The next morning we took a winding route through Eyyubiye toward one of Urfa’s great religious jewels, the Pool of Abraham. On the way Anya beelined to a carsi firin, a communal oven where customers waited by the window with pans of Urfa’s glossy peppers and eggplants to be char-roasted and handed back with chewy flatbread straight from the wood-fired stone oven. Dr. Bedlek reprised the details as we strolled around the large, rectangular stone pool where pilgrims and tourists were feeding the plump sacred fish. All about, couples posed in gaudy rented Ottoman outfits — and despite my protests, Anya pressured me into dressing up likewise. Just beyond lies the Dergah complex of a park, a rose garden and more mosques alongside a venerated small cave.

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Persons: Abraham, Anya beelined, chewy, Bedlek, Abraham — Balikli, Nimrod, —, Anya Locations: Eyyubiye, Turkish, Damlacik