“Purple Basil” Town Population: 75,400
Market day: Saturday
***Reyhanlı was badly damaged by the 2023 earthquakes. I have not been back there since.***
The small Hatay town of Reyhanlı was never a great beauty but did at least in the past have an important function as the closest town to Turkey’s busiest border crossing into Syria. Now that war has brought that function to an end there’s no reason why you would want to come here, the closest thing to an attraction being a new clocktower in the town centre that commemorates the terrible day in May 2013 when two car bombs exploded, killing around 50 people and injuring hundreds more. At the time it was the most lethal bomb attack ever to hit Turkey, a grim record since snatched by the bomb attack in front of Ankara station in 2015.
If for any reason you do decide to come this way you might like to know that Tell Atchana (the ancient Alalakh), on the right-hand side of the road, as you approach from Antakya is an archaeopark where you can see the remains of two mud-brick palaces dating back to c.2,000 BC. In an area once known as the Amuq (Amik), it was once the capital of the Late Bronze Age Kingdom of Mukish. The finds from the site are on display in the Hatay Archaeological Museum in Antakya.
Those who’ve been to the Zeugma Museum in Gaziantep will be amused to see one of the same model camel trains as stands there adorning the main road heading into Reyhanlı.
Transport info
Minibuses travel between Antakya’s Köy Garaj and Reyhanlı high street every 10 minutes or so doing the main part of the day.
