of Kemaliye, which took about one and a half hours by car. 

One of them was the town of Divriği. What was its importance? This small town is a place where iron ore is mined. Historically, its importance is that the great mosque and hospital were left behind by the Mengücekliler principality, in the early 13th century. 

                 You may pay attention to the features of this complex. If you consider that the Ottoman state was founded at the end of the 13th century, they hadn't constructed any remarkable building in Anatolia, especially in Eastern Anatolia. 

            If you sit at a cafe in a small town in Anatolia, local people will want to speak with you about why you are there and show their hospitality as well.This was exactly that kind of encounter.

                         

            After visiting the town of Divriği, I had actually finished my trip. At that moment, I had to plan my way back. First of all, I spent the night at a gas station in Divriği. The next day, I was in the city center of Kayseri, where I stayed and spent the night. The last night before reaching home, I was in Antalya.

              For me, it is very difficult to evaluate this last trip of mine compared to others. I can only say that we have a proverb: 'Gezmek ömürden sayılmaz'—Time spent traveling doesn't count against your lifetime.