Hatay and Tarsus
Following Cyprus, James and I caught a flight over to Hatay, or Antakya, or Antioch, whichever you prefer. After catching a bus into the city center, we went about looking for a decent, but cheap place to stay for the next few nights. Our first few stops were recommended by our Lonely Planet guide book, which listed budget hostels at around 20TL per night. Turns out the first two places we visited had upgraded significantly, and were now charging close to 140TL a night! At the second hostel, James managed to bargain the price down to 80TL. Quite the feat I would say. We still didn’t take it though. We walked a little further and settled on a more conviniently located hostel for 30TL each per night. We only stayed there for one night though, the next day, we decided to move to the Catholic Church’s guesthouse, which was 25TL per night. It seemed like it would be an interesting experience, which it was. The room was extra clean with hardwood floors and small wooden furniture. For some reason, it reminded us of the DaVinci Code by Dan Brown.
A little about Antakya: It’s known to be a more cosmopolitan city. Here, you have Sunni Muslims, along with significant Alevi Shi’a and Christian populations. We visited the Orthodox Christian church, the Catholic church, numerous camiler (mosques), the Antakya Archaeological Museum and the Church of St. Peter. We were also in the city during Eid al-Ghadeer, a Shi’a Muslim festival and witnessed some of the celebrations with a local friend we made.
Courtyard of Catholic Church
Church bell with Mosque minaret behind
Mosaics from the Antakya Arkeoloji Müzesi
On Friday evening, I went to an internet café for a bit while James went to a bookstore/café. There, he met a local by the name of Soner who spoke English. They made friends, exchanged numbers and Soner offered to tour the city some more with us on Sunday. With this to look forward to, James and I made a day trip to Tarsus on Saturday where we saw St. Paul’s Well and the Ulu Cami – a mosque with a clocktower, amongst other sites.
St. Paul's Well
Ulu Cami
Şelale Waterfalls
We came back to Antakya Saturday evening and spent Sunday seeing a few more sites. We started the day with a visit to the Church of St. Peter.
First church of Christianity in the city where followers of Jesus were first called Christians.
We spent the rest of the day with Soner as he took us to a shrine of a local Alevi saint, introduced us to a local family and ate local cuisine together.
Paying their respects.
Soner and James
Splunking!
Eating some free Bulgur provided by a random local family.
Grapes growing in the streets
Soner's friend and his son, Can (pronounced Jaan)
Happiness
We took a bus back to Konya at 10:00pm Sunday night, which got us home at 6:00am Monday morning. I had a class 3 hours later at 9:00am as well. No worries though, we had a great time and saw some amazing sites. Truly blessed to be able to travel and work in this amazing country!
rumisapprentice 