Philipp Peterer

Switzerland - 26-Aug-22 -

I flew in and out of Gaziantep to cover WHS in eastern Turkey and visited the town on my last day. The proposal talks about structures in plural. There might be several structures left, but there is only one fountain open for visits. It is more or less correctly marked on Google Maps as “Pisirici Mescidi Ve Kasteli”. The Google entry says it is open around the clock, but I highly doubt this is true. Just go for office hours to make sure you get in. There was a tiny house with a guard and next to it stairs leading down to the kastel. The guard just let me in. There seems to be no ticket fee.

What you can see down there is basically one room. A nice room with a fountain and small side niches, but still one small room. There was some information in English available, but even including reading those it’s hardly more than a 15 minutes visit. Not sure is this is enough for enscription.

Spending 15 minutes in a hole is not the only reason to visit Gaziantep. The Zeugma museum is clearly worth a visit. I also visited the castle with its very patriotic and rather tacky panorama museum inside. Further, the town is known for good food. I had a nice dinner in İmam Çağdaş Kebap ve Baklava restaurant. While I have a question mark behind this TWHS, I can recommend a visit to Gaziantep.