Diyarbakır

The oldest mosque in Anatolia, built in 1091 by Malikh Shah, Emir of the Seljuk Turks.

Caravanserai built 1620, now a pleasant courtyard with cafes, bookstores and souvenir shops.

The largest Armenian church in the Middle East, founded in 1515, and built in its present form in 1883. It was derelict for decades but restored to re-open in 2011. It was badly damaged in civil strife in 2016, when the Turkish government seized this and many other churches, but it re-opened for services in 2022.

Small museum depicting the history and prehistory of the city and surrounds.

A Syrian Orthodox church founded in the 3rd century.

Roman citadel on a hillock guarding the trade route through the valley. The site was fortified at least as far back as the 7th century BC, but what you see now is mostly a rebuild in the 5th / 6th century AD under Emperors Anastasius I Diocus and Justinian I. It was abandoned after the Arab takeover of the region in the 7th century AD, though there was brief civilian re-settlement from time to time, the last from 1890 to the 1960s. Archaeological work only started in 2014 and continues. Ruins uncovered to date include several residences, a palace, cisterns, baths, an 800-m long water channel, grain stores and an arsenal. The star attraction, carved into the rock east end of the site, is the temple to Mithras. This major Roman religion was derived from Zoroastrianism, but was supplanted by Christianity during the 4th century. Wear stout shoes, there’s a good path but it’s a bit of a climb from the entrance and lots of uneven ground.