Maidencastle and Korykos Hotel is in the center of cultural and religious tourism. Below you can find only some important places. In the area you can find more historical and touristic attractions and also alternative (plateau tourism, hunting, rafting, paragliding etc.) activities. We invite you to see all of the mysteries of the East Mediterrenian region.

FAITH TOURISM

Hagia-Thecla (Meryemlik): It is in Silifke town Mersin province and 30 km far from Korykos Hotel. Hagia-Thecla which is 1.5 km on the south side of the town is a faith center belonging to the Christian era. The holy place that is know as Hagia-Thecla or Meryemlik’s foundation started in around AC 50. One of the Ikonian (Konya) saints Hagia-Thecla (Ayatekla) adopted the doctrines of St. Paulus and became a pioneer missionary. She commited herself to religion after the preaches of St.Paulus in Konya (Ikonia). Thekla, and came to Silifke escaping from the Roman pressure in Konya and Yalmaç. First she lived in a natural cave, katakomb where they made their prayers secretly.
Hagia-Thecla, is one of the oldest and most importiant Christian holy places. Later during Byzantium time it became a religious settlement area and was named as Hagia-Thecla.
At the present time the ruins that are known as Meryemlik consists of underground pray cave, the ruin of the apsis belonging to the monumental Zenon Basilica which was built on top of the cave, Big cistern, Ha-marnı. It is also possible to see North church, many big and small cisterns in the Nekropol area.
Later the cave that Hagia-Thecla lived in, was regarded as holy by the Christians after her disappearance and was used as the secret praying area until Christinity was set free in AC 320. Then Corinthian colomns were put for support, mosaic siding was built and at the end of 4th century it was transformed into a church.

Alahan Monastry: It takes place in the town of Mut in Mersin province and 60 km from Korykos Hotel. It is known that the monastry was built in 5th century BC and is one of the rare examples for Byzantium architecture with its structure, material, design and decorations of the structure. The monastry is integrated within the natural formation and consists of annexes structures and churches.

 

St Paul Well: It is in Tarsus town of Mersin province. The well that is said to belong to Saint Paul, who has a great importance in Christianity, is beleived to be healing. It is a great touristic attraction and 80 km far from Korykos Hotel.

St Paul Church: It takes place in the town of Tarsus in Mersin province and 80 km far away from Korykos Hotel. St. Paul’s birth place Tarsus, St. Paul Church and Well is integrated with the present modern city texture and is in the indicative list of World Heritage.


Eshab-ı Kehf: It takes place in the town of Tarsus in Mersin province and 90 km from Korykos Hotel. The Eshab-Kehf Cave in Tarsus is known as Seven Sleepers which is regarded as holy in various religions where seven youngesters have slept. However there are several other places in Anatolia that they were believed to have slept.
Who were they? Why did they sleep?
Seven sleepers are commonly known within Turkey. But the myth took different shapes in different places. After being told from mouth to mouth and generation to generation it is normal to have such changes. The common theme in all the stories though is that the seven youngesters stood against religious pressure and showed a passifist resistance.
Around 250 AC the Roman Empire’s state religion was polytheistic. The rise of Christianity was not favoured by the governmental authorities. There was a continous hunt for Christians. The seven youngsters who adopted Christianity escaped from these pressures, took a shelter in this cave and had a very deep sleep. The governers saw that they took a shelter in the cave and closed the enterance of the cave by bricks to kill them alive bit by bit.


St Pier Church: is a natural cave whose entrance was closed and transformed into a church. It is 2 km on the north side of Antakya on mountain skirts close to Antakya Reyhanlı highway. The church took its name from Saint Pierre, who came toAntakya with a mission to spread Christianity (AC 1st Century first half). During the early stages of Christianity it was used as a church and then in the later stages the entrance of the cave was constructed. It was declared as a pilgrimage area by Pope Paul VI. In 1963 and is still a part of the museum. Every year on 29th of June the Catholic church organizes a ceremony here and a crowded community attends.
There is a giant bust engraved into the rocks close to the church. It was built during the time of Antiochus IV and given the name Haron. The purpose of the bust was to stop the black death which appeared on the 2nd century BC.



CULTURAL TOURISM

Paradise & Hell :
It is 6 km from Korykos Hotel. If you ask if there is paradise and hell in this life we will tell you that it is in Mersin. Paradise and Hell Pits were given sacred meanings in ancient times like most of the other pits around. First of all you reach to the ruins of an ancient city, then to Zeus temple and after that to these two pits and caves that were regarded as sacred by the polytheist belief. Besides Turkish and foreign tourists the local people also visit them with sacred feelings. Paradise Pit is one of the wonders of nature that was known as Korykos Cave during the ancient times and consists of big and deep holes.

HHell : The pit named Hell or Arasat is between rocks on the north side 75 m from the paradise pit. Because the side surfaces are concave it is not easy to descent. The place where Typhon was prisoned temporarily has a very frightening look.




Asthma Cave:
One of the other formations of the area is the asthma cave. The depth of the cave is 20 m and there is a plenty of stalagmite and stalactite of different colors. The temperature is always 14 degrees and the humidity rate between 85-98%. It is believed that the cave is good for asthma and the wishes that are made at the entrance of the cave come true.









Three Beauties Mosaic Museum: It is 5 km far from the Korykos Hotel. It is a protected mosaic very close, a few meters to seaside, inside a stone building (BC 4th C Second Half) with a very high artistic value. Poimenios who is understood to have an important position in east Roman Empire ordered to construct a bath using the mysterious water spring, and to the bottom of the bath he ordered to construct a mosaic that represented the “Girls in Heaven” (Angels).







Korikos Castle : It is 800 m from Korykos Hotel and on the 60’th km of Mersin-Erdemli-Silifke highway within the borders of Kızkale town. It was also populated in Islamic times but more crowded in Roman and Byzantium times. From the ruins that came to surface in Nekropol area it is understood that the first settlement was around 4.Century BC. First coinage was done in 1st Century BC. Herodotus writes that a Cyprut prince named Gorges built this town. Because Korikos was a port city it was open to attacks and the owners changed often. In the end of 4th Century BC when Seleukhos Nikador founded the city Silifke, got Korikos under his regime. The city later joined Roman empire in 72 AC and stayed under Roman regime for 450 years. During this time it showed a great improvement in agriculture and became an olive oil export center. During Byzantium time in order to be protected from the Arabian attacks thick walls were built around the city. In the 13th Century during Kilikian Armenian King’s time it became an important trade port and was constantly visited by Geneva and Venetian ships. Korikos in 1448 was conquered by Karamanoğlu İbrahim and was rebuilt. In the ruins you can see internal and external castle churches, cisterns, water belts, stone graveyards, tombs, and stone Roman roads. The ruins got their name from the castle of the island.
Square planned castle, consists of two walls next to each other. The outside is covered with a ditch. The entrance to the castle used to be maintained through a flexible bridge. It reflects the typical features of medieval age castle architecture.


iHuman Rocks: It is 6 km from Korykos Hotel. You can reach the Daemons valley by taking the west side turn (1 km far after the turn) on the 7. Km of the Kızkalesi -Hüseyiler village highway. There are ten different compositions engraved into the rocks. 11 men, 4 women, 2 kids one mountain goat figure is seen.
It is thought to belong to early Hellenistic or Roman times.



 

Kanlı Divane: It is 20 km far away from Korykos Hotel. The reason why it is called Kanlı Divane (in Turkish meaning bloody like hell) is because it was believed that the criminals were thrown away to the deep pit to be torn by wild animals.
On the 15th km of Silifke Highway in Ayas region (45 km to the city center Mersin) Kanyteleis – Neapolis ruins are present. You can reach via a 3km asphalt road to the antique city. Romans originally built this road.
The ruins, which came to be known by the Western world in the middle of the 19. Century was the holy land of Olba Kingdom founded on a wide pit area. Later in. 408 Byzantium Emperor Teodosyus Neapolis II. turned it into a city settlement with the name of new city. It had its most powerful times during this era (4 th century AC) It is 10 km far away from Korykos Hotel.

Uzuncaburç and Olba: It is 45 km far away from Korykos Hotel.
You can reach the Olba ruins from Silifke highway that leads to Toros valley and forests on the 30th km on a plateau. In the Hellenistic era, Olba Ura Kingdom’s holy land Uzuncaburç was freed from Olba in 72 during the time of emperor Vespasianus and with the name of Diocaesarea" (Tann-Emperor city) coined its own money and became a free polis.

Olba city, is an important settlement area 4 km on the east side of Uzuncaburç, and Zeus temple that the public prayed was in Uzuncaburç. But after Roman conquest at the end of 1st Century they paid special attention to Zeus temple and by separating it from Olba founded an independent polis with the name of Diocaesarea. All the architecture here except Zeus temple belong to Roman times. In Byzantium time it was still used as a settlement area. The ruins found here are:

It is 30 km on the north, 1299 m altitude. The city that lived during Roman and Byzantium times besides Zeus temple you can find antique theaters and rock graveyards.

Silifke Castle: It is 25 km far away from Korykos Hotel. It was built on a hill on the west side of the city in an oval plan. In the Classical era there was a temple built for the goddess Athena Kanetis in the middle of Kokysionoros settlement.
The settelement which appeared to belong to the Hellenic or early Roman period according to the main determinations was fertified by the Byzantians against Arabian invasions in the 7th century. The castle lived the ages of Armenian Korykos Kingdom, Franks, Anatolian Seljuk’s, Karamanoğulları and Ottoman times.
The castle was investigated by the explorer Captain Beaufort and V. Langlois in 19th Century. Evliya Çelebi (Famous Turkish explorer) has noted down that the castle had 23 towers, 1 mosque inside (belonging to Sultan Beyazid II) and has approximately 60 houses. But most of the towers are broken down at present time so you can only see 10 of them. A security corridor is established with the second wall that is built within the 1st wall at the main entrance. Not enough archeological excavations and scientific studies were carried out in the castle. The main structures that are seen in the castle are arched galleries, water cisterns and storages. At the present time the castle is in a citadel with no remnants of the walls. .


Frederick Barbarossa Statue : It is 30 km far away from Korykos Hotel. Roman - German Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, while going to Philistine with the III. The Crusade Army drowned on 10 June 1190 next to Eksiler Village in Göksu river. In the year 1971, the German consulate built the statue where Frederik drowned on the Silifke - Konya highway 9. km on the right hand side.

This cave was transformed into a church in 4th Century.
After Christianity became the official religion, in later times the church was decorated with many structures. Today apart from Cave church in Meryemlik, upon this cave you can see Saint Tekla Church whose one part of apsis is left, the church built for Aya Techla by emperor Zenon and North Church; bath, many cisterns and city walls remnants have come up to this date.