5 Nights / 6 Days
Eastern Anatolia & Ancient Kingdoms
5 Nights | 3 Mardin · 1 Van · 1 Kars — honey-colored limestone, Akdamar Island and the haunting ruins of Ani.
Turkey / Other
Mor Gabriel Monastery
One of the world's oldest continuously inhabited monasteries, Mor Gabriel sits on a rocky outcrop in southeastern Türkiye's Tur Abdin highlands, its dark stone buildings a landmark of an ancient Christian landscape.
Also part of The Monasteries of Tur Abdin
Perched on a rocky outcrop above the rolling plains of Tur Abdin, Mor Gabriel is among the oldest surviving monasteries in the world. Founded in the fourth century in what is now southeastern Türkiye, it has maintained an unbroken monastic presence for more than fifteen hundred years. The complex stands as the spiritual centre of the Syriac Orthodox world and draws visitors and pilgrims who come to experience a place where ancient liturgical traditions are still practiced daily.
Tur Abdin and its Monastic Heritage
The surrounding region of Tur Abdin — the name derives from Syriac and translates roughly as "Mountain of the Servants of God" — has been a heartland of Syriac Christian monasticism since the early centuries of the faith. At its peak, the area contained hundreds of monasteries and hermitages built into its limestone cliffs and hillsides. Mor Gabriel is among the few that remain active. Its position on elevated ground offered both natural defence and a sense of solitude suited to contemplative life, and the monastery became a centre of learning, manuscript copying and theological scholarship.
Architecture in Dark Stone
The monastery buildings are constructed from the dark limestone quarried locally, a material that gives the complex and many structures across this region their characteristic dark grey-brown appearance. The architecture is robust and fortress-like, with thick walls and small windows that speak to the security concerns of earlier centuries. Inside, multiple churches and chapels are connected by corridors. The interior spaces retain Syriac inscriptions carved into stone, and the church areas feature traditional iconostases — screen partitions decorated with religious imagery. The whole complex has grown over centuries, with construction and renovation taking place across the fourth, fifth, sixth and ninth centuries.
The Monastery Today
Mor Gabriel remains home to a small community of monks and nuns who maintain the rhythms of Syriac Orthodox worship. The monastery preserves a significant collection of Syriac manuscripts, including ancient texts and liturgical documents. Its library and archive hold material of scholarly interest for the study of early Christianity in the Middle East. Visitors to the site walk between the low, solid buildings along narrow passages and open courtyards, taking in views across a landscape that has changed relatively little over the centuries. The atmosphere is one of quiet continuity — the same prayers that were composed here in Syriac are still recited in the same language, in the same buildings, by the same community of faith.
On the map
Find it on the map
- Mor Gabriel Monastery Other
Tours that visit Mor Gabriel Monastery
8 Nights / 9 Days
From Mesopotamia to the Caucasus
8 Nights | 1 Gaziantep · 1 Şanlıurfa · 1 Diyarbakır · 3 Mardin · 1 Van · 1 Kars — Göbeklitepe, Mardin and the haunting ruins of Ani.
11 Nights / 12 Days
The Ultimate Eastern Turkey Expedition
11 Nights | 3 Cappadocia · 1 Gaziantep · 1 Şanlıurfa · 1 Diyarbakır · 3 Mardin · 1 Van · 1 Kars — fairy chimneys, Mount Nemrut, Mardin and the haunting ruins of Ani.
14 Nights / 15 Days
The Ultimate Journey Across Turkey
3 Nights Istanbul | 3 Nights Cappadocia | 1 Night Gaziantep | 1 Night Sanliurfa | 1 Night Diyarbakir | 3 Nights Mardin | 1 Night Van | 1 Night Kars
Good to know
Before you book you should know
-
Is this trip right for you?
Our groups are capped at eight travellers, which is about a third of what the industry calls a small group. Eight people share one vehicle, one table at dinner and one guide's attention, and the day can change on the road without anybody being left behind. If you are looking for a coach, a fixed script and a microphone, this is not that.
Most days involve real walking, often on ground that was laid two thousand years before walking shoes: marble worn smooth, cobbles, uneven steps and long site paths with little shade. Bring shoes you can spend a morning in.
Some days move between regions and are largely a drive, with stops along the way. Summers are hot — well over 35°C inland — and winters are colder than most people expect, so layers, a hat and sunscreen earn their place in the bag whatever the month.
How demanding a particular trip is, is written on the trip itself: the physical rating in the header, and the day-by-day itinerary above.
-
Rooms, and travelling on your own
Trip prices are per person, sharing a twin room. Each traveller picks their own room while booking, so a party can mix the three:
- Twin share — two single beds, shared with someone you are travelling with or with a traveller of the same gender.
- Travelling as a couple — one double room.
- Individual room — a room of your own, for a single supplement on top of the trip price. Availability is limited, and the supplement for a given date is shown next to the option when you book.
Solo travellers are welcome on every departure, and most of our groups have one or two aboard.
-
Accommodation
The hotels named in an itinerary are a guideline rather than a guarantee. Where one is full, or has dropped below the standard we booked it for, we substitute a property of a similar standard in the same area — we would rather change the hotel than the trip.
Check-in is usually mid-afternoon. If you arrive early we will ask for the room, but no hotel can promise one before its own check-in time; luggage can normally be left at reception in the meantime. If you want the room from the night before, ask us and we will add the extra night to your booking.
-
Passports, visas and insurance
Entry requirements depend on your nationality and change without much notice, so the only reliable source is the official one: the government of the country you are travelling to, and your own foreign ministry's travel advice. Check both before you book a flight.
Many countries ask for a passport valid for at least six months beyond your travel dates, and for blank pages. It is worth looking at yours now rather than at the airport.
We ask every traveller to carry travel insurance covering medical treatment and repatriation, and we would strongly encourage cover for cancellation and for your luggage as well.
-
Your departure is guaranteed — the day can change
Once a departure is on the calendar it runs. We do not cancel a trip for want of a minimum number of bookings, so a booked date is one you can plan flights and leave around.
What can move is the shape of a day. Museums and archaeological sites change their hours, roads close, weather turns, a local holiday lands in the middle of the week. Where that happens your guide reorders the day, or swaps a stop for one of the same weight, and tells you why. Changes to a booked itinerary are covered by our Booking Terms & Conditions.
