Turkey, an ever-shining star in the global tourism market with returning tourists and foreigners deciding to settle by buying houses, continues to attract new tourists every year.

The beautiful and untouched nature of Gazipasa is not a feature restricted to land, the plateaus or the shore. The sea is also an important element in the region.

The antique city of Selinus which is on the spot as today’s Gazipasa. was one of the important cities of mountainous Cilicia. With other cities in the same region, it shows that there was an intensive human settlement here during the antique times.

Gazipaşa hosts a very rich archeological heritage with the ruins of a number of antique cities, castles, monumental tombs and numerous historic structures. The remnants of the old ports near the shore and castles on the heights of Toros Mountains are the signs of old human settlements in this area.

The known history of human settlements in the area dates from 2000 B.C. But although they do not give us sufficient information, there are signs of earlier human settlements around Gazipaşa. The chronological history of Gazipasa goes like this:

Just a few kilometers east of Gazipaşa there is a somewhat irritating, but signposted, junction (N36.24353 / E032.34868) to the south with Macarköy / Kestros.

Antique town, placed on two hills 15 km east of  Gazipaşa and 2 km north of the village Adanda. In Turkish it is called Adanda Kalesi. On the main road a Lamos sign points north at the centre. After that there are no signs, so this road cannot be recommended.

The ancient City of Selinus is about 45 km away from  Alanya and 2 km from the city center of Gazipaşa (follow the signposts). The road follows the river Musa Çay, once called Selinus too.

We just mentioned the clean air of the mountains and plateaus, but you don’t need to go far for dean air in Gazipaşa. The air and natural environment in die town (enter and along the coastline are exceptionally clean. There is no source of pollution in this area.

After long years and many rumours, dreams of many domestic and foreign citizens living in neighbouring regions of Alanya and Gazipaşa become real - Gazipaşa Airport opened eventually.

I have been flying paragliders since 1986, before that hang gliders for several year. I started my paragliding school in Bright, Australia in 1988 and taught over 3,000 people to fly before moving on to specialise in paragliding XC Tours and XC skills development clinics.

I'm flying paragliders since 1996. I was hooked from the moment when my feet lost contact to the ground for the first view seconds - I was flying!

Murat Iştın, who is a meteorologist and at the same time, paragliding pilot, was born in Balıkesir in 1980. After completing his primary and secondary education in Balıkesir, he graduated from Ankara Anadolu Meteorology Vocational High School in 1998 and started his professional meteorology career by working at Van Ferit Melen Airport.

Pal Takats is among the most skilled acro pilots ever. The young Hungarian pilot is a real paragliding and acro zealot – in a positive way. Please read what he is telling about himself:

For professional rafters and beginners. There are lots of wild water streams coming down from the Taurus Mountains, but a few of them are really difficult to handle on rafts. You need a well-trained body with powerful muscles to move down safely. Permission is also required.

Our explorations in the area of Lake Ohrid had surprisingly let us to two take-off spaces for paragliders situated in the Galicica National Park or above Struga in the border mountains to Albania.

An excursion tour together with our co-author Detlef Heinzel, who has lived in Gazipasa for several years, had led us again to Gazipasa, the still green and rural small town with a predominantly rural bustle, please follow his short report:

The museum in Alanya, which opened in 1967, consists of two main sections, in which archaeological and ethnological treasures are exhibited.

Kahramanmaraş is a provincial centre in the east of Turkey and has got 465.370 inhabitants (number from 2007). Up to the end of the Turkish Independence War the town and the province was only called Maraş.

Tarsus was the Capital of Cilicia, situated on the banks of the river Cydnus and commanding the road from the Mediterranean Sea to Central Anatolia through the Cilician Gate.