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Remote Places To Visit
Here are four remote places that are definitely worth a visit (by the sound of them anyway)
Gaziantep
A large city in the south east dominated by a 12th-century moated castle. Tiny doorways leading off from narrow alleyways offer access to enormous houses with ornate integral courtyards. Once the homes of rich 19th-century merchants, many of these buildings have been turned into cafés, pensions and, in one case, the Gaziantep Ethnographic Museum. Above a café called Papirus, the former Syrian Embassy is a jumble of 19th-century portraiture, Bakelite telephones and dust. Gaziantep Archeological Museum houses the fantastic Roman mosaics recovered from the flooded Roman city of Zeugma
Hasankeyf
Straddling the Tigris, Hasankeyf is famous for the monumental ruined bridge that once connected the two huge rock escarpments on either side of the river. Pre-Ottoman ruins, including a Byzantine church that was later converted to a mosque, and the remains of a vast castle complex pepper the cliffs above the Tigris. Until the Seventies, many residents still lived in cave houses that can be seen in the gorge skirting the castle mound. Another must is the turquoise tomb of Zeynel Bey, a central Asian-style jewel of a building alone in a riverside field. Hasankeyf is under threat from a proposed dam project, so go soon.
Olimpos
On the Mediterranean coast, southwest of Kemer, is the ancient ruined city of Olimpos, a beachfront site amid trees, flowers and grapevines. Popular with backpackers, Olimpos offers accommodation in the form of treehouses. However, the main reason to go is to see the Chimaera. This cluster of about 30 gas-fuelled, unquenchable flames that burn from holes in the rocks of Mount Olimpos is best seen at night.
Sanliurfa
Once named Edessa by Alexander the Great, Sanliurfa is also the place where, according to legend, the Prophet Abraham was set on fire by the Assyrian King Nimrod. But God turned the fire into water and the hot coals into fish. The water, now corralled into pools in the Gölbasi district of the city, is home to the well-fed descendants of those magical fish, and it is considered a blessed act to feed them. Sanliurfa also has a fantastic bazaar.
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Gaziantep
A large city in the south east dominated by a 12th-century moated castle. Tiny doorways leading off from narrow alleyways offer access to enormous houses with ornate integral courtyards. Once the homes of rich 19th-century merchants, many of these buildings have been turned into cafés, pensions and, in one case, the Gaziantep Ethnographic Museum. Above a café called Papirus, the former Syrian Embassy is a jumble of 19th-century portraiture, Bakelite telephones and dust. Gaziantep Archeological Museum houses the fantastic Roman mosaics recovered from the flooded Roman city of Zeugma
Hasankeyf
Straddling the Tigris, Hasankeyf is famous for the monumental ruined bridge that once connected the two huge rock escarpments on either side of the river. Pre-Ottoman ruins, including a Byzantine church that was later converted to a mosque, and the remains of a vast castle complex pepper the cliffs above the Tigris. Until the Seventies, many residents still lived in cave houses that can be seen in the gorge skirting the castle mound. Another must is the turquoise tomb of Zeynel Bey, a central Asian-style jewel of a building alone in a riverside field. Hasankeyf is under threat from a proposed dam project, so go soon.
Olimpos
On the Mediterranean coast, southwest of Kemer, is the ancient ruined city of Olimpos, a beachfront site amid trees, flowers and grapevines. Popular with backpackers, Olimpos offers accommodation in the form of treehouses. However, the main reason to go is to see the Chimaera. This cluster of about 30 gas-fuelled, unquenchable flames that burn from holes in the rocks of Mount Olimpos is best seen at night.
Sanliurfa
Once named Edessa by Alexander the Great, Sanliurfa is also the place where, according to legend, the Prophet Abraham was set on fire by the Assyrian King Nimrod. But God turned the fire into water and the hot coals into fish. The water, now corralled into pools in the Gölbasi district of the city, is home to the well-fed descendants of those magical fish, and it is considered a blessed act to feed them. Sanliurfa also has a fantastic bazaar.
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