April 2026

In April, our humans went to a conference in Istanbul. We attended as delegates and followed the group as it went southeast to Mesopotamia to explore the ancient civilisation at Göbekli Tepe. Check out the map to follow our route.

Click each photo to enlarge

Sabiha Gökcen Airport, May 2026

It was a very rainy morning as we left the Yildiz Technical University campus. We were taken by coach to an airport southeast of Istanbul called Sabiha Gökcen Havalimani. We told McBear that this was also a havalimani. McBear, however, dismissed our claim and said we were conducting unfair teasing.

En route Istanbul to Gaziantep, May 2026

We were flying Pegasus on an Airbus A321 to Gaziantep in southeastern Turkiye. Shortly after take off, the sky cleared up and we had some fantastic views. McBear got all excited as it happened that the flight path went straight over a mighty, snow capped mountain.
"That's a volcano!" he almost shouted.
McBear checked out the map and concluded, it could only be the huge Erciyes Dagi volcano.
"It's 13.000 feet tall, wow!" he added.
The other bear delegates were sitting yawning.
"Will you be listing every single volcano in Turkiye?"
"McBear, leave the window and come and have some coffee with us. You need to get a life.

Gaziantep Airport, May 2026

We arrived Gaziantep airport and followed our humans to the bagage claim to pick up our luggage. Our photographer was going to take a group photo of us to document that we had actually arrived Gaziantep. The image, however, turned out to be blurred. Luckily, one of our fellow delegates, Tatiana, took a photo of us with her mobile phone, and she sent us a copy for the record. Thank you, Tatiana, our photographer was grateful, and he asked us to let you know.

The Euphrates River, May 2026

We went on a boat ride to explore the famous Euphrates River. From Turkiye, the river flows into the northern part of Iraq and runs through Bagdad along with the other famous river, Tigris.

The Euphrates River, May 2026

The views along the Euphrates river banks were fantastic, and we had a lovely time.

Mount Nemrut, May 2026

Then it was time to drive to a famous mountain, the nearly 8,000 feet tall Mount Nemrut. The group made a stop at a hill, from where we could se the mountain range that encompasses the Mount Nemrut. It is possible to drive fairly close to the summit and park at an carpark at around 7,400 feet. The Nemrut is famous for its sunrises and sunset, and there are some features near the summit worth visiting. It would of course be a bit of a challenge...

Mount Nemrut, May 2026

On the way upwards, the coach stopped at the Mount Nemrut Visitor Center. We lined up for a photo shoot out.

Mount Nemrut, May 2026

The road ended at a car park with a steep angle. From here, there would be 300 steps leading up towards the summit. McBear and Roger assessed the situation and agreed that it would probably be a good idea to accept a ride in our humans rucksack.

Mount Nemrut, May 2026

Almost at the summit, these ancient sculptures are a surprising feature. It was very dark, however, so it was difficult for our photographer to get a clear shot. And the clouds made the sky very blurred, so there would no amazing sunset. The group had been granted permission to view the "Lion's Horoscope", but no photos were allowed, hence no photos here.

Sanliurfa, May 2026

Climbing Mount Nemrut had been quite an effort, so we woke up with very sore legs. But that only lasted until dr. Cambridge reminded us that we had gotten a ride in our human's rucksack. Oh... well, yeah, actually we did, so perhaps we didn't really suffer from sore legs.

Next on agenda was Göbekli Tepe, a now world famous archaeological site. As a kind of introduction to Göbekli Tepe we visited a museum which features a model of the site. Some of the sculptures that were created 11,000 years ago were enormous, some up to 5,5 meters tall. How did they manage, so many years ago, to chop out and carve the sculptures from the rock and erect the stones?

Göbekli Tepe, May 2026

As the coach made its arrival at the car park near the archaeological site, a massive, dark cloud emerged from the horizon. It didn't look promissing.
"Will we get wet, thatis the big question" McBear said to the others.

Göbekli Tepe, May 2026

Göbekli Tepe is a fantastic achievement considering how old it is - around 11,000 years old. That's not a long time after the last ice age ended. Like so many visitors, we were all in awe. But before our visit ended, we were hit by a massive rain storm with massive hails and thunder og lightning. Although we took refuge inside our humans rucksack, some of us got half drenched.

Mevlid-I Halil Mosque, Sanliurfa, May 2026

Having got drenched at Göbekli Tepe, we encountered a much more friendly next morning. Roger was nearly dry. McBear was also dry, however, the experience had left him with a feeling of being permanently wet.

On today's agenda was a visit to the Mevlid-I Halil Mosque. southwest of Sanliurfa's city center. This place is famous as it is believed, that a nearby cave was the birth place of Abraham of the Bible.

Mevlid-I Halil, Sanliurfa, May 2026

Just like in Istanbul, people here were looking after cats in the streets. A member of our group did the same, she offered a local cat some delicious, boiled egg.

Harran, May 2026

We left Sanliurfa and the coach took us to Harran. Once, in ancient times this was a walled city with a fortress. Today, the Turkish government was working on restoring the castle. Harran is famous for its strange looking houses with chimneys. As we arrived, a wedding in the village was taking place.

Harran, May 2026

We wished to get a group selfie and asked our photographer to take the picture. But just as we lined up, a follower appeared, possibly curious to see what was going on. Even though we felt awkward about the situation, we couldn't really tell the follower to "buzz off", could we? We didn't get her email address, so we were not able to email her the picture - but we did appreciate her appearance.

We noticed the road sign with the dromedaries.
"Can anybody read what it says?" asked Roger.
"Well, it could be that if you piss off a dromedary, you risk it pisses on you."
"No it doesn't, McBear, you are being silly.
"It could mean that drivers arriving Harran must look out for dromedaries coming from the right." Tom proposed.
"The right? Howabout from the left?"
"Well, the sign mentions Harran, so maybe dromedaries are only allowed to appear from the right in Harran..."
"You too are being silly." Roger said.

Harran, May 2026

Before we left Harran, another citizen came our way: this handsome fellow.
"He really looks handsome, doesn't he? asked Tom.
"Maybe he's on the outlook for a potential partner, and weddings do take place in this village..."

Our coach left Harran and headed east.

Karahantepe, May 2026

On the way, the group visited another excavation site. This site was named Karahantepe. The site was dicovered in 1997, but only recently a visitor center opened here.
Karahantepe is believed to be even older than Göbekli Tepe, and there are excavations ongoing.

Mardin, May 2026

Late in the night, we arrived the last city on our tour: Mardin. Mardin is located in the southeast of Turkiye, close to be border to Syria. Actually, from our balcony high above the plains we could see far into Syria.

Mardin, May 2026

We were staying at a hotel in the old part of Mardin. Next morning we left the hotel. The luggage was loaded onto the coach and we did a city walk by foot.

Mardin, May 2026

We stopped at the local square and enjoyed some strong, Turkish coffee.

From Mardin, the coach headed north, bound for the airport in Batman. And from here, we had seats on an airline, A-jet, back to Istanbul. It had been a couple of very educational and unforgettable weeks in Turkiye.