Guide
The Beyazsu recreation area lies on the road joining Midyat and Nusaybin, some 15 to 20 kilometres south of Midyat and 20 to 25 north of Nusaybin. The Beyazsu stream rises at the foot of the plateau and hills south of Midyat and runs down a valley toward Nusaybin.
In the dry, treeless country of Mardin it works as an oasis: cool clear water, trees particular to the area, and green. The drinking water of Mardin and its districts is drawn from this source. Supplying that water through all four seasons, Beyazsu answers a second need in summer as a place to rest and to eat.
The fish restaurants built along the stream serve what they have caught from it. They give the place its look: tables made in the form of traditional platforms, and seating in the manner of an eastern corner set out over the water.
Other things worth stopping for lie along the same road. Going out on the Nusaybin road from Mardin, the monastery of Deyrulzafaran is four kilometres to the south-east; about twenty kilometres further on, a turning leads nine kilometres east to the ancient city of Dara, still largely unexcavated. Continuing to Nusaybin brings you to the tomb and mosque of Zeynel Abidin and, right beside the mosque, the monastery of Mor Yakup. From Nusaybin the Midyat road runs north, and Beyazsu is 25 to 30 kilometres along it.
