Turkey

Queen of the Euphrates in Halfeti

Halfeti

The day trip debacle to Harran left me in a pickle.

Harran hadn’t been a part of my original Trapped in Turkey itinerary. The day trip I REALLY wanted to do from Urfa was to Halfeti, a drowned town famous for its black roses, Euphrates boat rides, and submerged minaret.

Halfeti, however, is nearly two hours away from Urfa, and we couldn’t find a bus that went there. The only option was, again, to drive with the owner of our guesthouse.

I was still upset about the previous day’s miscommunication and reluctant to pay more money to this guy. But there was no other way to get there. We haggled the price down a bit, and it probably would have been reasonable, had we not felt so taken advantage of the day before.

Everyone was dissatisfied with the deal, but we– two of us, the guesthouse owner, and his wife– piled into the car and drove two hours past pistachio fields to Halfeti.

Our Guide

Old Halfeti no longer exists. The town was taken out by a dam that raised the water level above the roofs; the residents moved to higher ground and called their new town New Halfeti (Yeni Halfeti, in Turkish.) However, the old town is still a draw– the eerie sight of the local mosque’s minaret rising out of the Euphrates river is a main attraction of the new town’s popular boat rides.

Our guide found a boat for us but the price quoted was four times as high as he’d originally told us. The trust between us was pretty well frayed at this point, so we went off to find a better deal. My Turkish isn’t great, but I know enough to haggle prices, and quickly found a cheaper option.

 Boat in Halfeti

Arguments ensued. Our guide was obviously angry, and we got the sense that he’d made a deal with the first boat. Maybe he was planning on taking a commission. Either way, he still got the last jab– we found out at the end of the boat ride that we’d not only paid for ourselves, but also for the guide and his wife.

Everyone was a bit annoyed.

On The Euphrates

But then the boat set sail and a cool breeze cut through the 100 degree heat and the sprawling cerulean of the Euphrates River surrounded me. Sometimes the smallest facts become “pinch me” moments; floating on a river that I’d heard about so often in school was one of them. Giant sand-colored cliffs rose majestically above the water.

The boat blasted music, shifting from Rihanna to Kurdish wedding music and back, the sound echoing off the river and the looming cliffs.

Queen Katrinka of the Euphrates

I moved to the bow of the boat and felt like the Queen of the Euphrates. Ruins crumbled off the sides of the cliffs, oozing with history that our “guide” did not bother to explain to us. The air was cool and the sun beat down and I glided along, content after such a travel debacle to reach this place.

Cool Boat

In the hot Turkish summer, dryness and drought had brought down the water level at Old Halfeti, but the minaret of the underwater mosque was as bizarre as the pictures I’d seen. How strange it must be to have your home, your grandparents’ home, submerged by the government and then reappropriated as a tourist attraction. The Kurdish pop songs blared out, drowning out my contemplation, and we floated on and on and eventually back to our beginning.

Submerged Minaret

Was Halfeti worth the hassle to get there? That’s questionable. The trip ended up costing more than I’d planned to spend and our “guide” was grumpy, manipulative, and drove in reverse on the highway twice.

But I like to focus on the positive and I refused to let the negativity surrounding the journey get in the way of enjoying Halfeti’s main attraction: the boat ride down the Euphrates. I truly enjoyed that oasis and coolness and calmness in the middle sweltery Southeast Turkey. If you rent a car to explore this region of the country, I highly recommend exploring this strange little place. If not, it’s still fascinating– just know that getting there might be a whole adventure in itself.

On The Banks

6 Comments

  • Polly
    September 23, 2014 at 11:49 AM

    That’s too bad about the guide – it seems like that happens more often than anyone would like – but what a cool experience anyway.

    Reply
  • Michael
    September 24, 2014 at 12:09 PM

    It is sad to hear about your guide – it can ruin experiences if you don’t adopt the right attitude. Did you see any black roses though?!

    Reply
    • Katrinka
      September 25, 2014 at 2:19 PM

      I didn’t! I think it was the wrong season for them, and they are so rare anyway. Alas!

      Reply
  • Becki
    September 25, 2014 at 2:33 PM

    Will never forget the drama of that day…. but we made our own little adventure in the end!

    Reply
    • Katrinka
      September 25, 2014 at 2:38 PM

      Ha, for better or for worse there will never be a day like it again… (thanks for surviving it with me)

      Reply
  • Tom @ Waegook Tom
    September 26, 2014 at 1:52 PM

    Well getting there sounds like a royal pain in the backside. You should name and shame that guide if you haven’t already done so in another post. At least the main reason you went there turned out to be worth it though!

    Reply

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