Hasankeyf Castle

I woke up early morning with full of excitement and anticipation of the sights I will be seeing around Hasankeyf and first order of the day is the castle.  The walk from my accommodation (Hasankeyf Hasbahce) is about 7 minutes to the entrance of the castle.

I passed by a line of souvenir shops and restaurants on both sides of the street at the town’s small bazaar, and the Rizk Mosque on the right side with its tall red minaret and the entrance of the castle after the mosque at the end of the street.  I know beforehand that the place was closed, but who knows, things may have changed.  For “safety reason” it is really closed.  I went to the small road up the side of the fence to get a good view, but I am not really contented with what I was getting. 

Dwellings carved at the castle.

View of the castle from the side of the entrance.

The path is on the left side of the castle entrance, although the easier way to do it is through the paths at the rear side of Suleyman Mosque.  I did it the other way around, on the side of the castle and onto the valley passing along and in between the gorges with those crevices or caves carved on the mountain walls, uphill to the base side of the canyon and left to the hill along some village houses, then there I found the historical Ali Aga Kasri or Aga’s Mansion.  I went through the gate where I found couple of tables and chairs beside a view deck.  

The path on the side of the castle to get to the top of a cliff.

Passing by a local harvesting some vegetables?

The whole castle complex is laid out on a range of rock mountain escarpment swooping upward with a small castle sitting dramatically right up on the tip of the cliff hundred meters perpendicularly straight above the flowing river and it overlooks the whole town below.  Staring just below it, I could deduce a vertical line that appeared to resemble a fissure on the supporting rock cliff that look as if it’s going to break up and fall down the river.  Sorry, that was my wild imagination working. It has been standing there for centuries, so why would it.

Now, that's a better breath-taking view of the castle from up the hill.

A portion of the castle complex.

The ruins at the castle complex dates back to the Byzantine era and the vastness of it incorporates the Great Mosque, palace houses, fortresses, and dwellings mostly carved on the face of the cliff.

The castle complex is adjacent to the view deck where I was seated sipping a cup of tea.

Most of Hasankeyf’s archaeological sights are entry free except perhaps for the Citadel which unfortunately was closed indefinitely in August 2012 until further notice.