April 2026

In April, our humans were going to a conference in Istanbul and they would be exploring the ancient civilisation at Gobeklitepe as well. Check out the map to follow our route.

Click each photo to enlarge

Sabina 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 Sabina Gökcen Havalimani.

En route Istanbul to Gaziantep, May 2026

We left Istanbul on an Airbus A321 from Pegasus from Sabina Gökcen to Gaziantep. Shortly after take off, the sky cleared and we had some fantastic views. To McBear's pleasent surprise, it happened that the flight path went straight over a mighty mountain.
"That's the Erciyes Dagi volcano!" McBear said in excitement.
"It's nearly 14.000 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 arrivals hall 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.

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

We enjoyed the fantastic views along the Euphrates river banks.

Mount Nemrut, May 2026

Then the group reaches within range of the mountain range that encopasses the famous Mountain, Nemrut. At 7,200 feet, the summit of Mount Nemtut is driveable to around 7,000 feet. It's a famous mountain and there are some features near the summit worth visiting. It would of course be a bit of a challenge...

Mount Nemrut, May 2026

Here we are lined up for a photo shoot at the Mount Nemrut Visitor Centre.

Mount Nemrut, May 2026

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

Mount Nemrut, May 2026

Almost at the summit, these 2,000 years old, ancient sculptures are a surprising find.

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 in fact gotten a ride in our human's rucksack. Eh... well, she was right, yeah, so we didn't really suffer from sore legs.

Next on agenda was Göbekli Tepe, a now world famous archaeological site. As part of the introduction to Göbekli Tepe we visited a museum which features a model of site. Some of the sculptures that were created more than 11,000 years ago were enormous. How did they manage back then?

Göbekli Tepe, May 2026

As the coach made its arrival to the archaeological site, a massive, dark cloud emerged from the horizon. It looked threatening.
"It's not looking promising..." Roger mumbled.

Göbekli Tepe, May 2026

Göbekli Tepe is a fantastic achievement considering how old it is - more than 11,000 years old. That's not a long 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 mellow weather next morning. Roger was nearly dry. McBear was also dry, however, the hail storm yesterday had left him with a feeling, that he might be permanently wet now.

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 the biblical character Abraham.

Mevlid-I Halil Mosque, 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. At this once walled city, an ancient fortress had been built and the Turkish government was working on restoring the castle. Harran is famous for its houses with strange looking strange looking 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. As we lined up, however, 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 up", could we? We didn't get her email address, so we were able to email her the picture - but we appreciated 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."
"It could mean that drivers must look out for dromedaries coming from the right." Tom proposed.
"The right? Howabout from the left?"
"Well, it says something about Harran on the sign, so maybe dromedaroes only appear from the right in Harran."

Harran, May 2026

Before we left Harran, another citizens came our way: this handsome fellow.
"He really looks handsome, doesn't he? Asked Tom.
"Maybe he's dressed up to be on the outlook for a partner, I mean, weddings do take place in this town..."

Karahantepe, May 2026

On the way east, the group visited another excavation site, this one was named Karahantepe. Only recently, a visitor center opened here. Karahantepe is believed to be even older than Göbekli Tepe, perhaps as old as 10,000 BCE.

Mardin, May 2026

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

Mardin, May 2026

We were staying at a hotel in the old part of Mardin. This morning we would doing a city walk around.

Mardin, May 2026

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