Antioch is a charming town at the southern coast of Turkey just a couple of hours’ drive away from Aleppo in Syria. It is well-known as the place from where Christianity was first preached and spread by Paul and other disciples. But Antioch (now called Antakya, in the Hatay province) was founded much earlier, by one of the Seleucid generals under Alexander and became an important city in early AD, second only to Rome and Alexandria. Kurtulis Caddesi (where my hotel and many former soap factories are located) used to be the main thoroughfare in Antioch during Roman times. Today it is a relatively quiet narrow one lane road that snakes towards the Mediterranean coast. Antioch was once important as a link between the eastern trading routes and the Mediterranean seaport. At its height, it had a population of over half a million but today, it is a slightly sleepy town of less than half the size that seems to largely depend on the tourist traffic.
The sights in Antioch are more known for their historical or religious significance than their architecture and beauty. Old Antioch and new Antioch are separated by the Orontes river. In old Antioch, most buildings are three or four stories high and many are in the 19thC French style or the Ottoman style with renovated light pink, beige and green facades. Old Antioch has mostly small individually operated shops; there is not a mall or chain store in sight. For the tourist, the small handicraft shops selling mostly handmade soap and silk scarves, and pastry and sweets shops, can be quite attractive initially although the lack of variety means one’s interest pales quickly. The pastry shopkeepers are friendly and ready to offer a free tasting.
More interesting are the winding alleys of old Antioch. I spent a pleasant Sunday morning meandering amongst the old houses of Antioch, some quite dilapidated and others in the midst of restoration. Here and there, one sees a well-proportioned wooden shuttered window or a graceful arch. It is a very calming walk.
As testimony to Antioch’s religious tolerance, mosques and churches of various denominations co-exist in close quarters. St. Peter’s Grotto, a small church carved out of a hillside, is reputed to be where Peter and other early Christians were said to have gathered. It is currently under restoration and so I was unable to visit it. The Habib Neccar mosque sits on Kurtulis Caddesi, just 10 minutes’ walk down my hotel. It is a stone mosque fronted by a small but pleasant courtyard that has a large leafy tree and some wooden benches. But it was not always a mosque. Before Islam spread to Anatolia, it was the site of a Christian church. Religions may change but not the location of worship; where a place is felt to be sacred, people will always flock to it.
A further few minutes’ walk from the Habib Neccar mosque, well-hidden in a small alley is a modest Catholic Church and adjoining Caritas shops (themselves behind a tiny mosque where one enters via the base of the minaret). The shops sell local handicrafts for charity including some intricately embroidered crosses, doilies and table mats. The photograph that symbolises Antioch is a cross (the cross of the Catholic church) side by side a minaret (the minaret of the tiny mosque) and that famous image can be snapped from the roof of the catholic church. Like the Habib Neccar mosque, the Catholic church is also entered via a pleasant courtyard, this one planted with orange trees. Not far from the Catholic Church are some cobblestoned pedestrian-only roads with a mix of tourist and everyday shops. The Greek Orthodox church and the Protestant church are in this area. The Protestant church was established in the 1990s by Korean missionaries. It is not particularly distinguished except for its location, being within sight of the Greek Orthodox church and the many mosques throughout Antioch. The Greek Orthodox church is entered via carved metal gate that leads to a large courtyard. The church is as expected, stone, warmly lit with candles and an altar decorated with multiple icons. In front of the altar is an interesting wrought iron railing in the shape of a dragon that is said to symbolize the underworld and on top of the dragon is a dove carrying an olive branch. With a nod towards the mimbar in a mosque, around one of the pillars inside the Orthodox church is a set of metal stairs leading to a small pulpit. The large wooden entrance to the church is carved with images of St. Peter and St. Paul and beside the entrance is a glass box which contains the original Ottoman document that granted permission for the church to exist.
The main bazaar is within walking distance. There are the typical stalls – food, household goods, jewellery as well as tea houses and a small mosque in the centre of the bazaar to serve its workers. The bazaar hides a ramshackle defunct caravanserai that now houses stray cats and a few metal workshops. The bazaar spills out to the Orontes river and the modern city centre of Antioch.
On both sides of the Orontes river are restaurants, shops as well as a cinema dating back to the 1930s and the Archaeological Museum which has several large halls displaying some well-preserved coloured mosaics from Roman times. Many of these mosaics were excavated from the villas of the rich Romans living in the Antioch area and illustrate scenes from mythology such as Ganymede and Zeus, Narcissus, Poseidon and the Evil Eye. The workmanship of the mosaics has to be seen to be believed; they are made from the smallest stone tiles that I have seen anywhere and many of the scenes seem to be 3-dimensional. It’s fortunate that western countries haven’t taken the mosaics away to their museums. Antioch is worth visiting if only just for these mosaics.
