Hatay: The home of history, nature, food and religion

There are a lot of cities that claim to be a 'crossroads of civilization,' many even in Anatolia. But Hatay really has as good a case as anywhere in the world to be given the term. There's so much to see, a home to all three of the great monotheistic religions, an important province to the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans and the Ottomans. And, set right on the shores of the Mediterranean, it's also a beautiful spot surrounded by incredible natural scenery. It comes as no surprise, then, that this beautiful nature and the fusion of millennia's worth of civilizations has led to a cuisine that is out of this world as well! Antakya Sarcophagus It is a Sidemara type sarcophagus, named after the town where this time of sarcophagus was first discovered. Samandağ is an important seaport originally founded by the Seleucids in 310 BC as Seleucia Pieria, although there is evidence of Epipaleolithic Period settlement at Çevlik. The ancient harbor was located at the mouth of the Asi River, which constantly threatened to fill the harbor up with alluvium from the mountains. To prevent this, the Tunnel of Titus (a covered channel measuring 1,330 meters long) was built in the 1st century AD by the Roman Emperor Vespasian. Carved into the limestone cliffs near the tunnel are twelve rock tombs that date back to Roman times, the largest and most famous of which is the one known as Beşikli Cave. If you have to try one dish in Hatay, you might as well make it the region's most famous dessert. Künefe is one of the richest of all the Turkish desserts, with a crispy, buttery kadayıf shell packed with oozing hot cheese and topped with clotted cream and syrup and sprinkled with ground pistachios. It's usually cooked in round, shallow pans that are specially designed just for künefe, and it's comparatively difficult to make. The best künefe makers tend to be well known and in the southeast in Turkey you'll see people making künefe one the streets by stretching out the cheese as they prepare to put it in its kadayıf shell. Church of Saint Peter Now, this cave church plays host to pilgrims who pass through. Some mosaics remain from its earlier days, though its current form was rebuilt in the 19th century.

Hatay: The home of history, nature, food and religion

There are a lot of cities that claim to be a "crossroads of civilization," many even in Anatolia.