We left Max parked up by the river and walked the 3 kms (1.8 miles) over to the Adana Museum. Other than the riverside, this was the first we had seen of the city itself. Adana is a modern city, very clean, and with lots of green park space. For a big city, we were pretty impressed.
We arrived at the museum and there were a few school buses with groups of kids, which is not surprising. We paid our 15 lira ($1.30 CAD, $1.00 USD) each entrance fee and went in with a large group of them.
The kids moved pretty quickly though, and they were soon well ahead of us. In fact we saw very little of them during the rest of our time.
We don't do too many museums, but I wanted to see this one specifically because of the Roman mosaics that are on display here. There is another museum in Antakya near the Syria border that we also want to see because it also has a lot of mosaics.
We skip by the broken pottery sections pretty quickly, but some of the statues are amazing. We will show you only the highlights...
Tarhunda, the Storm God.
The oldest statue in the museum. From the 8th century BC.
He is standing on a cart being pulled by two bulls.
The statue was found accidentally in a farmers field while he was plowing!
A selection of stone age arrow heads.
A toy car from the 12th century BC.
3rd Century BC.
Roman heads from the 1st to the 4th century AD.
Bronze statue from the 1st century.
This Egyptian style sarcophagus was found in a village west of Mersin, but it is not from that area originally. They believe it was made in the Phoenician city of Sidon, which is now part of Lebanon. How it arrived near Mersin is a mystery.
Detailed carving on this Roman sarcophagus from 180 AD.
The opposite side.
1st century Roman Swords.
The mosaic section is really well done because you walk up a ramp and actually look down on them so that you can see them properly.
This one they believe represents Noah's Ark.
From the first half of the 4th century AD, it was found on the floor of a Synagogue.
The mosaic section of the Adana museum.
This 4th century mosaic was found while digging the foundation for the Central Bank building in downtown Adana in 1964.
From the 2nd century, this was found on the floor of a Roman villa on the outskirts of Adana.
From the 4th century on the floor of a swimming pool.
A huge mosaic from the 6th century found on the floor of a basilical church on the outskirts of Adana.
The inscription says " The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf, the lion, and the fatling together, the cow and the bear shall graze".
From there, we walked back to Max, stopping along the way at a fruit and veggie market.
Fountain in Adana.
Lots of beautiful park space.
A stop at the fruit and veggie market.
We arrived back at Max to find a car parked so close to Max's rear bumper that we couldn't leave if we wanted to. Not that we were leaving just yet... but still. No consideration at all. It was so close that I had a hard time getting the bikes off the back. But I did manage it, and we set off for a bike ride along the river.
A beautiful blue sky day.
Electric dam.
Above the dam.
Going across the pedestrian bridge.
It's a long bridge!
Taking a break at another park.
Upside down house.
We rode south because we wanted to see the inside of the central mosque.
It's such an impressive building.
Looking back the other way.
We crossed the old stone bridge.
Built in the 2nd century, this bridge was one of the oldest bridges in the world that was open to motorized traffic up until 2007. Now, it is pedestrian only.
It is free to enter and visit the huge central mosque. Only Muslims are allowed in during prayer time, which occurs five times a day. But the times vary a little throughout the month because it depends on the angle of the sun and when sunrise and sunset are. There is a digital readout inside the mosque that says the exact times of each day. I forgot to get a picture of it.
You need to remove your shoes before entering, and women need to cover their heads. They have bags to put your shoes in, and then you bring them inside and put them on a shelf. The entire interior is carpeted. They also have a variety of head scarves that women can borrow. Ruth carries her own.
It's huge!
It can accommodate 28,500 people praying at the same time.
Arrived at Max to find that the car had left, but there was a van about to pull up behind us. I mean, it's clear that there was no way we could get out, but that didn't seem to matter. I went up to the guy and kind of made hand gestures like "you can't park here" and he says he will only be one hour, so I said okay. It's a culture that doesn't seem to care about people double parking or just leaving their vehicle anywhere. On the other hand, it's great because it's partly that culture that allows us to park Max pretty much anywhere!
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I wonder how they get the mosaics from where they were found into the museum.
ReplyDeleteWe wondered the same thing. We will try to find out when we go to the museum in Antakya.
DeleteHistory runs deep in those parts!!
ReplyDeleteIt certainly does!
DeleteExcellent blog post! Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThank you Chris, we are glad that you enjoyed it. :-)
Delete