Efe Bey Konagi

The breakfast

So far nothing

The staff is very helpful. the Hotel is almost nearby the castle in Gaziantep. Many museums are in walking distance. Except the Zeugma. But taksi is not expensive in Gaziantep. Room and Toilette were clean.

Though I had visited town 6 times before this was my first stay in the heart of town. I had seen "boutique" hotels appear all over the country, and as a former hotel in Istanbul just used the appellation to raise it's price I wondered if it would suit me. I was pleasantly surprised. A small courtyard with only five rooms in old houses surrounding it, and indeed the fortress hill was at only some tens of meters. "Staff" would be one young man holding the fort, and sometimes a man I took to be the owner. I arrived late due to a delayed flight, but that did not bother anyone. I was somewhat hungry and was directed to a restaurant at the corner of the small street the hotel lies along (Yener Usta'nin Yeri, that restaurant, good food) in Derekanari Street. I enjoyed the location, the fine breakfasts (always with an omelette), the feeling of being one of the few staying here, the room which was a converted attic but spacious and high enough for me not to hurt my head. I returned after a short sojourn in Urfa and took the same room. I went to visit the Zeugma museum again, which is a must-see full of great Roman mosaics. The old archaeological museum turned out to have been modified, and as well deserves a visit. At the hotel I was handed flyers for other museums, the town has many, more or less small, but always interesting museums. Then there is the area around the fortress-hill, and the bazaar, all joys to visit.

A drawback to the location is that next to the entrance to the castle there is an open-air restaurant that each night for about an hour would play annoyingly loud music. Luckily not late into the night, but I did not like it. Apart from that I slept very well. Also my room was not cleaned, but I think if I’d asked for that it would have been. Being a clean person I did not need it.