Where, you might wonder, did all the stones to build Harran come from?
For most travellers Harran and the beehive houses are the end of an expedition into the semi-desert around Urfa. With your own transport, however, you might like to continue east towards Soğmater following a road that was only asphalted fairly recently but now comes with clear brown tourist-attraction signs to guide you.
If you do this, your first stop along the way would be at what is signed as the Bazda Mağarası (Bazda Caves) but is actually a vast ancient quarry in an abandoned village.
Bazda has a biblical quality to it. Great overhanging rockfaces have lines chiseled across them where the stone was sliced away not just to create Harran, but also for Urfa, and for the nearby Han-el Ba’rür caravanserai and Şuayb Şehri.
It’s an extraordinarily peaceful, evocative place where sparrowhawks nest on the ledges, blue rollers flash sapphire across the sandy backdrop, and panting, weary sheep take refuge from the blazing heat in vast man-made caverns. Bring good shoes if you want to explore properly.
Transport info
There is no public transport to get you here but tour companies in Urfa should be able to incorporate the quarry into a day trip.
