The Road to Rumkale, Halfeti - Stockfoto

Moored on the banks of the Euphrates small boats wait to take visitors up the river to visit Rumkale (Greek Castle), a spectacularly sited ruin right in the middle of nowhere. The boats carve their leisurely way through a gorge which is reminiscent of the better-known Ihlara Valley in Cappadocia only with a great deal more water in it. Then, on the western bank of the river, you begin to make out the shattered walls of what must once have been a magnificent seven-gated medieval castle built over the site of a church where some believe that St John made a copy of the Bible and hid it until it could be smuggled out to Beirut. Some people even believe that St John died and was buried here although his remains have never been found.