Şanlıurfa

Şanlıurfa

Understand Balıklıgöl, the pool of holy fish Urfa stands at a point where the plains of Mesopotamia make an indent into the mountains of Anatolia. So it’s on a trade route and has been settled for thousands of years, with a long list of city names awarded by successive conquerors. Edessa was the name assigned in 303 BC by the Seleucids, meaning abundant water. In 1031 AD it was the last major capture by the declining Byzantines, and its fall in 1144 prompted the Second Crusade (a debacle in the east, though they gained Portugal.) It came under Ottoman control in 1517, by which time Urfa was the city’s usual name. It fell on hard times by 1700, and especially after the Suez Canal opened in 1869, when sea trade supplanted the plod of camels along overland routes. Urfa Climate chart (explanation) JFMAMJJASOND 81 11 3 66 13 4 58 18 7 45 23 11 26 30 17 5.8 36 22 2 40 25 4 39 25 8.1 35 21 25 28 16 51 19…

Source: Wikivoyage · CC BY-SA 4.0.