Sunday, May 20

At Urfa, one of the oldest of Babylonian cities, we will visit the Crusaders Fortress and the Callirhoe Fountain.

At Sanliurfa ("Glorious Urfa") are located some of the traditional sites associated with Abraham: the Mevlid Halil Camii (which contains his alleged birth cave) and the Birket Ibrahim, "The pool of Abraham" (according to tradition, formed at the place which Abraham fell after being thrown from the citadel mound by Nimrod).  The pool is now teeming with sacred carp. 


Also here one finds architectural witnesses to the Islamic period of Sanliurfa, following the introduction of Islam into the area by Caliph Omar in the 639 CE: for example, the Rizvaniye Mosque (formerly the Church of the Apostles); a ninth-century castle known as the Han el-Ba'rur caravanserai; as well as an extensive covered bazaar.

Overnight: Sanliurfa