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Batman

Country:
Turkey
State:
Batman
City:
Batman
Type of Location:
Multiple
About Location

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Places to Visit
How to Reach

By Air

There is also a regional airport outside of Batman which provides direct flights to Izmir, Ankara and Istanbul.The airport is combined with the military Batman Air Base.The base was renovated after the US-Turkey agreement in 1982 to make the base available for US tactical aircraft acting within NATO forces.This allowed them patrolling the region of Caucasus, Turkey and Iran without refueling.The base was then used for aid delivery and rescue missions in Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War.

By Train

from Istanbul and Ankara via Diyarbakır by Guney Express, which has its last stop in Kurtalan, about 40 km further east from Batman. It departs three times a week. The same train departs from Batman on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays around 9-10AM in the morning on its way back to Istanbul, passing via Diyarbakır (about 2 hours from Batman). A bed in a sleeper car costs slightly more than 60 TL between Istanbul and Batman. Credit cards are accepted in Batman station. Trains to Istanbul get really overcrowded during early August because of huge numbers of seasonal workers taking the train to get to hazelnut orchards around Adapazarı and Eastern Marmara on the way (short of two hours from Istanbul—the last stop of the trains), and it is impossible to find a ticket further than Diyarbakır during that season without booking/buying the ticket in advance. Even if you can find a ticket, the ride is very uncomfortable, and because of the huge numbers of passengers getting off the train in almost each stop—even if it is in the middle of nowhere, where normally no one ever gets on or off—to replenish their water from station fountains, trains are extremely delayed, and it takes almost two full days to get to Istanbul. Avoid if you are not deadly on budget.

By Bus

Buses are available from various cities across Turkey, especially frequent are the services from surrounding cities such as Diyarbakir and Tatvan (at least one daily; it costs 15 TL pp from Tatvan). The bus station (otogar) of the city is located in the northern outskirts, about one to one and a half hour walk away from the city centre/train station.

Key places to visit
Hasankeyf, Malabadi Bridge, Zeynel Bey Museum, Imam Abdullah Tomb

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Places to Visit

Hasankeyf

is the most popular area of the vicinity due to its historic wealth. The city stands as living evidence to the multifaceted cultural foundations of the Arabs, Seljuks, Mongolians and Ottomans and houses a plethora of valuable remnants from the past. The place is a major tourist attraction with its unlimited treasure of antique civilizations. Sadly, most of it will be lost under the flows of rivers after the completion of the GAP project for building dams in the region. Work is already on to salvage as much of historical evidence as possible. Currently, tourists will find small rest rooms and eating joints in the numerous caves of Hasankeyf. You can enjoy a truly remarkable experience when you see history so closely in the magnificent remnants of the place.

Malabadi Bridge

is an arch bridge spanning the Batman River near the town of Silvan in southeastern Turkey. It was built between 1146 and 1147 during the Artuk period by Timurtas of Mardin, son of Ilgazi, grandson of Artuk. It was restored in the late twelfth century, and recently in the beginning of the 20th century. It was once the only bridge across the river in this area, and was in continuous use until the 1950s, when a new road bridge was opened upstream.The span of the bridge crosses perpendicular to the river, but the roadway is at an angle to the river, so there are angular breaks in the east and west approaches. The approaches rise from ground level to meet the central span, which is a pointed arch high over the deepest part of the river. Constructed from colored solid masonry, the approaches have small arches built into them to let flood-waters through. Two of the piers of the bridge sit in the river; the western support is decorated with two carved figures, one standing and one sitting. The bridge is 150 m (160 yd) long and 7 m (23 ft) wide, 19 m (62 ft) in height and a main span of 38.6 m (127 ft).The roadway has two toll-booths, one either side of the main span. The spandrels of the main arch incorporate small rooms for weary travelers.

Zeynel Bey Museum

Named after Zeynel Bey, this museum is opposite Hasankeyf on the Tigris River. Bey was the son of Uzun Hassan ruler of the Akkoyunlu Dynasty which ruled over Hasankeyf in the 15th century.During the brief reign of the Ak Koyunlu Turkomen in Hasankeyf in the late fifteenth century, the city was chosen for the kümbet (tomb) of Zeynel Bey, the eldest son of Uzun Hasan. The tomb is on the north bank of the Tigris across from the city.Zeynel Bey died in battle in 1473, and was buried in a circular brick kümbet glazed with navy blue and turquoise tiles built by architect Pir Hasan. The building is a cylinder of diagonal patterns made using brick and tile, with a pointed arch portal doorway on the north and a window in the south wall. Above the main shaft is a slightly smaller diameter shaft, which has small windows in each of the cardinal directions an carries a hemispherical dome.

Imam Abdullah Tomb

This cube-shaped tomb lies west of the new bridge in Hasankeyf and it the tomb of Imam Abdullah. Abdullah was the grandson of Cafer-i Tayyar, uncle of the prophet Mohammad. The tomb is dated to the 14th century and an epitaph on the tomb states that the tomb was restored in the Ayyubid period.

Right Time to Visit

December - February
June - September

Temperature

Information not available


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