Anavarza

Anazarbus was a Roman city on the Cilician plain, at one point the rival of Tarsus and later the capital of Armenian Cilicia, and it sits below a long limestone crag that runs for over a kilometre. On the flat are the remains of the city: a triumphal arch standing to full height, a colonnaded street running away from it with column stumps in rows, a theatre, an amphitheatre cut into the rock, a stadium, aqueduct arches, and mosaic floors under cover, including a well-known Thetis and sea-creatures panel. On the crag above is the castle - Armenian and Byzantine work strung along the whole ridge in a series of walls, towers, chapels and cisterns, reached by a steep and rough climb of forty minutes or so with no facilities and no shade. The site is on Turkey's UNESCO tentative list. It sees very few visitors, and the plain below is cotton and citrus country.

What to look for

• The triumphal arch - standing at the head of the street.
• The colonnaded street - column rows running across the plain.
• The mosaics - the Thetis panel under its cover.
• The ridge castle - Armenian walls strung along the crag.

When to go

April to May and October to November - the Çukurova plain is extremely hot and humid in summer, which makes the castle climb dangerous rather than just hard.

What to expect

The castle climb is steep, unmarked and unmanaged, with drops and loose rock. No shade or facilities on the ridge. A car is needed, and signage in the area is poor.

Nearby

Kozan and its castle are north; Karatepe is east in Osmaniye province.

Key facts