Kanlıdivane

About this place

A whole town arranged around a hole in the ground. At Kanlıdivane the roof of a limestone cave fell in long ago, leaving a chasm about 140 metres long, 95 metres wide and more than 50 metres deep, and Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine settlers then built their houses, churches and tombs along its rim as if it were the town square. The Turkish name means something like «the bloody council»; local legend says criminals were thrown in to be eaten by wild animals, though the duller explanation is that the soil here is red. The visit is a circuit of the edge. You pass four Byzantine churches whose walls and arches still stand surprisingly high, a square Hellenistic tower inscribed by Teukros of the Olban priestly dynasty as a dedication to Zeus, the mausoleum Queen Aba raised for her husband and sons in the northern necropolis, cisterns, and dozens of rock-cut graves. Then look into the chasm itself: Roman-era figures carved near life-size into the rock face, a family group of six and a soldier among them, have been staring into the void for some two thousand years. There is no shade and no café, and the rim path is unfenced in many places, so hold on to children and leave the pushchair in the car; the ground is rocky and uneven. In August the heat is punishing and only an early-morning visit makes sense; spring and autumn are ideal. If you happen to be here during the Mersin International Music Festival in spring, one or two concerts are staged across the sinkhole, orchestra on one side, audience on the other. From Mersin it is about 55 km west along the D400 coast road to Kumkuyu, then 3 km uphill inland, roughly an hour by car. Without a car you can take a minibus towards Kızkalesi and get off at the junction, but the walk up is long and exposed. Best to make Kanlıdivane the first stop on a day that continues to Kızkalesi and Elaiussa Sebaste, 10-15 km further west: the ticket costs almost nothing and the site is close to empty even in high season.