Yılankale – Snake Castle
/ By Josh
Yılankale is one of the best preserved medieval castles in a region where Armenians, Crusaders, Seljuks, and Ottomans vied for control over this strategic crossroad.
The province of Adana has been a settled region for over 6000 years. Its well watered fertile plain attracted some of humanity’s earliest settlers to this hot Mediterranean province. The plain is set between the towering Toros Mountains in the North and the warm waters of the Mediterranean in the south.
The Importance of this region is attested to by the many Hittite and later Greco-Roman settlements in the area. Adana saw the coming and going of Alexander the Great, and the fabled Battle of the Cilician Gates. This region was also home to important port cities that connected the over-land silk road to the sea routes of the Mediterranean, and it was through one of these ports that famed explorer Marco Polo sailed on his return from the Far East.
Beyond history Adana is home to bird sanctuaries, sandy beaches, alpine meadowlands, and, most importantly Adana Kebap: Turkey’s most beloved food.