Today we travel on towards Mardin and Diyarbakir. In Diyarbakir you will visit the great basalt walls and gates, said to be second in extent only to the Great Wall of China; The Meryem Ana church, today still used by Syrian Orthodox also called Jacobites. In Mardin we take you for a walk through an lovely old city center with its vivid bazaar. Of course you will be taken to the monastery of Mar Hanania (Deyrul Zafaran), where Aramenic, the language of Jesus, is still the liturgical tongue. Once this monastery was the seat of the Syrian Orthodox patriarchate. Outside Mardin on the Tür Abdin plateau you visit the Mar Gabriel monastery, home of the Archbishop of Tür Abdin. Two overnight stays in Diyarbakir.

Eight & Ninth Day