There is a debate amongst Biblical scholars about which Ur Abraham came from— Ur of the Chaldees in Mesopotamia, or Urfa in Turkey. I am unconvinced that it is Urfa, but it is true that Urfa is not a long way from Haran, which Abraham certainly came through. Haran today is right on the Syrian border and remains a very small town, which once had a major Islamic University, in the late middle ages. More recently, it has had numerous famous bee hive houses and we shall explore both in this post. When you get near the border of Turkey, you can see all kinds of sights…. for instance, a sheep riding in a motorcycle side car, going off to market where he will be sacrificed for the big Muslim Sacrifice Festival, the second biggest celebration in Islam.
You will not be surprised to discover there are also plenty of camels around, and it turns out, as my wife Ann discovered, they love to eat cucumber bits.
You are also provided with opportunities to dress up like a Bedouin… as Tony from Oregon modeled for us, however his sneakers betray him,
Even our guide Meltem suddenly became an Arabian princess….
The history of this city is very long, from about 6,000 B.C. to today. Here are a couple of signs that help us see the facts, and also what it looked like at it’s peak in the Middle Ages when there was a famous Cami, or mosque here AND a university.
The remains of the university, complete with watchtower, and reflection pool to do star gazing by looking down into the water rather than ruining your neck craning up towards the sky.
But about those distinctive beehive houses, made out of mud bricks, like the ancient Hebrews had to make in Egypt. The first time I came here, it was close to winter, and I got to view their means of cooking and staying warm, namely burning dung wheels— rolled up animal poop! They didn’t need this in 100F so there were none to see on this trip. Here are the beehive houses outside and in….they turn out to be rather cozy, but also quite dark inside, and you can see the charred bricks up the spout where fires have been lit inside the house.
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