You Won’t Believe This Is Türkiye! Mardin 2025 Travel Guide - Bery Istanbul Tips

Welcome to the hidden gem of Saudi Sturkey, Mardin, the pearl of the region. From its ancient stone houses that seem to whisper secrets of the past to its breathtaking views of Mesopotamia, Mardin is a blend of cultures, history and magic like no other. Ready to dive into this captivating city? So let's get started. With its history, architecture, archaeological and visual values, Mardin is the most wondrous city of Southeastern Turkey. This poetic city is a living exhibition site in which it is possible to see how human labor shaped stone. Mardin and its surroundings mark a crossroads of religions and ethnic groups rooted in the very cradle of human civilization. Mardin is also one of the most important regions of Mesopotamia which throughout history was known as the Fertile Crescent. Due to its geographical situation, this region throughout history was a center of many societies, ethnic groups, religions and sects. Mardin has embraced many religions, cultures and civilizations while preserving its authentic character throughout history. The entire city is essentially an open-air museum and every corner of the city is packed with history and culture. We are driving from Canyurfa to Mardin which takes approximately three hours. However, if you prefer to fly from Istanbul that is also an option. There are direct flights from both airports in Istanbul to Mardin airport which is located 20 kilometers from the city center and you can find buses, shuttles, cabs to go to the city center. If you look for a more comfortable option, you can either rent a car or call for an airport transfer. Before we continue with our video and if you're wondering what's a great, affordable and easy way to get internet abroad, let me introduce you to Nomad Easy. This is a reliable solution that will save you time and money, covers over 170 countries, offers regional plans, simply download their app, browse plans, select one, purchase it, click to install and activate the plan. The process takes less than five minutes and can be done before your trip. This way you'll have internet as soon as you land in your new destination. Installation and activation instructions are emailed after purchase. Just make sure that your mobile device is unlocked and supports eSIMS. Use my promo code for five dollars off your first purchase over ten dollars and explore stress-free. Winter are wet and chilly while summers are quite hot therefore the spring and autumn months are the best to visit this place. Known as the eagle's nest, Mardin castle is touched by the history itself. Its construction date goes back to the 10th century. Located in the city center, the castle offers a panoramic view of the Mesopotamian plain and the city. Although it is closed for visitors, the sight of the castle is worth seeing. The iconic houses of the shining city of southeast Anatolia capture and fascinate you every second. The traditional houses of Mardin prove that the urban texture of a city can be amazing. The yellow and stone houses of Mardin are not only home to locals but also host the history itself. The old part of Mardin is an exceptional city. You can find culture and history literally in every single corner. As well as you can see most of the buildings here are all painted in the same color which is which is light brown limestone. So pretty much of the city looks very even. One of the city's most iconic landmarks is the stunning Mardin Grand Mosque. Known for its unique sliced dome and the tall minaret that dominates the skyline. Built during the Artukid period, this mosque originally had two minarets but today only one stands, carrying an inscription that dates back to 1176. Over the centuries, the mosque has seen several renovations but it still holds on to its historic charm. Interestingly, some Assyrian historians believe it may have originally been a church which adds a fascinating layer to its story and hints at the city's deep religious and cultural roots. The Mardin museum is situated in the old town square. Stone and ceramic artifacts of Mesopotamian civilizations dating from the Assyrian, Byzantine, Artukid and Ottoman periods are displayed here. Just below the castle lies also known as the Sultan Isa Madrasa which was erected in the 14th century. The complex includes a courtyard, a mosque and a tomb and it is considered one of the most beautiful historical landmarks in the old part of Mardin. It is also known that in 1401 when Timur invaded Mardin, he imprisoned the last Artukid ruler Sultan Isa in this very place for a time. A sacred landmark for the Assyrian Christian community, the Church of the Forties is one of Mardin's most treasured historical and religious sites. Built in the 6th century, this beautifully preserved church is a stunning example of early Christian architecture, offering visitors a glimpse into the region's deep spiritual roots. Located in the Shah neighborhood of Mardin's old city and still home to a vibrant Christian population, the church is also known as Mor Behnam, naming honor of the Syriac saint Behnam and his sister Saro. The name Church of the Forties comes from a significant event in its history. In 1170, the relics of 40 martyrs were brought here, giving the church its local name Kürkler Kilisesi. Whether you're drawn by faith, history or architecture, the Church of the Forties offers a powerful and moving experience in the heart of Mardin's ancient cityscape. Now let's show you a little bit of the rich gastronomy that Mardin offers and we are here at a restaurant just in the in the old town of Mardin. It has beautiful views and here we are ordering one specialty of Mardin which also we can find that in other provinces like Diyarbakir but it's also famous here in Mardin and this is Kaburga Dolmasi which basically consists of stuffed lamb ribs and some of the ingredients are rice, currants, spices, tomato paste, pine nuts, salt and many others. We also order a plate with seven different local appetizers also known in Turkish as Meseles. Just something little to keep in mind is that Kaburga Dolmasi takes around 45 to 50 minutes to cook so be patient and I assure you that that the waiting will be totally worth it. Now while we are waiting for our main dish we just received on our table the beautiful selection of local appetizers. To be honest for me it's a little bit difficult to remember each one of these names but I will try to describe the ingredients that so far we have found in each one of them. First of all I will start with the hummus which this one we all of us know it. It is made from chickpeas and also we have found one that it's called on the menu as yogurt Mardin. This one of course the main ingredient is yogurt and then also some others with tomato paste, pepper paste, eggplant, walnuts and even if you don't consume meats you can if you're vegan or vegetarian especially vegetarian you will not find that difficult because even you can enjoy a beautiful platter like this. After almost one hour we have finally got our stuffed ribs and I cannot tell you how good it smells. As you can see from the images here they just made a little show here and also they removed the bones and they put more of the of the meat broth here so I'm pretty sure the flavor is so good. Let me just tell you look I mean the meat is super juicy it's really nice so let's let's see how it is. I don't want to get burned. It's cooked perfectly just perfectly. In fact in Mexico we have something that it's called like barbacoa it kind of tastes like that it kind of reminds me to that flavor and also if you're wondering why we are in a different place from where we started showing you the other appetizers it is because right now it is winter here it is the beginning of December so surprisingly during the day like the weather is really nice it's very comfortable to to be outside but as soon as the sun goes down then it gets really cold so in my case I wasn't able to feel my hands so we came indoors and this is where we are going to have our last meal. And after exploring a little bit of the old town here in Mardin we wanted also to show you some local specialties of the city. We came to one cafe which is very popular here among local centuries alike and we have ordered three different desserts that are very local from the area and basically you will not be able to found it found them very easily outside of Mardin so this is the first one and this one consists of a dessert made made with grapes and those grapes are locally produced here in Mardin and walnuts as well the second one is called as wedding dessert and this one is mainly made with saffron and walnut and the third one is also is also another dessert but this one is not with saffron this one is with turmeric a kaymak which is a special cream in in Turkey and milk and as well we have ordered something very interesting and this is called sherbet these ones are are very popular in Turkey and they are made with different type of fruits flowers even roses but specifically this one is made with many plants herbs spices like for example cinnamon a dried basil a lemon and many others so this one I think it will be very good especially right now that I'm feeling very bad for my throat because of the weather so I'm hoping this one will make me feel a little bit better now let's try this one and I think I didn't tell you this one but this one has zero sugar this is sugar free and this is really good in fact I believe it doesn't need any sugar any extra flavor because it already has plenty of flavor on its own so this one I really love it let's try the first one smells really good wow this is something that I have never tried in my life and I really liked it now here is the second one this is the one made with turmeric and now we're going with the third one which is made with saffron and walnuts oh this one is so good after finishing each one of them I would love to give you my verdict to be honest I thought that the one that I was gonna like the most was the one having kaymak because in my case everything that has kaymak that one is automatically my favorite but surprisingly my favorite was the one made with grape that one was really really good now it's time to show you another specialty and this this one is called harire kahvesi but this one has more like a milky texture and I will say that it kind of tastes a little bit similar to menengiç coffee which is very popular around the region as well this one it is very very soft to drink so even if you like coffee but you don't like very strong flavors I would suggest to try this one this is one of the most significant centers of the Assyrian church besides its magnificent architecture it is situated about five kilometers from the old part of Mardin the monastery which consists of three floors reaches present form in the 18th century with the additions made at different times starting from the 5th century according to chronicles the monastery was founded in the 5th century AD when the first church was built here the monastery was built on a complex which had been used as a sun temple dating back to 4 000 years when the inhabitants of this area were pagans when romans left the region the bones of some saints were brought here then this castle was converted into a monastery for this reason this monastery was first known as mor shleimun monastery after the 15th century it has been called as which means saffron monastery because of saffron plants growing around the monastery if you're wondering how we are able to explore some of the places that are a little bit far away from Mardin city center in our case we are on a private tour we just got a local guide here through reminder tour as well and that is how we are easily able to explore this area also you can you can join a tour you can join a group tour private or also even you can hire a car just if you hire a car be very careful with it because here the navigation is not very accurate and we found that in the hard way so just be a little bit careful with that but other than that you can easily explore this area as well. The ancient city of Dara is approximately 30 kilometers from According to medieval historians, Dara was a military garrison established by the Persian king Darius III and named after him. Dara is also known as the Ephesus of Mesopotamia. Today, only 10% of the ancient city is on the surface and 90% is still underground. Still remains of castles, bridges, water channels, water cisterns, churches, arastas, palaces, bazaars, dungeons, armory, rock tombs, and civil settlements can be seen. One of the most impressive building groups of Dara is the rock-cut tomb groups carved directly on bedrock. Hidden beneath the ancient city of Dara lies a marvel of Byzantine engineering. This massive cistern That's six meters deeper than Istanbul's iconic Basilica cistern. Holding an astonishing 10,000 cubic meters of water, it once covered the thirst of 40,000 people. An underground lifeline for an entire city. Another very interesting place that we really wanted to show you is that at the moment we are the closest point from Turkey and Syria. Basically just behind me it's where we can see the border of Syria but in the past this used to be one of the most important trade routes. Precisely the Silk Road and in the past this used to be one of the most important points of it. We have just arrived in a very special place here in Turkey and this one it's basically they know it also as a pizza village. Now you might be asking yourself why a pizza village in this region in the almost in the middle of nowhere because basically it's around one hour away from from Mardin city center but we will be telling you the story in a little bit. Now you will be wondering why in this village specifically they are making pizzas and this is not the only pizzeria that you can find around here you can find also plenty of other pizzerias in this village and the main reason is because many of the locals the Assyrians this is an Assyrian village when maybe like 20, 15, 20 years ago the situation in this area was bad. So many of them because it was very unsafe to to live here they had to move somewhere else and many of them chose to move to Europe. Some of them were living in Italy, in Switzerland, in Germany but later on when the situation in this area got much better and safer for them many of them came back to their lands so since they learned while living in Europe they learned how to make pizza they also started doing it here and now this village is also known as the pizza village so it feels very interesting because we are in another part of Turkey where you wouldn't believe that there is a pizza village but this is so interesting this is so unique so we are trying one. I already had a taste of one slice of one of the pizzas that we ordered and let me tell you that the flavor is really is really good. I'm not an expert at pizzas but at least the flavor is really good as well something that I really enjoyed here is that it's not it's not very thick because in my personal opinion I don't like super thick pizzas the slices here are very very thin so that so that way I can taste all the ingredients much better as well you can find some pizzas made with the local ingredients like chicken doner and some and some others but as well you can find them the authentic flavors like margarita, napolitan one and fungi and those other flavors as well An hour's drive from Mardin is a charming and rustic old city of Midyat. Syriac Orthodox churches exist within the old city but the highlight is the old culture house often setting for Turkish film sets. This place also offers a great opportunity to explore ancient Kurdish and Syriac heritage. If your travel plans involve the southeast of Turkey you should definitely put both of these towns on your list. And right now we are at one of the locations of one Turkish series probably some of you have heard of it and that TV series is called or soap opera is called Hercai. Let me know in comments below if any of you have watched it before. So this is basically one a Syriac mansion but now at the moment it is owned by the government and it is open to visitors as a museum so I highly recommend that if you are visiting Mardin you should absolutely come to Midyat and take a look into this beautiful mansion as well. Just as Mardin also Midyat it's an open-air museum. Here especially the highlight I will say it will be like the traditional houses that all of them have also all of them have the same color and they are from the Assyrian community as well. And that's a wrap on our journey through the incredible city of Mardin. From its ancient architecture to the stunning views and rich cultural heritage this place is truly one of a kind. If you enjoyed the video don't forget to give it a thumbs up, subscribe for more travel adventures and drop a comment below. I would love to hear your thoughts or story about Mardin if you have been here. Thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next video. Bye!