Halfeti - An Amazing End to the Day - from the Mountains to the River!

After our early morning visit to Mount Nemrut, we drove for just over 3 hours to the town of Halfeti.  The beauty of starting out so early meant we reached our destination by around 2 pm, even with a couple of short breaks along the way.  Our arrival time was perfect as I was desperate for a nap.  We stayed at the Turkmen Konagi Halfeti Butik Hotel and it was quite nice and decorated in the traditional style.  We went into town first to have something to eat – just a light snack – before going back to the hotel where I had a nap.  We drove down to and back from the water as neither of us were too keen on walking down and back up a hill after what we'd done in the morning!  Atahan  arranged a private boat tour on the water for us for about 4000 lira or around $130 CAD.  It was perfect as we picked up the boat at the marina and then were taken along the river to see the historic scenery such as some Roman ruins and then to what was left of the part of Halfeti when it was submerged to make a reservoir.  The following is what I had read about before I left home.

Halfeti was once a place thriving along the Euphrates which is now partly submerged after the construction of the Birecik Dam in the early 2000s.  What remains is a town divided into two: Old Halfeti, now mostly underwater, and New Halfeti, where life continues along the river.  The sunken village, the mosque with its half-submerged minaret, and the silence over the water tell the story of a place that was forced to change but never lost its identity.  It’s also the only place in the world where black roses (Karagül) bloom—a rare flower nurtured by the region’s unique soil and water.  Grown in secrecy and shade, Karagül doesn’t bloom elsewhere.  Here, it’s not just a flower but a symbol of something that can exist only under very specific, fragile conditions—like Halfeti itself. 

The boat trip began with views of rocky hills and steep cliffs, leading toward Savaşan Village (Savaşan Köyü)—the heart of what remains of Old Halfeti.  Once a vibrant riverside community, Savaşan now lives quietly beneath the surface.  Rooflines, courtyards, and scattered walls still trace the shape of what used to be. The half-submerged mosque, with its slender minaret still standing in the water, is the most striking image.  It doesn’t demand attention—it invites it.  As the boat moves closer, the air often carries the sound of Urfa folk songs, played softly in the background. You don’t need explanation. The place speaks for itself.

The Halfeti boat tour also passed Rumkale, a fortress perched where the Euphrates and Merzimen rivers converge, its stone walls etched into the cliffs like a sentinel standing guard over millennia.  This was no ordinary military post—it was a place where power, faith, and strategy collided. Its name, Rumkale—literally “Roman Castle” — only reflects a part of its layered past.  Before and after the Romans, this high bluff was occupied by the Assyrians, Armenians, Byzantines, and later the Mamluks, each leaving behind traces in stone, scripture, and silence.  Strategically positioned on a peninsula surrounded by water on three sides, Rumkale was nearly impenetrable.  Its natural defenses made it a coveted stronghold during times of empire and conquest. But Rumkale wasn’t only a fortress—it was a religious center.  During the early Christian period, it became an important site for missionaries and monks.  According to tradition, Saint John the Evangelist took refuge here in the 1st century AD, escaping persecution during the rise of the Roman Empire.  It is believed that he spent part of his exile within these walls, translating sacred texts into Syriac, a language that would become foundational to early Christian communities across Mesopotamia and the Levant.  Some accounts even suggest that early copies of the Bible were safeguarded here, protected behind stone walls and the watchful eye of the Euphrates.  

When I boarded our boat – just the two of us and a couple of crew – I was given an artificial version of the afore-mentioned black rose.  We passed Rumkale on the way to the submerged village.  It was impossible to take too many pictures!  The scenery was breathtaking. 

My black rose

What was very cool was that, on the return, the boat docked at the restaurant where we were going to have dinner and, all we had to do, was step off the boat and sit at our waterside table.  Perfect!  What made it even more perfect is that they served alcohol so I had a bottle of wine while Atahan had reki with our dinner.  He decided to stay on after dinner to chat with some of the guys in the restaurant so one of them drove me back to the hotel.  It had been a very memorable day and one that will be etched in my mind forever!  I sure was glad to get to bed and sleep though!

Tomorrow, we head south to get to the Med coast as both of us are missing the sea in spite of the amazing experience being in eastern Turkey has been.  One thing I have failed to mention to date, particularly whenever we were close to the Iranian or Syrian border, is the number of military and security checks we have gone through as we drove along the highways.  I would say that we were stopped at least one or two times each day and required to show our identification before we could drive on.  Many of those stops were by heavily armed soldiers with military vehicles parked close by.