Megalithomania Turkey Tour Revealed

Hugh Newman runs the MegalithomaniaUK YouTube channel which features content on lost civilizations, megaliths, and megalithic arts and sciences. They offer a variety of events, tours and conferences in the United Kingdom and the rest of the world. Today we are going to look at the 2022 Megalithomania Gobekli Tepe & Karahan Tepe Tour in Ancient Turkey.

megalithomania gobekli tepe tour flyer — Gobekli Tepe & Karahan Tepe, Ancient Turkey Tour

Why go to Gobekli Tepe, Turkey?

I was planning on visiting Machu Picchu, Peru and surrounding sites this year, but fate intervened and cancelled the tour I was targeting. After searching for alternative destinations, I found the MeglithomaniaUK Turkey Tour. I had heard about Göbekli Tepe (“potbelly hill”) from a prior Graham Hancock video, and looked to see what the whole tour was about.

Gobekli Tepe is an ancient archeological site in Eastern Turkey, and consists of large megalithic stones somewhat similar to Stonehenge in England. I had been to Stonehenge years ago and found it interesting, but Gobekli Tepe is about twice as old.

If you like seeing ancient architecture.. things that were build by humans many years ago that still stand today.. Gobekli Tepe is a must visit. One can only imagine who built these structures, what they were thinking, what they were used for, and what life was like when they were in their prime.

While Göbekli Tepe is the most popular site in the Anatolia region of Turkey, it is but one of the dozen or so sites in the Tas Tepelar (“Stone Hills”) area. That’s more than enough to keep a Turkish explorer busy.

Who goes on these Turkey Tours?

After seeing the ancient architecture of Egypt, one of the next step in the the learning progression are the ancient sites in Anatolia, Turkey.

First, the country has rebranded in 2022 and the name is now, Türkiye, which follows the Turkish spelling and pronunciation of of the country’s name. Nonetheless, Turkey is still a fine name to use.

Most people on the tour are seasoned travelers who have already seen many of the typical tourist destinations. There are photos of the people who came on our tour in the details below.

After deciding to see Gobekli Tepe, one of the best reasons to go via a tour is that these sites are remote, spread out, and some are permission only, making them difficult to see on your own.

Why choose the Megalithomania Ancient Turkey tour?

Hugh Newman, MegalithomaniaUK YouTuber, chief megalithomaniac, author, researcher, lecturer, and television host is a passionate expert on ancient civilizations that has been researching and visiting ancient Turkey for many years. He’s a very easy-going tour host who is mindful of the guests’ experience and let’s everyone have a chance to explore sites before taking his own videos.

Andrew Collins is a UK-based author who has written over a dozen books including several on Göbekli Tepe. He is known for his research on ancient civilizations and ancient advanced technology. During the tour, Andrew provides the historical context for the sites you visit, and occasionally there are informative evening presentations.

Hugh, Andrew, and J.J. Ainsworth team up with a local Turkey tour guide to bring these ancient sites to life.

Megalithomania Ancient Turkey Tour Part 1

The Megalithomania UK tour begins and ends in Istanbul. My journey started in San Francisco on an Air France flight to Istanbul with a layover in Paris CDG. After a one day tour of Istanbul, we hopped on the bus for the long trek eastward. These are the places we visited along the way.

Flight from San Francisco to Istanbul on Air France. Technically booked on Delta Airlines for a really good reason.
One of the Umbrella Streets in Istanbul. This one has more colorful umbrellas than the other one.
A cat statue inside the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara, Turkey.
Alaca Hoyuk features a large stacked polygonal masonry stone wall. Does this remind you of Sacsayhuamán in Peru?
Mysterious giant green stone at Hattusa. Made from jadeite, and not native to the Anatolia region, it was imported from a great distance.
Derinkuyu is a multi-level underground city carved into volcanic rock in Cappadocia. These rolling stone doors could seal off sections of the city to defend against invaders.
Rooms and churches cut into the mountain at the Goreme Open-Air Museum.
Asikli Hoyuk is a settlement mound about 10,200 years old located in the Aksaray Province of Central Anatolia.
Catalhoyuk is one of the larger, proto-city settlements in southern Anatolia, about 9500 years old. Vibrant wall paintings and murals were found here.

Megalithomania Ancient Turkey Tour Part 2

In the second part of our tour we are deep into South Eastern Turkey, and finally reach the famous sites we all wanted to see.. Gobekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe.

The Sanliurfa Archeological Museum has a life-sized replica of Enclosure D at Gobekli Tepe. It’s your opportunity to see and feel the space and pillars, as the real ones are blocked off from visitors.
Karahan Tepe is the pre-pottery neolithic sister site of Gobekli Tepe. This is the penis room, they are about 6 feet tall.
Harran is home to mud -brick beehive houses. These were all interconnected and filled with shops and a bar.
The Pool of Abraham, or Balıklıgöl, is the where the legendary Prophet Abraham was thrown into a fire. It’s unclear if he simply jumped into the pool.
Gobekli Tepe was the main feature of the tour. There’s a large oval walkway that encircles the site. The different enclosures were much closer together that I imagined.
Mardin is a beautiful, quait old Turkish town situated on a rocky hill near the Tigris River. It’s loaded with tiny shops along the main road in the old city
Deir al-Surian (Saffron Monastery) is just south east of Mardin, founded in the 6th century. The name comes from monks who used saffron dye to color their robes a deep orange.
The Ruins of Dara feature ancient rock tombs dating back to the fifth century A.D.
Magarakoy has a cemetery, peacock iconography, with the only sign of life being a scrawny dog which we fed.
Diyarbakir has an Archeology Museum with two floors of exhibits. A collection of artifacts from Asikli Höyük is here.
Mount Nemrut has a long uphill path to take to get from the parking lot to the top of the mountain. It was worth it and we caught a beautiful sunset there.
With a 19 hour layover at the Paris airport, I took the opportunity to visit the City and see the Eiffel Tower, Catacombs, and Arc de Triomphe.

Megalithomania Ancient Turkey Tour Review

After seeing the amazing architecture of ancient Egypt with UnchartedX, one can get spoiled by seeing what was possible thousands of years ago. The structures at Turkey are far cruder and less impressive compared to Egypt. However, being significantly older adds another dimension to the appreciation of the sites.

These sites are far more spread out, and we were on the bus significantly longer than the Egypt tour. Surprisingly the bus did not have a toilet, even though it was a legit sized tour bus. The tour hosts were excellent in both the professional aspect of keeping things running smoothly, and also keeping it fun and interesting as well. We did not have an armed security guard like in Egypt.

Gobekli Tepe, Karahan Tepe, Sanliurfa Archeology Museum, and Nemrut were the tour highlights for me. Seeing structures from the dawn of the Holocene made me wonder what was going on then. As Graham Hancock posits, did these hunter gatherers wake up one day to build these monoliths and discover agriculture simultaneously, or was this a “transfer of technology” from survivors of the end of ice age cataclysm?

Between Turkey and Egypt, if you have not been to either, I’d definitely recommend Egypt first. The sites there are utterly spectacular, especially considering that they are thousands of years old. Turkey is more “academic”, there is less that remain for you to actually see, but lots to think about.

Going with the Megalithomania crew was a huge plus as they have been researching these sites for years and have lots of good, deep information to share. If you’re curious about going on a Megalithomania or other tour, see the Ancient Sites Tours Schedule.

Thanks for reading to the end of the page. I hope I have given you enough information to make an informed decision on whether or not to go on an Ancient Turkey tour. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions – hit me up in the comment section below.