A decorated donkey tries to eat his way to freedom

Enough ecclesiastical architecture - now for the cute animal picture. There are an awful lot of donkeys in Mardin, because there is only one main road winding up through the city that is navigable by car. Above and below this main street Mardin is composed of steep, narrow, cobbled alleys, arched passageways and stone staircases from one tier of houses up to the next. The only way to move things about is by donkey, and if you wander through the endless labyrinthine alleys of the bazaar below the main street (where in tiny, dark, barrel-vaulted workshops saddle-makers and copper and tin-smiths ply their trades), you will often hear the braying of donkeys tied up outside the bazaar, waiting for their next load.

This particular donkey was wearing a particularly fine array of the kind of ornaments with which Turks love to decorate their horses, donkeys and camels. I stood and watched him for a while as he tried, unsuccessfully, to eat his way through the rope tying him to the wall.