İskenderun

This is one of many cities named for Alexander the Great; he and his successors subdued vast swathes of Asia and North Africa. It stands on the coast at the foot of a pass through the mountains towards Antakya and Syria, and in 333 BC Alexander was victorious at the Battle of Issus somewhere on the plains on the other side. Medieval travellers called the city Alexandretta, the smaller one, to distinguish it from its greater namesake in Egypt.

The Ottomans conquered the region of Hatay in the 15th century, but after the First World War this was initially not incorporated into the new Republic of Turkey, but awarded to the victors France. It remained part of French Syria till 1938, was briefly independent, then was absorbed into Turkey. The city has long been industrial, with grimy petrochemical plants and steelworks in its north suburbs. The 1989 film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade has its climactic scenes supposedly in Hatay during independence, but the location scouts took one look at Iskenderun and decided to film in southern Spain.

By plane:

Hatay Airport (HTY IATA) has flights several times a day from Istanbul (both IST and SAW) and daily from Ankara. It's 45 km south near Antakya: driving takes 45-60 min as the highway snakes over Belen pass.

By road:

From Adana take motorway O-52 (toll) east onto O-53 / E91 then south, 133 km, say 1 hr 40 min. From Gaziantep follow O-52 west past Osmaniye to join O-53. The coast road D817 flanks O-53: it's toll-free but congested with trucks and far from scenic.

South of İskenderun O-53 joins D817 and then D825 southwards to Antakya. This is a good divided highway but twists and turns over Belen Pass through the Amanos Mountains. Highways from Antakya continue towards Syria: south for Latakia, Tartus, Tripoli and Beirut, east for Aleppo, Hama and Damascus.

By bus:

Buses from Istanbul run every couple of hours and take 13 hours via Ankara, Niğde and Adana, heading to Antakya. Buses no longer run from Beirut or Aleppo.

Bus lines are Metro Turizm, Kamil Koç (now part of Flixbus) and Has Turizm.

1 İskenderun Otogarı the bus station on Sanayi Cd was already a tatty crumbling place before the earthquake, and now has only makeshift facilities. Many Turkish cities have migrated their bus terminals to the highways edge of town, to avoid traffic snarls, but there's no word on where or when a new station might be built here.

By train:

Trains to Iskenderun are suspended long-term because of interminable engineering works around Adana.

İskenderun Garı the station is therefore a forlorn place.

By boat:

İskenderun's port facilities were wrecked in the 2023 earthquake. Ferries no longer sail from Kyrenia in Northern Cyprus: the nearest route is via Mersin.

The ferry port was at Madenli, 22 km southwest along the road to Arsuz. It's not known when it might be rebuilt.