Balikligol
Pools Of Sacred Carp With Mosque Complex And The Cave Of Abraham; A Working Muslim Pilgrimage Site At The Centre Of Sanliurfa · Sanliurfa, Sanliurfa
At the centre of Sanliurfa, under the castle rock, two spring-fed pools are packed with carp that nobody will touch. The story attached to them is that Nimrod had Abraham thrown from the citadel into a fire, and that God turned the fire to water and the burning coals to fish - which is why the fish are sacred, why feeding them is a constant local trade, and why eating one is unthinkable here. Around the pools are two Ottoman mosques, colonnaded courtyards, a garden that the whole city uses in the evening, and the Cave of Abraham, which pilgrims enter through separate doors for men and women to drink from the spring inside. It is a religious site first and a sight second, and it is busy with pilgrims from across Turkiye and beyond. Most visitors now arrive because of Gobekli Tepe half an hour away, and find that the city itself is the better half of the trip. The bazaar five minutes away is one of the best in the country and sees almost no foreign visitors.
Camlik Caddesi, Golbasi, Haliliye, Sanliurfa, Sanliurfa, Sanliurfa, Turkiye
The pools and gardens are open public space at all hours and free. The mosques and the Cave of Abraham keep daytime hours, close to visitors around the five daily prayers, and the cave has separate entrances for men and women. Fridays and religious holidays are extremely busy. Summer afternoons are avoided by everyone local.