The Cilician Mountains forms the central part of the Mediterranean Region of Turkey. This rugged part of the ancient region of Cilicia also has an extensive coastline fronting the Mediterranean, which is one of the main drawcards, and the others are numerous ancient ruins and medieval castles dotting the region, although for the most part the overseas travellers are yet to discover them.
Although nowhere near as widely visited as its western neighbour, Pamphylia, the Cilician Mountains has a lot to offer to every taste. For history lovers, it offers hundreds of castles, city ruins, temples, inns, and artifacts dating back to the Roman, Biblical, Crusade, Seljuq, and Ottoman epochs. For nature lovers, it may mean mountains, mountains, and again mountains covered with pine forests. For green warriors, it holds the last shelters for the endangered Mediterranean monk seals (Monachus monachus) and Mediterranean sea turtles (Caretta caretta). For sun and sea seekers, it has hundreds of miles of beaches, both sandy and pebbled, spared from pollution, and lying under perhaps one of the sunniest skies of Turkey and of Europe.
Despite its close proximity to Turkey’s main touristic areas, upon venturing out into the region you will find that being a "traveller" is still the norm here, as opposed to being a "tourist". If you want to have a cup of tea, then you should head for a local coffeehouse, not a fancy café pretending to be straight out of Paris. When you'd sleep somewhere, then it would most likely be at a guesthouse where the other regional guests are staying, not an “all-inclusive” holiday resort as part of a package tour. Therefore the people are more friendly, and the prices are lower.
The region, the western and southern parts in particular, is mostly rugged and wooded, and is dominated by the Taurus Mountains with very little (or no) flatland between mountain slopes and the shoreline. Quite surprisingly, this mountainous area—one of the remotest and most beautiful along Turkish Mediterranean coast—has one of the least population densities anywhere in maritime Turkey and distances between the towns are huge. From Silifke eastwards, the mountains retreat a little inland, but the coastline still keeps its hilly topography.
In ancient times, this region was called Cilicia Trachea, i.e. "rough Cilicia" or more precisely "mountainous Cilicia", as opposed to Cilicia Pedias, i.e. "flat Cilicia" lying to the east of the region. The European travellers of the 18th and 19th centuries knew the region as Karamania, after a local medieval kingdom based in the inland city of Karaman to the north, preceding the Ottomans. In modern political terms, the Cilician Mountains extend over western and central two-thirds of Mersin Province, as well as the southern panhandle of Karaman Province (the rest of which is associated with Central Anatolia).
The region is Turkey’s main citrus (predominantly lemon, orange, and grapefruit) and banana growing region. Almost always sunny climate also allows intensive greenhouse operations, which cater Turkey’s central and northern regions (and also parts of the Middle East and Europe) with fresh vegetables in winter.
The typical Mediterranean climate; hot and dry summers, mild and rainy winters. Temperatures often climb to around 35°C in summer, while winters average 12-15°C during the daytime. It is also relatively sheltered from rainstorms that affect the rest of Mediterranean Turkey, which, unfortunately, does not completely erase the possibility of severe storms during winter. September is the best time for a beach holiday for those not used to the summer heat, as the waters are still warm by then.
In eastern part of the region (i.e. around Erdemli), you would probably be fine with a little bit of English, especially in tourism-oriented businesses. Some German can also be useful as Germans are the largest number of foreigners visiting Turkey. In more remote places, such as those in the western and southern parts of the region, you will need at least a few Turkish words. However, Turkish spoken in parts of the region is a bit far away from standard Turkish (i.e., that is spoken in Istanbul), lying in a medium between Konya dialect and Cypriot Turkish (closer to the latter). So, it may be best to ask for written answers as the pronunciations in the phrasebooks are not exactly how the people of the province pronounce the words. They all understand standard Turkish, though.
Nearest airport for both international and domestic flights is in Adana. For the southernmost part of the region (Anamur and its environs), international airport in Antalya is another possibility, although it's still a fair distance to the airport.
There is no station (nor any railtracks) in the region. The nearest station with passenger services is in Mersin.
Major regional towns are usually served from regional centres, such as Mersin to east, Konya to north, and Antalya to west, with the most links oriented towards east (Mersin).
D400 highway between Adana and Antalya enters the region from its one extreme and follows (or at least tries to follow as long as rugged geography permits) the coastline until the other extreme in the NE-SW axis of the region. It traverses all the towns located along the shoreline. D715 from Konya in the north also joins D400 in Silifke after passing through a pass on Taurus Mountains (Sertavul Pass) and Mut.
There are scheduled ferries from Cypriot cities of Kyrenia and Famagusta to Taşucu.
Smaller settlements in the region have minibus services to bigger regional/nearby towns/cities, such as Mersin, Silifke, and Anamur.
The main highway of the region, D400, is wide (mostly 4-lane), smooth and straight in the section between Erdemli and Taşucu, 15 km west of Silifke. All other roads in the region are narrow (only wide enough for two cars passing side by side) and very (in some cases, extremely) winding because of the very rugged landscape.
People are friendly towards hitchhikers. Despite its favourable climate and proximity to Turkey’s main touristic areas (e.g., Pamphylia), there are not as many travellers as you may assume, therefore people treat you like guests (but don’t expect them to do more than giving you a lift and may be offering a fruit). The general problem is that there are not many vehicles in much of the region, and therefore waiting for a lift can take up to 2 hours, under the cruel sun between April and October. Don’t forget to take lots of water and sunblock lotion! The drivers that offer a lift also are mostly driving town-to-town, so there is little chance to find a long-haul lift, but that is not such a bad thing as you will experience more of rural/real spirit of Mediterranean Turkey.
Locally produced ayran (no matter pre-packaged or being sold "fresh" in roadside stalls) tends to be saltier than those found in the rest of the country, which is great to recover the sodium you lost by sweating but may take longer to get used to if you haven't had any ayran before.
In the western and southern parts of the region, always carry an extra amount of cash with you. Most of the settlements you’ll come across are far in-between, rural and doesn’t have enough population to justify setting up an ATM. Also, supermarkets are rare as well, and the smaller the place you are in, the less chance that your (or any) credit card will be accepted.
Being located at the same latitude with the Mediterranean African cities such as Algiers or Tangier, sun is very strong in this part of Turkey. Even non-local Turkish people (those from more northerly locations, such as Istanbul) can have hard time. Don’t forget to drink lots of water to stay hydrated, to have more salt in your diet than you are used to for balancing your sodium loss by sweating (or better drink at least one cup of salty ayran evey day), and to use sunblock lotion.
Respect the nature:
The telephone code of the region is 324.
Related Wikipedia article: Mersin Province