Balıklıgöl

Balıklıgöl — literally 'fish lake' — is an artificial pool in the heart of Şanlıurfa in southeastern Turkey, considered one of Anatolia's most important pilgrimage sites for Muslims, Jews, and Christians alike. According to legend, the Assyrian king Nimrod cast the prophet Abraham into a fire here; God transformed the flames into water and the burning embers into carp, making the fish sacred and inedible to this day. Pilgrims from across the Islamic world visit to observe the densely packed carp and offer prayers, and local belief holds that catching or harming a fish brings misfortune. The roughly 150-metre-long pond sits within a manicured park of rose gardens and Ottoman-era structures, and the spectacle of countless carp crowding the clear water gives the site a distinctly meditative, otherworldly quality.