Travel with Amateur Traveler Podcast · Chris Christensen

Travel to Southeastern Turkey

·1 hr 8 min·5 clips

Göbekli Tepe dates to 9500 BC, about 6,000 years older than Stonehenge.

1. Amateur Traveller episode 977 covers southeastern Turkey, including Tarsus, Antakya, Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, and Göbekli Tepe. 2. Host Chris Christensen introduces Mark Michael from rambleswithmark.com, and Mark matters because he has personally traveled the route and researched the region through William Dalrymple’s From the Holy Mountain. 3. The episode asks what to see in a part of Turkey that mixes Old Testament traditions, Christian pilgrimage sites, and rapidly changing infrastructure. 4. Mark starts with Tarsus, which he calls a 6,000-year-old city and the birthplace of St. Paul, while also naming Seth, Alexander the Great, and Cleopatra as part of its history. 5. He recommends using Istanbul and Adana as flight gateways, then driving one way from Tarsus toward Mardin or Şanlıurfa with a rental car. 6. He describes Tarsus sites such as St. Paul’s home, Cleopatra’s Gate, the Ulu Jami, the Makamah Sharif Jami, and a Bedistan market. 7. He also names local foods in Tarsus, including Adana kebab, şalgam, and kunefe, and says boutique hotels there often occupy old Ottoman mansions. 8. The itinerary continues through Cilicia with Anazarbis, which Mark identifies as the capital of Cilicia in the early Byzantine period, and Gilan Kale or Snake Castle, a 12th-century Armenian fortress. 9. Mark says Anazarbis has the world’s longest preserved ancient street, plus ruins of Byzantine churches, a forum, and a crusader castle. 10. He then moves to Musa Dagh, the only Armenian village in Turkey at Vakifli, and the Jonah Pillar at Yunus Satuna, where local Muslim legend places Jonah after the whale. 11. Around Hatay, Mark emphasizes food heritage with tepsi kebab, hummus, goat cheese, pomegranate vinegar, and what he calls a UNESCO food heritage region. 12. He describes Hider Bay as a quiet pilgrimage spot with the Moses tree, a creek, picnic tables, and the “water of immortality.” 13. He highlights Seleucia Piera and the Titus Tunnel as Roman engineering, then the Monastery of St. Simeon the Younger, where a stylite lived on a pillar for 45 years. 14. Mark explains that Antakya was badly affected by the February 2023 earthquake, and that rebuilding was still underway when he visited in 2024. 15. He says the Church of St. Peter survived because it is built into a cave in the mountain and is said to be the place where followers of Jesus were first called Christians in Acts. 16. He also mentions the Mosque of Habib the Carpenter, which began as a pagan temple, became a church, then one of the first mosques in Anatolia. 17. In Gaziantep, he focuses on pistachios, baklava, katmer, and the Zeugma Mosaic Museum, which he says has 35 mosaics and displays pieces salvaged from the flooded Roman city of Zeugma. 18. Mark’s tone is practical and route-driven, and the format is an interview with Chris Christensen asking for day-by-day travel advice and historical context. 19. Travelers interested in ancient history, sacred sites, and regional food will get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners wanting a fast city guide or modern beach itinerary may skip it.

As heard by us

A practical route through Turkey's southeast, where ruins and origin stories keep colliding.

The piece keeps the route practical. It treats southeastern Turkey as a trip you plan in motion: Gaziantep first, then a couple of nights in Sanliurfa, with Zogma and Rum Kale left in play if there is time. That makes the advice easy to use.

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Plan a southeastern Turkey trip with Sanliurfa as your base.

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