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Antakya is the biblical
city of Antioch ad Orontes,
where St Peter is said to
have preached in a cave-church belonging
to St Luke.
The church is still there.
You can visit it.
Unless you're traveling to or from
Syria, Antakya (ahn-TAHK-yah)
is a detour, requiring a trip
south over the Belen Pass (740
meters, 2428 feet) but the mosaics from
the Roman suburb
of Daphne (now called Harbiye)
in the Antakya Archeological
Museum are worth the trip.
While you're here you might want to
take a swim at Samandag (Seleucia
ad Piera), 29 km (18 miles) SW on the
Mediterranean, especially since Antakya
is usually very hot and dry (see When
to Go for more.)
Antakya is not served by train.
The nearest train station is at Adana.
Most buses from Aegean and Central
Turkey come via Adana.
The Hatay Airport (HTY),
19 km from Antakya in Serinyol, is
closest, but has far fewer flights
than does Adana.
By the way, the province of Hatay,
of which Antakya is the capital, was
part of Ottoman Syria and,
after World War I, part of French
Mandate Syria, but joined the Turkish
Republic by plebiscite just
before World War II. There's more about
this in my humorous travel memoir, Turkey:
Bright Sun, Strong Tea, in
this
excerpt.
Distances & Travel Times
Adana: 190
km (118 miles) NW, 3 hours
Adiyaman: 321
km (200 miles) NE, 6 hours
Ankara: 680
km (423 miles) NW, 12 hours
Gaziantep: 200
km (124 miles) SW, 4 hours
Iskenderun: 58
km (36 miles) N, 1 hour
Istanbul: 1130
km (702 miles) NW, 18 hours
Kahramanmaras: 180
km (112 miles) N, 3.25 hours
Osmaniye: 115 km (72 miles)
N, 2 hours
Sanliurfa: 345
km (214 miles) NE, 6.5 hours
Mediterranean
Turkey
Southeastern
Turkey
Where
to Go
Turkey
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