The kingpin of Kurdish culture in Turkey, Diyarbakir bubbles up from the sunny lands of south-eastern Anatolia in a fascinating patchwork of Safavid minarets, close-knit limestone lanes crisscrossing traditional courtyard homes, and churches bearing testimony to its multicultural past, all hidden behind the second-longest set of defensive city walls on the planet.

This chocolate box of cultural treats finds its zenith at the majestic Great Mosque, spiked at the centre with a striking square-cut tower dressed in basalt, one of the oldest in all of Turkey. A clutch of great museums also beckons with Bronze Age and Assyrian relics, while kaburgas (slow cooked racks of lamb stuffed with rice) and lavish breakfasts of scrambled eggs accompanied by spicy dips tantalise the taste buds from the kitchens of Kurdish eateries. Protruding out from the historic kernel there’s now a lively new town area too, criss-crossed by wide boulevards and avenues and dotted with tearooms selling spiced brews. Your discerning Diyarbakir tour guide will however take you to the tea house located atop the Goat’s Tower, for the best views of the city as well as the Tigris valley and its concomitant Old Bridge, flanked by the lush greenery of the Hevsel Gardens, a world heritage site.