The West Church doorway
Fifth-century Isaurian carving of two archangels trampling pagan figures, the sharpest work on the site.
Nedim Ardoğa — CC BY-SA 3.0 · nurettingülay(from T… — CC BY-SA 3.0 · nurettingülay(from T… — CC BY-SA 3.0 · nurettingülay(from T… — CC BY-SA 3.0
Some fifty years before Justinian's builders raised the dome of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, masons on this remote Taurus mountainside had already tried putting a tower over a church crossing. Alahan is not a ruin you visit merely because it is old; it is a fifth-century architectural laboratory, built in two phases under the emperors Leo I and Zeno. Zeno was himself a native of these Isaurian hills and lavished on his home country something worthy of a pilgrimage centre. Then, by the seventh century, the place was abandoned, and it has sat ever since on a terrace at about 1,200 m above the Göksu valley with nobody adding to it or knocking much of it down. The route through the site is linear and easy to follow. You begin at the cave church cut into the rock, the earliest thing here, then reach the West Church, whose stone doorway remains the finest object at Alahan: on its lintel two archangels trample pagan figures underfoot, flanked by the symbols of the four evangelists, carved so crisply the stone looks fresh from the chisel. A colonnaded walkway runs along the cliff edge to the baptistery with its cruciform font, and on to the East Church, the best preserved of the three, with that early tower over the crossing which many historians treat as a grandparent of the Byzantine dome. A bathhouse and rock-cut tombs sit around the fringes. From Mersin it is a long haul: around 180 km and two and a half to three hours by car via Silifke and the Karaman road, then about 20 km past Mut a narrow, steep side road climbs some 2 km to the car park. There is no sensible public transport to the gate, so a hire car is the practical answer, and it makes sense to fold the visit into a day with Silifke or Uzuncaburç. Entry is free and the site is open daily from 08:15 to 17:00. Is it worth the distance? For anyone who cares about history or architecture, unreservedly yes. As a family outing the answer is cooler: the site is unshaded, there is no café, the ground is rough stone that defeats pushchairs, and the visit itself rarely stretches past an hour. The valley view from the terrace is half the reward. In August the altitude takes the edge off the coastal heat but the sun is merciless, so bring water and a hat and start early.
Fifth-century Isaurian carving of two archangels trampling pagan figures, the sharpest work on the site.
An early tower over the crossing that predates the dome of Hagia Sophia by roughly fifty years.
The colonnaded walkway along the cliff gives the widest view over the valley and the Taurus.
Geçimli Mahallesi, Mut, Mersin
On its own, no: three hours each way for an hour on site is a poor trade. It earns the drive if you pair it with Silifke and Kızkalesi or with Uzuncaburç on the same day, or if you are already heading north to Karaman and Konya.
The side road up to the car park is narrow and steep; inside, the ground is uneven stone with steps, and there is no shade or café. Fine for children who walk happily, unsuitable for pushchairs or anyone who finds rough ground difficult.