JOURNEY TO NOSTOS

Week 12 — Cilicia to the Levantine Hinge

Where the Hellenic coast opens into shared shores

Route
Tarsus / Mersin → Payas / İskenderun → Antakya → Samandağ / Çevlik

7 days • 2 bases • hinge week • river-to-sea transition

At a glance

Bases
Tarsus (3) • Antakya (4)

Hellenic anchors

Tarsus • Seleucia Pieria (Çevlik) • Antioch (Antakya)

How to use this week

Begin here, or arrive from Pamphylia and Cilicia.
This week slows the tempo.
It is less about cities as forms and more about connection—river, road, harbour, and memory.

Prologue — Where Worlds Overlap

This is not an edge.
It is a hinge.

Here the Hellenic world meets older Near Eastern rhythms and learns to share space.
Greek language and urban order remain present, but no longer dominate the shoreline alone.
Trade thickens.
Writing deepens.
Rivers matter as much as harbours.

Antioch will not read like Athens or Ephesus.
That is the point.

Route logic

Short drives • inland emphasis • harbour approached last • repetition allowed

Day by day

Day 1 — Tarsus

Overnight: Tarsus

Focus
The inland city.

Hellenic layer
Tarsus holds Greek education, Roman administration, and Near Eastern commerce in balance.
It is a city shaped by flow rather than spectacle.

Do one thing properly
River walk.
One museum or old-quarter circuit only.

Day 2 — Tarsus → Mersin → Tarsus

Overnight: Tarsus

Focus
The working port.

Hellenic layer
Ports here serve hinterlands first.
They exist to move grain, people, and ideas inland.

Do one thing properly
Harbour walk only.
Return early.

Day 3 — Tarsus → Payas / İskenderun → Antakya

Overnight: Antakya

Focus
Following the corridor south.

Hellenic layer
This coast is read as movement—roads, rivers, and passes—not isolated cities.

Do one thing properly
Short coastal stop.
Arrive Antakya before evening.

Day 4 — Antakya (Antioch)

Overnight: Antakya

Focus
The great mixed city.

Hellenic layer
Antioch was Greek in plan, cosmopolitan in life.
Here, Hellenic form becomes one voice among many.

Do one thing properly
Old city walk.
Market lanes.
No long drives.

Day 5 — Antakya

Overnight: Antakya

Focus
Depth, not distance.

Hellenic layer
Antioch teaches endurance through layering—religious, linguistic, civic.

Do one thing properly
Museum or mosaic focus.
Long lunch.
Repeat a street from Day 4.

Day 6 — Antakya → Samandağ / Çevlik (Seleucia Pieria)

Overnight: Antakya or Samandağ

Focus
The harbour city.

Hellenic layer
Seleucia Pieria served Antioch as its sea-gate—tunnel, harbour, and breakwater carved into rock.

Do one thing properly
Walk the tunnel and harbour edge.
Stop before exhaustion.

Day 7 — Samandağ coast → Antakya

Overnight: Antakya

Focus
Closing the hinge.

Hellenic layer
Here the Mediterranean becomes explicitly shared—Greek, Phoenician, Levantine.

Do one thing properly
Sea-edge walk at a different hour.
Pack quietly.

Navigation

← Previous Week — Pamphylia into Cilicia
Next Week → The Levant
Back to Türkiye — Weeks 8–12

Optional: the long-form read

The manuscript treats this week as a decisive structural moment—where the Hellenic world learns to coexist without dissolving. (Paid)