As you all know, you who are following us on this site, we are writing now from Israel. But the trip to Israel, to the Land of Canaan, really began here in Haran, and not only for us. A long long time ago, our ancestor Abraham heard the voice of God telling him to 'Go forth, to yourself.
Leave your country, your homeland and your father's house to the Land I will show you'. It was here, in Haran that God gave Abraham that message.
Miles of desert, flat as a billiard table, took us from Sanli Urfa to Haran.

A few words about Sanli Urfa: for the Moslems it is a holy site because Abraham certainly spent a lot of time there, and it is here that you really feel the proximity to Syria and the Arab world. The mosque area is of unrivalled beauty.
Legend has it that pagans wanted to burn Abraham, that shit disturber, at the stake. But the flames were transformed into water and coals into carp, and so today a marvellous fresh carp pond sits between these mosques. Abraham's Ashkenazi descendant couldn't but help dreaming of all the gefilte fish he could be eating, but that's a different obsession.
Sanli Urfa is also wonderful because of a large outdoor tea house where we sat and played backgammon for hours instead of site-seeing like responsible tourists. Wonderful are the old desert tribesmen who come into town to trade and play chess with their buddies.
Here is also a photo of Mustafa ( YENI-Saray Lokantazi, Sarayönü Cad.No.48), kabab master.

Back to Haran.
The city is made up of ancient looking cone-shaped mud houses and incredibly annoying beggar children and adults who won't leave you alone. One nudnik was really persistent, and even after I cursed him in every Middle Eastern language I knew he was still so very friendly. But when he saw me shoving the dirt of Haran into a plastic bottle he understood at long last that he was dealing with a lunatic and left me alone.
I was shoving the dirt of Haran into a plastic bottle because we were on our way to Israel, to Canaan and there are a few gardens there I wanted to make a contribution to. But more of that later. One more word about Haran. We wanted to thank Oded, our Teacher, for having helped us understand the meaning(s) of God's message, 'Go forth, to yourself...'.