Adana

Understand

thumb | 300px | Sabancı Central Mosque Adana has been inhabited for over 8000 years. The name may drive from a proto-European word danu, "on the river", making it an unlikely cousin of the Danube, Dnieper and Doncaster. People known to settle here include the Luwians, Hittites, Sea People, Assyrians, Cilicians, Persians, Selucids, Armenians and Romans - these built the stone bridge (Taşköprü) over the river. Adana changed hands many times after the break-up of the Roman-Byzantine Empire but came under Ottoman control from 1517. In early modern times it developed a cotton industry and had a polyglot population of Muslims, Armenians, Greeks, Syrians and Arabs. But inter-ethnic tensions played into resentment of industrial labour conditions, and the Armenians suffered a massacre in 1908 then genocide in 1915.

The cotton trade has slumped but the economy of Adana remains based on agriculture, plus mixed industries including automobiles, and banking. It nowadays has four districts: Seyhan is the historic core, with the sites of traveller interest. Çukurova, often called "New Adana", is a residential area north along the lake shore. Yüreğir east of the river is industrial and low-rent residential. Sarıçam lies northeast and has the university. A fifth, nominally part of Sarıçam, is İncirlik, where the NATO air base is springboard for operations deeper into Asia. This effort has brought an influx of westerners into Adana, and the town has business hotels and other western-style am…

Get around

thumb | 300px | Within Sabancı Mosque Walk: the city sprawls but the area of interest in the old town is compact.

City buses — Extensive bus network including city buses and dolmuş.

Adana Metro is a single line running 14 km southeast to northwest across city centre: Vilayet is the stop for the railway station. Most visitors are unlikely to use it. An extension to the university main campus is in planning.

Taxi prices are comparable to the rest of the country.

See

Tepebağ is the core of Old Town. Most sights are here. Central Park is the relaxing riverside area north of Sabancı Central Mosque. is a Roman bridge over the Seyhan River, probably built around 120-135 AD, on the trade routes from Persia and Anatolia to the Mediterranean. Until 2007 it carried motor traffic but is now a footbridge and popular hanging-out spot. Its names have included Saros Bridge, the Bridge of Justinian and al-Walid Bridge; the present Taşköprü (stone bridge) says what it is. thumb | 300px | Taşköprü over River Seyhan (Yeni Cami) was built in 1724 in Mamluk style.