Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.

Methinks rather spectacular. Checkin' out what the Syrians are up to from high up.

There are very few places left on the planet that allow the imagination to soar, that bedazzle the senses and that truly transport you to another world. I like these kind of places.

Mardin, a hilltop city perched high on a flat-top hill and overlooking Syria, is simply beautiful. If you've visited magical Jaisalmer in India, and even if you haven't, then throw together the pictures that your mind conjures up of the Middle East (or northern India). Swirling arabesques, pointed arches, elegant minarets, shaded tea gardens, moustachioed men, countless children, cobble-stone stairways leading to more cobble-stone stairways, donkeys, wailing Arab music, massive hewn stone, hummus, eggplant, olive oil, the odd madresse or two, and soak the whole in a bath of golden light from a cloudless sky with a cool breeze sweeping across recently reaped wheat fields. And you have Mardin.

Once you veer off from main square of Cumhuriyet Meydanı, you leave behind the already slow pace of a city far from the bustle and grime of Istanbul and fall under the spell of the Middle East proper. Jenny and I spent the entire day strolling aimlessly throughout the town, walking perhaps ten kilometres in no particular direction, backtracking across narrow lanes of walled houses where fig and apricot tress stood listlessly under the burden of ripening fruit, children played among themselves and women sat chatting in doorways.

Kurds are an affable bunch. Like the rest of the people inhabiting the giant swathe of lands from Lahore to Cairo, we were treated to smiling and quizzical looks at every step. These men have the best moustaches in the world and also like most of the Middle East any woman not of those parts invites some general interest. Well, stares actually. Personally, I love getting attention, in fact, I clamour for it, so I was pleased that Jen took it all in her stride and wasn't bothered at the fact I probably could have sold her for a few dozen donkeys. Which I would never have done because who else would listen to my daily monologue?

The newly-opened Antik Tatlıdede Butık Otel. You ought see the view in the other direction too...

We were invited into the home of Memur Bey who introduced us to his family and showed us the vaulted ceiling of his wonderful 400-year-old home while his wife, mother of seventeen children, offered us the perfectly sickly sweet lemonade that I've developed a taste for recently.

Mardin, for the time being, is not on the tourist map. The fighting of the last decade between the fairly angry Turkish government forces and some fairly angry Kurds has all but scared off most intrepid visitors but it's a town that is truly remarkable for the friendliness of it's inhabitants. As the sun sets, Mardin is among a handful of cities that can truly be called gorgeous. As the late afternoon sun descends stone walls glow yellow-orange and fields stretching down the hillside and into Syria turn a golden shade of brown. Nice postcard stuff.

The interior of the very recently restored Sultan Isa Medresesi.

Completely unrelated to this spiel is that Jen called me a chatterbox today. Well, I think that's what she said but I couldn't hear her properly as I was in fact talking at the time. I make no apologies, I have many varied and interesting things to say. Besides, I may talk a lot but she can certainly eat for someone with such a petite frame. A course of action she may later come to regret when we hit the Aegean coast in a week or so, you with me?

Jenny starts to eat everything at once and doesn't seem to care that she clearly ate the greater share of the dishes. Likewise for the dessert. I barely got a bite.

After hours of wandering we settled onto a terrace overlooking the cropped wheat fields and ordered up big. Sebzeli patlıcan salatası, kurtulumuş domates salatası, humus, zeytinyağlı yaprak dolması and muammara, followed by irmik helvası. Just think the best of Mediterranean food with a dash of the Middle East. Eggplant, tomatoes, olive oil... you know the drill.

The stars came out and we got sleepy. It has been a very good day indeed. Jen went to bed with a full stomach and I didn't. Tomorrow we have to catch a bus and I don't like buses.