Our first-time, month-long, visit to Turkey started August 21, 2023. Last year the country’s name was officially changed to Turkiye. The first part of the journey, the western/central region we explored on our own.

For the last portion we joined an organized 12-day archeological tour to explore the east. We saw so much in a short amount of time. It challenged our ability to absorb the onslaught of gobsmacking cradle of civilization encounters. In a perfect world we wanted at least twice as much time overall. One thing we really missed was having a day off in between certain big days to just catch our breath and look at all the pictures we took. (We’re doing that now in Peru!) The flip side was that we efficiently discovered so many epic destinations, were lead by experts who could help unpack the archeological wonders for us and we didn’t have to worry about any of the logistics. It was hard letting go of the control of our schedule some days. But one of the best parts of the group tour was our band of 20 kind-hearted kindred spirits from five continents. What a great group of people! We got along swimmingly! One casualty — we don’t want any more chicken kebab for the foreseeable future!

Below are our destinations, where we stayed and what we saw. Each destination includes a select slideshow of our hotel and one select slideshow of what we did there. Because of the quantity and quality of our archeological discoveries, some entries include a link to additional Turkiye Archeological Highlights.

September 13, 2023

Gazikonagi Hotel — Mardin

September 13, 2023/ Global Hotel Guys

Wow, that was quick! We stay one night September 13th 2023 as part of our organized Eastern Turkey archeological tour. We got there after 9 pm and left about 9 am the following morning. In between hotel stays of a longer duration in Sanliurfa and Lake Van, we had three one-night stays. Our stop in Mardin was the third of the three single quick nights as we made our way across a broad swath of southern Turkiye. We’d been told by fellow travelers we met along the way that Mardin was a highlight. While the hotel was certainly convenient it wasn’t anything special. But the unique geography of the area was breathtaking and the town of Mardin was colorful and a very happy, welcoming place for our night’s stay. More pics of Mardin coming soon. Below are just the hotel.

> More archeological travel highlights from Mardin <

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