Icel (Mersin) is one of the most modern provinces with palm lined
avenues, a city park and a region with modern hotels, a good base for visiting
the historical sites and beaches nearby. Mersin has the largest port on the
Turkish Mediterranean with a Free Zone.
In Icel you will find all the comforts of a modern city with a business
centre and the characteristics of Mediterranean cities. In the Icel fish market
there are some inexpensive fish restaurants enjoyable for those who love fish
and 'Raki' or wine.
Although Icel dates from the 19th century, it is placed on an extremely
ancient site. The excavations at Mount Yumuktepe proved that there had been
twelve successive settlements beginning with the Neolithic Period. Moreover, the
city is noted in history with the name of Saint Paul (he was from Tarsus) and
with areas between Alanya and Mersin that were given as a marriage gift to
Cleopatra by Mark Antony.
For whom fond of history and archaeology there is Viranoehir (Pomeipolis) a
city built on area that has seen continuous settlements since the Neolithic Age
and a Roman city built during the Roman Period. The city was Papacy in the early
Christianity Period that destroyed by an earthquake in 525. The Necropolis
(graveyard), theatre, public baths, water canals, temple ruins exist. The Eski
(old) Mosque is an important building from Ottoman Period (1870).