Mediterranean Sea – for the first time, Defne Waterfall and cosmopolitan Antakya

This time I will write about Hatay area — Antakya.

One of my friends invited me to visit her home in Antakya for the weekends and I accepted her invitation. Three amazing days I stayed with her family. They are very hospitable and kind. We talked a lot and visited many places.

First day of our arrival we went to the Defne waterfall, which is at the 7th km of Antakya - Yayladagi road. Defne was world's famous summer resort place with the waterfalls during Seleukos and Romans. It was a renowned place with numerous luxurious houses, temples, entertainment places and Olympic games organized at its stadium.

Violent earthquakes destroyed the entire city therefore not much remains left behind. Defne is renowned and a nice picnic area even today. It is also well known with the statue, silk and the production of tourist materials. Defne Waterfall area is very beautiful, and provides cool on a hot summer day in Hatay province of Turkey. There are many cafes, where you can cool your toes in the abundant waters at Defne.

Harbiye is the legendary location where Mother Earth turned Daphne into a tree to protect her from the attentions of Apollo.

The second legend is related to one of the unlucky love affairs of Apollo, the god of all the fine arts. Apollo falls in love with a beautiful girl named Daphne, but the girl is unresponsive to his overtures. One day while chasing Daphne's feet turn into tree roots and her hands and arms become branches and limbs and she turns into a laurel tree, which is called 'defne' in Turkish. Now local crafts include a soap scented with the oil of bay tree.

Just outside of the city there is an important religious site, St. Peter’s Grotto. The grotto is a cave church in which St. Peter preached, and is among a number of sacred buildings and churches in the area. Unfortunately we couldn't visit it because it it under the reconstruction, already 5 years.

Location of Antakya near the Syrian border makes it more cosmopolitan than many cities in Turkey. It did not attract the mass immigration of people from eastern Anatolia in the 1980s and 1990s that radically swelled the populations of Mediterranean cities such as Adana and Mersin. Both Turkish and Arabic are still widely spoken in Antakya, although written Arabic is rarely used. (Wikipedia)

A mixed community of faiths and denominations co-exist peacefully here. Although almost all the inhabitants are Muslim, a substantial proportion adhere to the Alevi and the Arab Alawi traditions, in 'Harbiye' there is a place to honour the Alawite saint Hızır. Numerous tombs of saints, of both Sunni and Alawite, are located throughout the city. Several small Christian communities are active in the city, with the largest church being St. Peter and St. Paul on Hurriyet Caddesi.

With its long history of spiritual and religious movements, Antakya is a place of pilgrimage for Christians. The city also is home to a functioning synagogue serving the Jewish community of Antakya.

It has a reputation in Turkey as a place for spells, fortune telling, miracles and spirits. Me and Shivan visited the most important religious places except of synagogue, because of Shabbat (Saturday), but we've seen a building. There is even a protestant Church in the centre.

Antakya is divided by the river Asi into the modern city on the west bank and opposite the old Arabic town with its small alleys.

Traditional food of Hatay area - Göreme

When I was walking around and Shivan told me a lot of stories about the city and her childhood memories, I was thinking about Crimean city – Yevpatoria, because of the same mixed community of faiths and denominations living there. I don't compare the cities but that reminded me of my motherland.

From the other hand I felt as I'm in Europe, because of the French influence on the architecture. Many beautiful buildings similar to Paris, and it reminded me my trip in Paris last year.

We visited the exhibition, curated by Osman Köker, founder of Bir zamanlar Yayincilik (Once Upon a Time) Publications, publisher of an interesting collection of photograph books about the Ottoman minorities. On display are postcards of Antakya, Iskenderun and Samandağ from the early 20th century from the collection of Orlando Carlo Calumeno. Some highlights include historical architecture – shops, churches, panoramic views – just recognisable as the modern cities in Hatay, as well as the startling images of refugee camps, eerily prescient of today's situation.

The big tree in the central is several hundred years old and passable in the middle. There are countless slips of paper with wishes on the tree

Then we went to Samandag and Seleuceia ad Pieria, which is south of the city. There is a beach at Samandag (also known as Çevlik Beach), as well as the scant remains of Antioch's old port, Seleuceia ad Pieria.

The real attraction here is a large underground water channel, 1,400 meters (1,526 yards) long, which was built entirely by hand in the 1st century AD to prevent flooding.

Nearby there are some large rock tombs. I saw for the first time the Mediterranean Sea standing on the Samandag beach, but I didn't swim because it was late time. Hopefully I will be back to this amazing coast, which is the second in the world by its length.

 Stay tuned.