Iskenderun, North East corner of the Meditteranean

We are slowly recovering from the food poisoning and the overnight trip from Mersin. The locals here are very curious about visitors, they obviously don't get that many. Everyone is very friendly and wants to come up and talk to us. We are rafted off the quay in 2 tiers. The first row of boats are anchored stern-to on the quay, and we are anchored further out and tied to the front of the first row. This is how to pack a lot of boats into a small space.
Although we have to climb over another boat to get off, we are pleased to have some privacy. Glenn and Lynn in the first row have the street sweeper sitting in their cockpit whenever he can get aboard! There is a mad barber of Iskenderun who wants to cut everyone's hair and beard(including the ladies!) He tackles us every time we get off the boat. Unfortunately he made one of the ladies look like a toilet brush, so we're trying to avoid him!

The industry here revolves around international shipping, as the Iraq oil pipeline reaches the Med here, so there is a lot of interest in yachts and boaty stuff, as the quay is normally full of fishing boats so doesn't have many visitors.

This area is the Hatay, annexed by Turkey in 1939 as voted by the inhabitants, though Syria would really like it back. As a result there is a mixture of Arabic and Turkish people here, and a small Christian population. Very few head scarves here! I know I'm obsessed by this but it's very interesting.

Yesterday we went to Antakya, previously known as Antioch, which we have read about in so many history books. It is a very modern town now, with little to see of it's original glory. By the second century BC it had a population of half a million - that's awesome. It had become one of the largest cities in the ancient world, due to it's position on the new Silk Road from the Med to Asia. With lots of money to be made it continued to make wealthy Roman citizens, who built holiday villas in the nearby Habiye valley and Samandag on the coast. The mosaics from these villas have been painstakingly recovered and preserved in the Antakya museum, which is not to be missed.

 We also visited the cave church which is supposedly the first ever church, built by Peter between AD47 and 54. It was here that the term 'Christian' was first used. Before that they were known as Nazarenes.

There's not a lot to see inside for 8TL but it's interesting to explore the tunnel entrances in the hillside above used for persecuted worshipers to flee from attack, admire the view of Antioch and ponder how the an ancient city of half a million people might have looked, and what they thought of these strange people and their radical preachings.

Talking of which, a little out of town we visited the ruins of the 4th C St Simeons monastery. This takes the nutty biscuit. St Simeon the Younger chained himself to a rock in the wilderness, gradually ascending higher pillars until he reached a height of 13m. Here he stayed for 25 years (!) meditating and pronouncing to the pilgrims who made the long trip out of town to hear what he had to say. 250 followers mounted their own pillars throughout the Middle East - the things you have to do to get people to listen!
The pillar today is only about 5m high, but is still buffeted by the wind atop the hill with views over the same sea and mountains of the Hatay that Simeon enjoyed.

It is extremely hot here now. Inside the shady boat it is 32 degrees. I have no idea what it is outside now- but you could roast a pig on a spit in the sun! Since we are in part of a commercial harbour in a fairly polluted part of the Med, there's no swimming opportunity here to cool down. Oh, and no showers ashore either.
It doesn't drop in temperature much at night so Stu is making us an anniversary present of some low energy fans for the bedroom -how romantic! He's dripping a lot of sweat - not so romantic.

Tomorrow evening we are off to Lattkia, Syria -the forecast ? Lots of wind from the south of course.