Explore The Euphrates and Tigris basin
About 12km north of the modern city is Eski Malatya, or “Old Malatya”, a ruined Roman/Byzantine town now engulfed by the modern settlement of Battalgazi. Buses and dolmuşes marked “Battalgazi” depart from the Doğu Garaj (East Garage) a ten-minute walk northeast of the city centre.
Buses arrive at the main square. From here it’s a 200-metre walk southwest to a lovely seventeenth-century kervansaray, restoration of which was approaching completion at the time of writing. A five-minute walk south of here is the wonderful Selçuk Ulu Cami, a huge mosque complex commissioned by Selçuk sultan, Alâeddin Keykubad. Built around a central courtyard, it consists of summer and winter mosques. The latter is of plain stonework with massive pillars, the former consists of a central bay with a soaring domed roof flanked by two wings, the whole surrounding the eyvan. The brickwork of the dome reveals complicated herringbone patterning relieved by pretty blue-glazed tiles.
