Difference between revisions of "Mersin"

Revision as of 12:53, 10 February 2009

Mersin is a city in Turkey on the Mediterranean coast. It's the capital city of Mersin Province.

Get in

By train

There are trains every hour or more frequently during the rush hours to and from Adana and Tarsus. There are trains to and from Istanbul, Eskisehir and Ankara.

By plane

There are flights to and from Istanbul and Ankara to the closest airport, Adana Sakirpasa Airport. There are shuttles from the airport to Mersin.

By bus

There is a bus station in eastern part of the city. There are city buses running between the city center and the bus station. Usually each bus company has its own shuttles running between city center, western (coastal part) and the bus station. From the bus station there are buses to almost every city in Turkey and to small cities and villages in Mersin Province.

Get around

See

• Ulu Mosque
• Mugdat Mosque
• Flamingo Park
• Astim Magarasi
• Ataturk's House

Do

• Walk on the Antic Road, constructed in Roman Period.

• Go to Narlikuyu to have fish and raki. Narlikuyu is a town which is 65 km. away from the City Center. It is always better to go there by car. When you go there ask for the place called Haci Amca'nin Yeri, it is a very cool place with fresh fish and very tasteful Roca Salad.

• Mounted excursion in an ambient within nature at mounted sports club.

Buy

Buy very high quality leather jackets from the bazaar just beside Holly Mosque (local name Ulu Cami). Don't forget to bargain, after bargaining 15 minutes, you might be able to buy leather jacket for half price. If the owner doesn't lower the price, start acting like an actress, make him believe that you are leaving the place and not buying anything. And watch, in how many seconds, he will start yelling "Abi or Abla, waitt waittt" and don't go back to the magazine immediately and don't look at him at the very first minute.

Eat

Tantuni is one of the most famous food in this region. Don't leave the city without tasting it. In the center of the city, you will see several small local restaurants with this special fantastique food.

Inner organs are very common ingredients of the food in Cukurova. There are local dishes made with intestines, lung, liver, kidneys, stomach, brain. Even though there are restaurants serving this food all through out the day, usually this type of food can be found easily late at nights. Especially soups with inner organs are drank late at night after consumption of alcohol.

Cezerye is a must-try sweet and can only be found in this city. It has carrot and fig and contains different nuts depending on where you buy it from.

Kerebic is another dessert unique to Cukurova. It is a dough filled with pistachios and served with sweet-foam on top of it.

Drink

Salgam can be found on every street in Mersin even though it is a drink from Adana. Since the cities in Cukurova all have similar cuisines taste of Salgam doesn't differ that much.

In the past there were many Boyan (licorice drink) sellers in the city center. Such drink still exists but cannot be found easily.

Sleep

There are many hotels in the city, but one of the best ones is Sultasa Hotel. It is a kind of in the city center. The entrance fee for this place is 35YTL excluding accommodation. For accommodation, you should pay 80YTL more.

Get out

• Kizkalesi and Cennet Cehennem (see Mersin Province#Other destinations for details.)

Routes through Mersin

Antalya ← Silifke ←

W  E

→ Tarsus → Adana