Our first stop of the day was near the Syrian border at the Iron Age site of Tell Ta’yinat (A tell is an ancient mound of city upon ruined city; “hoyuk” in Turkish). It was a little tricky finding it, but the collective GPS and Google Maps users on the bus were able to pinpoint its location and find the two-track road leading to it. While it may simply look like a lonely tell, it’s importance lies in a temple of a similar time period and style to the one King Solomon built. Although only the base is visible (covered by a tarp), it still gives a decent feel for Solomon’s temple. Compared to the dimensions given in 1 Kings, this temple was only a little smaller.
Heading north, we stopped for lunch at the city of Osmaniye. We were all dropped off along a road with a variety of restaurants and a park. It gave us a nice feel with the locals. They obviously weren’t used to seeing foreigners in their city and occasionally would take our picture.
Our next destination was Karatepe, a Neo-Hittite fortress with some well-preserved carvings and inscriptions. After the collapse of the Hittite empire in 1200 BC, independent kingdoms rose from its ashes – this was part of one of them.
We ended the day of touring by heading west to Adana, where we’ll spend the next two nights.
