Tarsus Old Town

Tarsus was a substantial city long before the Romans - it is where Antony and Cleopatra met, by the usual account - and it was the birthplace of Paul of Tarsus, which is what brings most visitors. The sites are scattered through a working provincial town. St Paul's Well sits in a small enclosure on the site traditionally identified as his family's house, with the Roman-era well still yielding water that visitors draw up and drink. St Paul's Church, an early-nineteenth-century Orthodox building, is now a museum and opens for services by arrangement. The Cleopatra Gate, an old arch on the western edge, carries her name on tradition rather than evidence. Best of the lot is the Roman road: a stretch of basalt-paved highway with its drainage channels, excavated several metres below the modern street and left open. Around these are Ottoman stone houses, a covered bazaar, the Ulu Cami and a waterfall on the Berdan river outside town.

What you actually see

• St Paul's Well - the Roman well in the traditional house site.
• The Roman road - basalt paving excavated below street level.
• The Cleopatra Gate - the old arch on the town's edge.
• The Ottoman quarter - stone houses and the covered bazaar.

When to go

April to June and October to November - the Çukurova plain is extremely hot and humid in summer. Weekday mornings for the bazaar.

Honest expectations

Several attributions here are traditional rather than evidenced - the well, the gate and the house site included. Sites are scattered across a busy town with limited signage. It is a working city, not a preserved one.

Nearby

Mersin and Adana are half an hour either side; the Berdan waterfall is on the edge of town.