Mardin in 2 days: the old city, Midyat and the monasteries

Begin the day at this madrasa below the old city on the southern slope, while its courtyard is still quiet. Building began under the Artuqids and was completed under the Akkoyunlu; it is part of a complex with a mosque and a tomb. Its south front opens onto the plain, and looking out over the Mesopotamian flatlands from the courtyard explains at once why Mardin climbs this hillside. GoTürkiye notes symbols of astronomy and medicine on its walls; look for them as you walk slowly around the courtyard.

High in the old city and known for its domes and tall portal, this madrasa was built by the last Artuqid ruler of Mardin. The view from its courtyards and terraces over the plain is one of the city's most familiar sights; with Mardin Castle closed to visitors, this is one of the best places to look down from above. The Mardin Museum's collection was once shown here; you will see its new home at the next stop.

The museum on Cumhuriyet Square gathers the thousands of years of Mardin and Upper Mesopotamia under one roof; according to GoTürkiye it holds more than 45,000 objects. The building itself is worth the visit: built at the end of the 19th century as a Syriac Catholic patriarchate, its stone façade is among the most elegant in the old city. An hour here before exploring gives context to the inscriptions, arches and churches you will meet in the streets.

Easy to spot in the old city's skyline by its single minaret, the Great Mosque was built under the Artuqid dynasty and, with its wide courtyard, is one of Mardin's best-known buildings. It sits right next to the bazaar, so a short visit before lunch is enough. From the courtyard you can frame the minaret's stonework and the surrounding rooftops in one view.

First Street is the old city's main artery, its arched stone shops selling soap, spices, sugared almonds and silverwork. Have lunch around here; stuffed ribs or stuffed bulgur dumplings are the easiest introduction to the Mardin table. After lunch, slip into the side lanes: the coppersmiths' and silversmiths' benches are still busy, and crafts here are part of daily life rather than museum pieces.

Reached on foot along First Street to the east, this museum tells of Mardin's daily life, crafts and civic memory. The building went up at the end of the 19th century as a cavalry barracks and later served as a gendarmerie and a tax office; you read that layered past in its stone corridors too. The art gallery on the lower floor brings a contemporary note to the old city with changing exhibitions.

The day's last stop is a living monastery on a hill east of the city, looking over the plain. The site served first as a sun temple and then as a Roman fortress, and takes its name from the saffron that grew around it. It holds the tombs of Syriac patriarchs and is today one of the main centres of the Syriac Orthodox Church. Visits are only with the monastery's own guides; according to GoTürkiye, Aramaic is still used in the liturgy. Its late-afternoon view over the plain gives the day a fitting close.

Your first stop in Midyat is the city museum inside a historic han. The three-storey building around a single courtyard tells of Midyat's daily life and crafts in its own setting, and its basement is cut into the rock. With no inscription its date is unknown; the municipality restored it faithfully. The context you pick up here makes the streets of old Midyat easier to read later.

This guest house is the easiest way to see Midyat mansion architecture from the inside. The bottom of its three floors is carved from the bedrock, with rooms set around the courtyard. The real reward is the roof, from which most of Midyat, its church towers and stone rooftops, opens up at a glance. It is known as a location for television series, so it may look familiar.

With stone houses, mansions and arched passages like Mardin's, and church bell towers rising like minarets, Midyat recalls a medieval town. Walk down through the lanes to the bazaar: Midyat is famous for silverwork, and a few filigree masters still work here. Filigree is the craft of twisting and weaving fine silver wire into jewellery, and watching a master at the bench shows how much patience it takes. Have lunch around the bazaar.

On an oak-covered hill south-east of Midyat, Mor Gabriel is a monastery founded at the end of the 4th century and lived in ever since; GoTürkiye describes it as the oldest surviving Syriac Orthodox monastery in the world. Visits are with its own guides; a quiet walk through the courtyards, church and gardens is the most respectful way to understand Tur Abdin's spiritual heart. The monks tend the gardens and the monastery still lives as a community today.