A city you come to for the food
Gaziantep is the largest city in south-eastern Türkiye and the place where the country eats best. That is not just my opinion: UNESCO added it to its network of Creative Cities of Gastronomy. On top of that, it has one of the largest mosaic museums in the world, an old town of limestone houses and caravanserais, and a history that runs from the Hittites to the Crusaders.
You come here to see a museum in the morning and to eat for the rest of the day. In that order.
What to see
Zeugma Mosaic Museum
Zeugma was a Roman city on the banks of the Euphrates whose villas disappeared beneath the reservoir of a dam in 2000. The mosaics were rescued before the water rose, and today they fill a museum of 30,000 square metres: scenes of Dionysus, Achilles and Poseidon, and the Gypsy Girl, a gaze two thousand years old that has become the symbol of the city. For me, it is one of the three great museums of Türkiye.
The castle and Bey Mahallesi
The castle stands on an ancient mound in the middle of the city and houses the museum of the defence of 1920–21, the siege that earned the city the title of Gazi, "veteran" (hence Gaziantep). Below it, the Bey Mahallesi neighbourhood keeps its stone courtyard houses, many of them now cafés and small museums: the culinary museum, the toy and games museum, the city museum.
The bazaar
From first thing in the morning you hear the hammers in the workshops of the Coppersmiths' Bazaar (Bakırcılar Çarşısı). Next door, the Ottoman covered markets, Zincirli Bedesten and Kemikli Bedesten, sell pistachios, dried peppers, sumac and leather. This is a working bazaar, not a souvenir market.
Rumkale and the Euphrates
About an hour away, a fortress rises above a bend of the Euphrates. It is linked to St John and to the patriarchs of the Armenian Church, and you reach it by boat from Halfeti, the half-submerged village known for its black roses.
When to go
From March to May and from September to November. In summer the temperature climbs above 40 °C. September is pistachio harvest time, and the whole city smells of roasting nuts.
Getting there
There are direct flights to Gaziantep Airport (GZT) from Istanbul (about 1 h 45 min) and Ankara. By road, Şanlıurfa is two and a half hours away, Hatay also two and a half, and Adana three.
What to eat
Antep baklava, made with local pistachios and clarified butter, eaten in the city's historic baklava houses; beyran, a lamb soup that people have for breakfast; Ali Nazik, kebab served on smoked aubergine purée with yoghurt; Antep-style lahmacun; yuvalama on feast days; and a freshly made pistachio katmer for breakfast. Leave room: there is always one more dish.
How to fit it into your trip
Two full days. Gaziantep is the easiest gateway to the south-eastern route, with Urfa, Mount Nemrut and Mardin, and the best city to start in: once you have eaten here, you will compare everything else to it.