Welcome to Abraham’s Path
Following the footsteps of Abraham
Abraham’s Path follows the footsteps of the patriarch Abraham, whose journey marks the beginning of the Biblical narrative, and the birth of a spiritual and cultural tradition shared by more than half the people in the world today. Join a journey that links history and myth to living cultures and communities: traverse the semi-arid steppes, discover ancient shrines, and trade stories with local host families.
Urfa is a sacred city par excellence, built around a ritual complex of mosques, caves, and blessed carp pools marking the site where Abraham was born. Visitors will follow Abraham’s footsteps through these ancient environs, and explore a mosaic of surrounding sites whose significance stretches both before and after the time of the patriarch. You might start in the capital city Urfa, where you can explore the famed pilgrimage sites of Balikligol and sample some of the city’s celebrated cuisine. Or opt for the biblical city of Harran, where Abraham dwelt with Sarah before travelling on to the promised land of Canaan. The remnants of this era (the Well of Jacob, the city of Jethro) are tucked among the cotton fields and mud-brick homes of today’s Arab and Kurdish villages.
Within a days’ walk of Harran lie several hilltop shrines that rise suddenly from the surrounding plateau; some, like the recently discovered archaeological wonder of Gobekli Tepe, are visible for miles around. This remarkable prehistory is rivaled by Urfa’s historical treasures: the city was once home to pagans, Jews, Christians and Muslims, each of whom lent a distinctive flair to Urfa’s contemporary culture, cuisine, and architecture..