Diyabakir

 We took the mni bus from Midyat to Mardin about an hour and a half away. We then picked up a taxi to take us to Saffron monastery 5 km away, stayed a few hours, returned by same taxi to the bus station, found another mini bus bound for Diyabakir. At Diyabakir bus station, we were faced with a very busy metropolis. Old town Diyabakir was our destination and helpful locals pointed us to another mini bus that took us into the old city within the Roman walls. The old city is encircled by a huge wall, from afar, it looked like Carcasonne in France. A huge wall surrounds the old city and various gates allow people and traffic to enter. Diyabakir has about 0ne million population, the new city is sprawling and encircles the Roman wall. It is an interesting place. We were supposed to stay 3 days returning to Istanbul for our flight home.

This is a city of Kurds, proud of their heritage. Years ago, before the Armenian genocide, Suryani Christians form a majority of the population. Today a few of them are left, and a few of their churches have been restored with foreign money and still serve the few families that are left behind.