1.
Mersin
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Mersin is a large city and a port on the Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. It is part of an interurban agglomeration – the Adana-Mersin Metropolitan Area – and lies on the part of Çukurova, a geographical, economical. Mersins nickname within Turkey is Pearl of the Mediterranean and the city hosted the 2013 Mediterranean Games, Mersin is the provincial capital of the eponymous Mersin Province of Turkey. As of 2014, the population of the city is 1,071,703 and this coast has been inhabited since the 9th millennium BC. Excavations by John Garstang of the hill of Yumuktepe have revealed 23 levels of occupation, fortifications were put up around 4500 BC, but the site appears to have been abandoned between 350 BC and 300 BC. In subsequent centuries, the city became a part of states and civilizations including the Hittites, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks. During the Ancient Greek period, the city bore the name Zephyrion and was mentioned by ancient authors. Apart from its harbor and strategic position along the trade routes of southern Anatolia. Ancient sources attributed the best molybdenum to the city, which minted its own coins. The area later became a part of the Roman province of Cilicia, the city, whose name was Latinized to Zephyrium, was renamed as Hadrianopolis in honor of the Roman emperor Hadrian. After the death of the emperor Theodosius I in 395 and the subsequent permanent division of the Roman Empire, the city was an episcopal see under the Patriarchate of Antioch. The bishopric is included in the Catholic Churchs list of titular sees, the area of Cilicia was conquered by the Arabs in the early 7th century, by which time it appears it was a deserted site. During the American Civil War, the became a major supplier of cotton to make up for the high demand due to shortage. Railroads were extended to Mersin in 1866 from where cotton was exported by sea, in 1909, Mersins port hosted 645 steamships and 797,433 tons of goods. Before World War I, Mersin exported mainly sesame seeds, cottonseed, cakes and cereals, cotton, cotton was exported to Europe, grain to Turkey, and livestock to Egypt. Coal was the most prevalent import into Mersin at this time, messageries Maritimes was the largest shipping line to use the port at Mersin. In 1918, Mersin was occupied by French and British troops in accordance with the Treaty of Sevrès and it was recovered by the Turkish army in 1920. In 1924, Mersin was made a province, and in 1933 Mersin, as of 1920, Mersin had five piers at its port, with one privately owned by a railroad company serving Mersin, Tarsus, and Adana
2.
Mediterranean Sea
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The sea is sometimes considered a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it is usually identified as a separate body of water. The name Mediterranean is derived from the Latin mediterraneus, meaning inland or in the middle of land and it covers an approximate area of 2.5 million km2, but its connection to the Atlantic is only 14 km wide. The Strait of Gibraltar is a strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Gibraltar. In oceanography, it is called the Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea or the European Mediterranean Sea to distinguish it from mediterranean seas elsewhere. The Mediterranean Sea has a depth of 1,500 m. The sea is bordered on the north by Europe, the east by Asia and it is located between latitudes 30° and 46° N and longitudes 6° W and 36° E. Its west-east length, from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Gulf of Iskenderun, the seas average north-south length, from Croatia’s southern shore to Libya, is approximately 800 km. The Mediterranean Sea, including the Sea of Marmara, has an area of approximately 2,510,000 square km. The sea was an important route for merchants and travelers of ancient times that allowed for trade, the history of the Mediterranean region is crucial to understanding the origins and development of many modern societies. In addition, the Gaza Strip and the British Overseas Territories of Gibraltar and Akrotiri, the term Mediterranean derives from the Latin word mediterraneus, meaning amid the earth or between land, as it is between the continents of Africa, Asia and Europe. The Ancient Greek name Mesogeios, is similarly from μέσο, between + γη, land, earth) and it can be compared with the Ancient Greek name Mesopotamia, meaning between rivers. The Mediterranean Sea has historically had several names, for example, the Carthaginians called it the Syrian Sea and latter Romans commonly called it Mare Nostrum, and occasionally Mare Internum. Another name was the Sea of the Philistines, from the people inhabiting a large portion of its shores near the Israelites, the sea is also called the Great Sea in the General Prologue by Geoffrey Chaucer. In Ottoman Turkish, it has also been called Bahr-i Sefid, in Modern Hebrew, it has been called HaYam HaTikhon, the Middle Sea, reflecting the Seas name in ancient Greek, Latin, and modern languages in both Europe and the Middle East. Similarly, in Modern Arabic, it is known as al-Baḥr al-Mutawassiṭ, in Turkish, it is known as Akdeniz, the White Sea since among Turks the white colour represents the west. Several ancient civilisations were located around the Mediterranean shores, and were influenced by their proximity to the sea. It provided routes for trade, colonisation, and war, as well as food for numerous communities throughout the ages, due to the shared climate, geology, and access to the sea, cultures centered on the Mediterranean tended to have some extent of intertwined culture and history. Two of the most notable Mediterranean civilisations in classical antiquity were the Greek city states, later, when Augustus founded the Roman Empire, the Romans referred to the Mediterranean as Mare Nostrum
3.
Silifke
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Silifke is a town and district in south-central Mersin Province, Turkey,80 km west of the city of Mersin, on the west end of Çukurova. Silifke is near the Mediterranean coast, on the banks of the Göksu River, Silifke was formerly called Seleucia on the Calycadnus — variously cited over the centuries as Seleucia Cilicia, Seleucia Isauria, Seleucia Trachea, and Seleucia Tracheotis —. The city took its name from its founder, King Seleucus I Nicator, the ancient Greek city of Olba was also within the boundaries of modern-day Silifke. The modern name is a corruption of the Latin Seleucia, the economy of the district depends on agriculture, tourism and raising livestock. The town of Silifke is as a market for the plain, which produces beans, peanuts, sesame, banana, orange, lemon, cotton, grapes, lentils, olives, tobacco. An irrigation project located at Silifke supplies the fertile Göksu delta, in recent years there has been a large investment in glasshouses for producing strawberries and other fruit and vegetables in the winter season. Silifke is also a town, well-connected with other urban areas and producing beverages, chemicals, clothes, footwear, glass, plastics, pottery. Silifke has a climate with hot and dry summers and mild. It is probable there were already towns called Olbia and Hyria. The city grew to include the settlement of Holmi which had been established earlier as an Ionian colony but being on the coast was vulnerable to raiders. Cilicia thrived as a province of the Romans, and Seleucia became a center with a renowned 2nd century Temple of Jupiter. It was also the site of a school of philosophy and literature. The stone bridge was built by the governor L. Octavius Memor in 77 AD, around 300 AD Isauria was established as an independent state with Seleucia as the capital. Early Christian bishops held a Council of Seleucia in 325,359, in the 5th century the imperial governor in residence at Seleucia had two legions at his disposal, the Legio II Isaura and the Legio III Isaura. From this period, and perhaps later, dates the Christian necropolis, west of the town, according to the Notitia Episcopatuum of Antioch, in the 6th century, the Metropolitan of Seleucia had twenty-four suffragan sees. In 705 Seleucia was captured by the Arab armies of Islam and was recovered by the Byzantines, in the Notitiae of Leo VI the Wise Seleucia had 22 suffragan bishoprics, in that of Constantine Porphyrogenitus it had 23. In 968 Antioch again fell into the power of the Byzantines, in the 11th century, the city was captured by the Seljuk Turks, they met with resistance and in 1137, Seleucia was besieged by Leon of Cilician Armenia. During this period of struggle between Armenians, Byzantines, Crusaders and Turks a stronghold was built on the heights overlooking the city, on June 10,1190, the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa was drowned trying to cross the Calycadnus, near Seleucia during the Third Crusade
4.
State road D.400 (Turkey)
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D-400 is an east–west state road in southern Turkey. The 2, 057-kilometre road starts at Datça in the southwest corner of the Anatolian peninsula, the road ends at the Iranian border at Esendere. D-400 runs through the cities of Marmaris, Fethiye, Antalya, Alanya, Mersin, Adana, Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, between Nizip and Cizre, D-400 is part of the European route. In the table below the locations between Datça and Esendere are shown
5.
Hiking
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Hiking is the preferred term, in Canada and the United States, for a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails, in the countryside, while the word walking is used for shorter, particularly urban walks. On the other hand, in the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland, the word hiking is also often used in the UK, along with rambling, hillwalking, and fell walking. The term bushwalking is endemic to Australia, having been adopted by the Sydney Bush Walkers club in 1927, in New Zealand a long, vigorous walk or hike is called tramping. It is an activity with numerous hiking organizations worldwide. In the United States, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, a day hike refers to a hike that can be completed in a single day. However, in the United Kingdom, the walking is also used, as well as rambling. In Northern England, Including the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales, fellwalking describes hill or mountain walks, hiking sometimes involves bushwhacking and is sometimes referred to as such. This specifically refers to walking through dense forest, undergrowth, or bushes. In extreme cases of bushwhacking, where the vegetation is so dense that human passage is impeded, the Australian term bushwalking refers to both on and off-trail hiking. Common terms for hiking used by New Zealanders are tramping, walking or bushwalking, trekking is the preferred word used to describe multi-day hiking in the mountainous regions of India, Pakistan, Nepal, North America, South America, Iran and in the highlands of East Africa. Hiking a long-distance trail from end-to-end is also referred to as trekking, in North America, multi-day hikes, usually with camping, are referred to as backpacking. The idea of taking a walk in the countryside for pleasure developed in the 18th-century, in earlier times walking generally indicated poverty and was also associated with vagrancy. Thomas West, an English priest, popularized the idea of walking for pleasure in his guide to the Lake District of 1778. To this end he included various stations or viewpoints around the lakes, published in 1778 the book was a major success. Another famous early exponent of walking for pleasure, was the English poet William Wordsworth, in 1790 he embarked on an extended tour of France, Switzerland, and Germany, a journey subsequently recorded in his long autobiographical poem The Prelude. His famous poem Tintern Abbey was inspired by a visit to the Wye Valley made during a tour of Wales in 1798 with his sister Dorothy Wordsworth. Wordsworths friend Coleridge was another keen walker and in the autumn of 1799, he and Wordsworth undertook a three weeks tour of the Lake District. John Keats, who belonged to the generation of Romantic poets began, in June 1818, a walking tour of Scotland, Ireland
6.
Swimming
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Human swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water or another liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs, the body, humans can hold their breath underwater and undertake rudimentary locomotive swimming within weeks of birth, as an evolutionary response. Swimming is consistently among top public recreational activities, and in some countries, as a formalized sport, swimming features in a range of local, national, and international competitions, including every modern summer Olympics, which takes place every four years. Swimming relies on the buoyancy of the human body. On average, the body has a density of 0.98 compared to water. However, buoyancy varies on the basis of body composition and the salinity of the water. Higher levels of fat and saltier water both lower the relative density of the body and increase its buoyancy. Since the human body is slightly less dense than water, water supports the weight of the body during swimming. As a result, swimming is “low-impact” compared to land such as running. The density and viscosity of water also create resistance for objects moving through the water, Swimming strokes use this resistance to create propulsion, but this same resistance also generates drag on the body. Hydrodynamics is important to stroke technique for swimming faster, and swimmers who want to swim faster or tire less try to reduce the drag of the motion through the water. Just before plunging into the pool, swimmers may perform such as squatting. Squatting helps in enhancing a swimmer’s start by warming up the thigh muscles, human babies demonstrate an innate swimming or diving reflex from newborn until the age of approximately 6 months. Other mammals also demonstrate this phenomenon, Swimming can be undertaken using a wide range of styles, known as strokes, and these strokes are used for different purposes, or to distinguish between classes in competitive swimming. It is not necessary to use a stroke for propulsion through the water. There are four main strokes used in competition and recreation swimming, the front crawl, also known as freestyle, the breaststroke, the backstroke, competitive swimming in Europe started around 1800, mostly using the breaststroke. In 1873, John Arthur Trudgen introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, Swimming has been recorded since prehistoric times, and the earliest records of swimming date back to Stone Age paintings from around 7,000 years ago. Written references date from 2000 BC, some of the earliest references include the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Bible, Beowulf, and other sagas
12 km (7.5 mi) southwest of Mersin. In 1977, the grove at the Mediterranean Sea side was declared a recreation area. On November 7, 2011, the area was declared a nature park by the Ministry of Environment and Forest.[1][2][3] However the ministry decided to end its status as a nature park and there is a heated discussion on its future status [4]
