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Mark Antony once gave part of Turkey's southern shore to Cleopatra as a wedding gift. Indeed, this coast has everything befitting so princely a gift. Set against the often snowcapped peaks of the Taurus (Toros) Mountains are seemingly endless stretches of white sand, lapped by the translucent waters of the Mediterranean, which, perhaps because of its crystalline quality the Turks call "Ak Deniz" or "White Sea." The verdant shores are covered with pine forests, orange groves and banana plantations, splashed here and there with the vivid pink of wild oleanders.
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Legend and history are woven into the background fabric of this colorful region. In the mountains to the west of Antalya is the Chimera, the firebreathing monster that the hero Bellerophon slew. Near Antakya are the bay trees of the gardens of Daphne, where the nymph was turned into a bay tree by Zeus to escape the amorous advances of Apollo. More historically, it was from Tarsus that St. Paul came and in Kale, St. Nicholas, better known as Santa Claus or Father Christmas, once lived.
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Like Turkey's Aegean shore, her Mediterranean coast is littered with ancient ruins. Atop a craggy peak to the northwest of Antalya, like an eagle’s nest, are the ruins of Termessos. On the coastal plains nestle the Pamphylian cities of Perge, Aspendos and Side. Aspendos has the best preserved amphitheaters in Anatolia, while the ruins of Side are elegantly set on a promontory between two sandy bays.
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Antalya, the major resort of the region, possesses one of the finest settings on the Mediterranean, with the crescent of Konyaalti Beach sweeping away to the precipitous Lydian mountains in the west. To the east of the city, the Düden waterfalls plunge off a cliff into the sea near Lara Beach. The curious Fluted Minaret dominates this 2nd century BC city that also has a world-famous yacht harbor.
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West of Antalya is the attractive resort of Kemer, where pine woods stretch right down to the sandy shore, and near which are the ruins of the ancient harbor of Phaselis. Further along the coast are the holiday ports of Kas, a delightful, friendly village, and Kekova, a yachtsman's paradise.
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East of Antalya is a whole string of resorts beginning with Side. Further along the coast is the former pirate stronghold of Alanya, which the Seljuk sultan Alaeddin Keykubat used as his winter residence. Commanding a rugged promontory between two sandy beaches is an imposing 13th century Seljuk castle. At Anamur, the southern most point of Asia Minor, there is yet another medieval castle set between two beaches.
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The road from Anamur to Silifke clings to pine-clad mountain slopes, which plunge spectacularly down into the Mediterranean. Beyond Silifke lie the chasms known as "Heaven and Hell", which are in fact collapsed covers. In the chasm of "Heaven" sits a ruined Byzantine chapel. A little way from Korykos on the shore, a medieval castle, Kizkalesi, or Maiden's Castle, faces another one on an island.
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More broken columns and fallen capitals mark the sites of such Roman cities as Kanytelis and Pompeiopolis on the way to Mersin. From Tarsus the land flattens out into the cotton growing Çukurova Plain. The prosperous city of Adana, the center of Turkey's cotton industry, occupies the middle of the plain. The eastern part of the Çukurova Plain was known in classical times as the Plain of Issos, and it was here that Alexander the Great defeated Darius of Persia. After this great victory, Alexander founded the port of Alexandretta, now called Iskenderun.
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From Iskenderun the road leads through the Belen Pass to Antakya, the Biblical Antioch, where St. Peter founded the first Christian community. The grotto where he preached can be seen just outside the city. Of particular interest is the Hatay Museum, which houses one of the richest collections of Roman mosaics in the world, all of which were discovered in the environs of Antakya.
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central anatolia
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