Harran: A minibus, a beehive & 1 glass

Last week I visited Harran a town near the Syrian border. I was reading lonely planet guide to Turkey & saw the chapter about off the beaten track! & how it explained all the ancient historical events that had happened there (for more detail check blog Harran the Temple).

I thought it would be a diversion of a few hours @ most it turned out too be a rather weird 2 days.

In Turkey when travelling by bus there are 2 options huge coach between cities or the little Japanese transit vans - I had to use one of these which to get to Harran.

We were driving thru a little village nothing but dusty roads, sand & a kiosk then the Driver said "Harran" I thought nah no way am I getting off here but my sense of adventure kicked in so I got out & watched the van disappear into the dust.

Suddenly three guys appeared

Hey mister what u doing here?

Erm come to see Harran

Well come & drink a tea with us

So I ended up drinking tea with Abrahim who informed me he was a guide & that there was no bus until the evening but I could stay @ his house (for a price of course). On arrival @ Abrahims house I was greeted by his sister (dressed in traditional Bedouin stlye) & family.
I was shown to a little beehive house so I could unload my rucksack & told to come & eat.

I walked over to the house after slipping off my shoes walked into the room to see comfy rugs & cushions with 10 people sitting on the floor doing what sounded like screaming & arguing! It turned out to be Arabic (learned that in Eastern & Southeast Turkey they speak Arabic or Kurdish & wear the traditional headscarf.)
1 of the women brought some bread wraps with minced meat in them & dumped them in the middle everybody just starting pulling apart the bread with their hands & I thought ok (when in Rome) "ah u need water mister" a glass was placed on the floor which was filled with water 1 of the men picked it up & promptly drank it placing it back in front of me - I thought that's a bit rude then another one refilled & did the same.....I then realised they only had 1 glass & it was to be shared!! No way I'm ok I'll drink later.......only 1 problem! oh my god it was spicy my mouth was on fire I need water Noooow!!!!! I picked up the glass & I drank!!

"U Married?" asked the Father
Yes, & I love my wife very much!! as his daughters stared @ me (maybe I was paranoid but no way was I leaving with a new wife, no thanks) - I was asked this question numerous times by the family.

I woke @ 06:00am next morning obviously keen to be on my way after taking a quick tour of the ruins & breakfast of yoghurt & wraps.

There were no buses today to the border from Harran but an old Arab man offered to give me a lift for 50TL when we arrived @ the border thats when my troubles really began!



St George & the Reggae boys from Europe to Africa

Location:Istanbul