6 Best Sights in Adana, The Turquoise Coast

Adana’s archaeology museum, in a restored former textile factory, has a nicely presented collection of local finds, including Roman mosaics, statues, and carved sarcophagi. The museum complex itself houses six separate museums, one each for archaeology, mosaics, ethnography, agriculture, industry, and urban life. Though there's no audio guide available, the lively displays help to bring the curated finds to life.

The open-air museum of Karatepe, about 130 km (81 miles) northeast of Adana, makes a (long) day trip from Adana or a worthwhile detour if you're heading to Antakya. Karatepe was a fortress founded in the 8th century by Asatiwatas, the ruler of the post-Hittite state of Adana. A short walk from the parking lot are two ancient gateways, where dozens of well-preserved carved stones (once the foundation of mud-brick walls) have been left in place. There is also a small indoor museum behind the ticket office. The area around the site is a beautiful national park; you can picnic here or swim in the adjacent dam. It’s best visited from Osmaniye, passing ancient Hieropolis-Kastabala, but a secondary, longer road leads from Kozan past Kadirli, which has a well-preserved Byzantine church (later converted into a mosque).

The pretty, 16th-century Adana Ulu Camii (Adana Great Mosque) is more Arabic than Turkish in style, with beautiful patterned stonework that has been well restored over the years. Behind the mosque is a former madrassa, now a peaceful tea garden, and a small park. Beyond that is Adana's lively market area, where there are also several other old mosques, including the Yağ Camii (Oil Mosque) on Alimunif Caddesi, built in 1501 and incorporating a Byzantine church.

On the banks of the Seyhan River sits Adana's most prominent building, the Sabancı Merkez Camii. Very similar in style to the 16th-century Selimiye Mosque of Edirne, it was the largest mosque in Turkey when it was completed in 1998, but it has since been surpassed by the Çamlıca Camii in Istanbul (making it the second-largest). The large Merkez Parkı (Central Park) spreads north along the river from the mosque, with walking paths, fountains, and gazebos making for a pleasant green respite in the city center.

South along the river from the Merkez Camii is another civic symbol: the impressively long Taş Köprü, or "stone bridge," built by the Emperor Hadrian in AD 125 and restored by later rulers.

East of Adana, across the Çukurova Plain, there are many ancient remains, including several castles, mostly dating back to Armenian rulers of the 12th to 14th century AD. The easiest to reach, Yılan Kalesi (Castle of the Snake), sits conspicuously beside the old highway, some 50 km (31 miles) east of town. There isn't a lot to see, but the walls are well preserved and the views of the fertile Çukurova Plain from the top are impressive. About 40 km (25 miles) farther east, just before Osmaniye and the turnoff to İskenderun, is a second Armenian castle, Toprakkale. Kozan, 60 km (37 miles) north of Yılan Kalesi, is another fine castle that was an important residence of the Armenian rulers of Cilicia.