The great cistern, the 'dungeon'
A vaulted sixth-century underground hall on huge arches; the finest sight here and the coolest spot on a hot day.
Nevit Dilmen — CC BY-SA 3.0 · ERHAN ALICI — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Hamdigumus — CC0 · Hamdigumus — CC0
Beneath a small village near the Syrian border, a stone stair drops into a dim hall roofed with enormous arches. The locals call it the 'zindan', the dungeon; it is actually a water cistern the Romans built fifteen centuries ago, and it is the image most visitors carry home from Dara. The city itself was founded by Emperor Anastasius in 505 as a forward fortress against Sasanian Persia, refortified by Justinian, and in 530 gave its name to the battle that made Belisarius famous. After the Arab conquest of 639 Dara lost its reason to exist and slowly shrank into a village. Today the village of Dara, known for decades as Oğuz, lives on top of and in between the ruins: Byzantine walls prop up barns, water channels run under houses. Beyond the great cistern, the things to see are the rock-cut necropolis on the western side of the site, with carved tomb facades and a sixth-century gallery grave hewn from the living rock, then the remains of walls and towers, an arch dam that is among the oldest of its kind anywhere, and the channels Justinian's engineers cut to lead the river through the city. Excavations are ongoing, so more is exposed each year and what is fenced and open shifts a little between visits. From Mardin it is about 30 km southeast, roughly forty minutes by car across open plain. There is no public transport worth relying on; the choices are a rental car, a taxi hired to drive, wait and return, or a half-day tour that usually bundles in Deyrulzafaran monastery on the way, and that pairing is the smart use of a single day outside the old town. Entry is still free, and the site closes every Monday. Two things before you go: there is almost no shade and the ground is stony and uneven, so sturdy shoes are essential and pushchairs only cope with the village lanes. In July and August the Mardin plain climbs well past 40°C; early morning or after four in the afternoon are the only sensible times, while spring and autumn show the place at its best. Facilities amount to a cafe or two in the village serving tea, and a villager may offer a guided walk for a small tip, which is usually worth taking because signage is thin.
A vaulted sixth-century underground hall on huge arches; the finest sight here and the coolest spot on a hot day.
Carved tomb facades and a gallery grave hewn from the living rock on the western side of the site.
Justinian-era hydraulic engineering that diverted the river through the city, including one of the oldest arch dams known.
Dara village (formerly Oğuz), Artuklu, Mardin
Combine them in a single half day; the monastery is more or less on the way. If time is genuinely tight, Deyrulzafaran is the easier, more finished visit, while Dara rewards people who enjoy ruins and live excavations. Anyone expecting a restored monument with plenty of signage may come away underwhelmed.
The great cistern is worth descending with children and they tend to love it, but the steps are stone and the rest of the site is rough ground with no shade. Pushchairs are impractical, and older visitors can see the cistern and the village and reasonably skip the necropolis.