Antakya
Antakya or Hatay as its official name is today, is located in South Turkey, near the border of Syria. Antakya is the main city in the Hatay province of Turkey (the other main city is Iskenderun). The region is neighbouring the Mediterrenean Sea in the west and Syria in the East and South. Antakya is locate don the banks of the Orontes (Asi) River. In ancient times the city was known as Antioch and has a very important historical significance for Christianity, being the place where the followers of Jesus Christ were called Christians for the very first time (Bible, Acts 11:26) and where the Gospel of Matthew was probably written. Antakya and its massive walls also played a very important role during the Christian Crusades.
Being located so near the Syrian border Antakya is a cosmopolitan city unlike most of the cities in Turkey today and it has not experienced the mass immigration of people from eastern Anatolia that has substantially swelled the populations of other Mediterranean cities in the last decades. As a result of this both Turkish and Arabic are still widely spoken in the Antakya region although written Arabic is not used much.
Antakya (Antioch) was founded in 300 BC as Antioch-ad-Orontes by Seleucos Nicator who was one of Alexander the Great's generals. Antakya grew quickly to become a large city of half a million people and under the Roman dominance became one of the important centers of Christianity. Antakya was the starting point for the first of St. Paul's travels in Anatolia in 48 AD. The city survived a big earthquake in the 5th century killing almost 250,000 people and was later fought over by Persians, Byzantines, Arabs, Armenians, Seljuks, Crusaders and Mamluks. Mamluks almost wiped out Antakya and the city never regained its former glory. Antakya was part of the French protectorate of Syria until 1939. Antakya then became independent as the Republic of Hatay for a short period and then joined the Republic of Turkey on 23 July 1939.
The large number of churches in Antakya still bear a clear testimony of Antakya's importance to Christians. The most important church in Antakya region is the rock-carved Church of St. Peter. With its network of refuges and tunnels carved out of the rock, Church of St Peter is mostly accepted as the world's first Christian church. In 1983, the church was also declared a holy site by the Vatican. It was also in the ancient Antioch that the saints gave their new religion the name "Christianity".
For swimming and sunbathing opportunities Samandag is a must-see. Seleuica Pieria, 6 km south of Samandag, is an ancient city that was a very busy port at the time when St. Paul and Barnabas made their first missionary journey from this port. The Titus-Vespasianus Tunnel which was built to divert the rain waters is a great example of engineering even by today's standard.
Antakya was also the setting of some famous novels and films. Ben Hur had his famous wagon ride in Antioch ad Orontes (Antakya) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade had the Republic of Hatay with Alexandretta (Iskenderun) as the historical setting of the well known series.
The Antakya Archeology Museum deserves a particular interest, in that it has one of the richest collections of Roman mosaics in the world. There are also tombs cut into the rock face at various places along the Orontes valley