Above is the view of the ancient city of Mardin in South Eastern Turkey, from our hotel balcony. The minaret did not light up until well after the blue hour ended, which is why the sky is black. Mardin is a UNESCO protected city and one of the most significant cities located in SE Turkey. It is strategically located on a rocky hill near the Tigris River. Mardin is historically Syriac and Assyrian, though now part of Turkey.

This cemetery has one of the best views of the Old Quarters in Mardin. We were warned not to fly the drone to take photos over the cemetery, since it is 20 miles to the Syrian border. We did get the one image of the neighboring city (center) before being told we had to stop our flight though.

As we were driving between cities, we passed a rather large herd of sheep and goats, which we stopped to photograph (top row, plus middle-left and middle-right). Batman provided a unique lunch stop. We loved the name of the city, and the town street signs were interesting (middle, plus bottom row). It seemed rather surprising that the town has not leveraged their name with the comic and movie hero, but there was no indication of such a tie-in.

We also photographed the Deyrulzaferen Monastery which is an important Syriac Orthodox Monastery built in the 4th Century BC.

We really enjoyed seeing the shadows cast onto the ground around the monastery. The late afternoon light was a photographer’s delight.

We next walked through the bazaar area of Mardin, photographing local craftsmen and spent time taking photos of a man in green shirt reading Koran while on break from his copper making (middle-left). There were lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. It was pretty obvious that there are very few young people left in town. It seems they have largely moved to urban areas to find better paying work.

Some vendors sold prayer beads, which are used to count (middle left). The number of beads on the chain depended on the religion. Throughout the area, people smiled and were willing to be photographed whenever they saw our cameras.

Many vendors were preparing food their customers (middle), while many others were making products (lower-right), or selling from their small stalls.

We have always enjoyed authenticity and this place met the criteria for an interesting and exotic travel experience.