Turkey
Uzuncaburç
A Roman temple city swallowed by a Turkish village where children play between Corinthian columns.
Children chase a football between Corinthian columns. A grandmother hangs washing from a Roman archway. At Uzuncaburç in Turkey's Cilician highlands, a functioning Turkish village occupies the bones of a Roman temple city, and the line between the living settlement and the ancient one has been blurred for so long that nobody draws it anymore.
Uzuncaburç — ancient Diocaesarea — was one of the most important religious centres in Roman Cilicia, built around a temple to Zeus Olbios that dates to the 3rd century BC. The site retains a colonnaded street, a monumental gate, a theatre, and a five-storey Hellenistic tower that gives the village its modern name (Tall Tower). Unlike excavated sites where ruins stand in fenced-off isolation, Uzuncaburç's ancient structures are woven into the village's daily fabric — homes lean against temple walls, gardens grow inside former sanctuaries. The village sits at around 1,200 metres in the Taurus foothills above Silifke, surrounded by pine forest and limestone karst. The remoteness has kept it off standard itineraries, preserving an atmosphere of genuine, unmanaged coexistence between centuries.
Solo
The unpolished reality of a village growing inside a Roman city is the kind of scene that rewards patient, unhurried observation. No crowds, no audio guides — just you, the columns, and daily life.
Couple
Wander together through a place where ancient and modern are so intertwined they become one thing. The Taurus mountain setting and the village's quiet self-possession make it a memorable, offbeat discovery.
- Children play between Roman columns while a teahouse operates inside a temple courtyard — the ancient city is a functioning village.
- A 3rd-century BC Hellenistic tower temple to Zeus Olbios stands 22 metres tall at the village entrance — the oldest temple in the region.
- The site is 30km from Silifke with almost no foreign visitors — you'll likely have the ruins entirely to yourself.
- The entire settlement developed within the ancient city's boundaries — the street plan follows the original Roman grid.
Silifke's tantuni — flash-fried lamb with peppers wrapped in thin yufka.
Çedene macunu, black seed paste mixed with honey, a Cilician folk remedy turned breakfast staple.
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