The Corinthian temple above the sea
Only two columns still stand, but the view from the hill over the bay is the best picture on the site.
Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Dosseman — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Dosseman — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Dosseman — CC BY-SA 4.0
The D400 coastal highway cuts a whole Roman city clean in two, and you cross it every time you want to move from the theatre to the temple. This is Elaiussa Sebaste at the village of Ayaş, roughly 55 km west of Mersin and just 4 km short of Kızkalesi. There is no gate, no ticket window and no fence: you pull off at the roadside by the ruins and walk straight in among the columns. The ruins are left largely as the excavators found them, which is exactly what makes the place a pleasure for people who like to explore and a mild disappointment for anyone expecting a tidy museum. The city was born in the 2nd century BC on a small island; Archelaus of Cappadocia then founded a new town on the isthmus and named it Sebaste in honour of Augustus, and it came into real money after Vespasian brought the old pirate coast under direct Roman rule in 74 AD. Then sand and silt swallowed the channel, the island became a peninsula, and after the raids of the later 3rd century the city faded, finally eclipsed by its neighbour Korykos in the 6th century. An Italian mission from Rome's Sapienza University has been digging here since 1995; what you see today is thirty years of their work. On the inland side of the road sits a modest 2nd-century theatre, only 23 rows of honey-coloured stone, its steps and decoration long since plundered, and next to it the agora, once entered between two lion-shaped fountains, over which the Byzantines laid a large basilica; its mosaic floor is kept buried under sand for protection, so do not expect to see it. Across the road the former island, now a sand-choked peninsula, holds the harbour bath and the Byzantine palace, and on the hill to the west, overlooking the sea, stands a Corinthian temple, two of its columns still upright out of the original twelve on the long sides and six on the short; the view over the bay justifies the climb on its own. On the hill north of the city runs the so-called avenue of graves: close to a hundred tombs and rock-cut monuments scattered through lemon groves, along with stretches of the aqueduct that once carried water down from the Lamas river. A plain warning: in July and August there is almost no shade, so start around eight in the morning and bring water and a hat. The ground is rocky and uneven, hopeless for a pushchair, and there are no facilities or cafe on site, though children who like scrambling will enjoy the theatre and the tombs. By car from Mersin it is about an hour along the D400; otherwise take a Silifke-bound minibus from Mersin's bus station and ask the driver to drop you at the ruins in Ayaş. The ideal plan folds it into one day with Kızkalesi, Korykos and Kanlıdivane, and ends with a swim off Kızkalesi beach.
Only two columns still stand, but the view from the hill over the bay is the best picture on the site.
Twenty-three rows of honey-coloured 2nd-century stone, stripped of its decoration but still a place to sit and take in the site.
Close to a hundred Roman tombs scattered on the hill north of the road, one of the richest necropolises in ancient Cilicia.
Ayaş village, D400 coastal highway (Atatürk Cd.), Erdemli, Mersin 33740
Yes, because it sits on the same road just 4 km before Kızkalesi, costs nothing and takes no more than an hour. But do not make it the sole reason to drive out from Mersin; the sea castle at Kızkalesi and the chasm at Kanlıdivane are more spectacular, and Elaiussa is a fine addition to them rather than a substitute.
For children who like to scramble, yes; pushchairs are useless on the stones, and anyone who finds uneven ground hard going will be content with the theatre close to the road. There are no toilets or cafe on site and next to no shade in summer, so plan a short morning visit.