{"id":10043,"date":"2022-02-03T22:49:42","date_gmt":"2022-02-04T05:49:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aleta.life\/?p=10043"},"modified":"2022-02-04T02:17:26","modified_gmt":"2022-02-04T09:17:26","slug":"hatay-antakya-antioch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aleta.life\/index.php\/2022\/02\/03\/hatay-antakya-antioch\/","title":{"rendered":"Hatay\/Antakya\/Antioch"},"content":{"rendered":"
Position: 36\u00b012’41″N 36\u00b010’25″E<\/a><\/h6>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Cordoned off by the police, the crowd hung back behind makeshift barricades at our hotel\u2019s entrance. A big red and gold tour bus was the focus of most people\u2019s attention, including the cops. That allowed us to slip past them, mostly unnoticed. The revolving door to our hotel opened directly onto a metal detector. Emptying our pockets and looking touristy was enough to gain access. At the check-in counter, we asked our concierge what was going on outside? She looked at us thoughtfully. Then she looked down for a moment and finally turned to her manager and asked for his input. He sidled over and told us, tonight there is a Super League football match. Our local team is playing Istanbul. That\u2019s their bus outside.<\/p>\n

Our hopes that The Boss<\/a> had stopped over for a night on his way to a gig dashed, we went upstairs to our room. The balcony looked out directly over the team bus and the gathered, braying crowd. Given their demeanour, I assumed they were Istanbul fans and not local hecklers. We unpacked and decided to head downstairs to watch the game over bar snacks. Hatayspor Antakya beat Galatasaray Istanbul 4-2. At least the hotel was quiet that night.<\/p>\n

Museum Hotel<\/h6>\n

<\/p>\n

Antakya, formerly Antioch and now officially Hatay, has a complicated history, and a complicated present. Sandwiched in a valley with Syria to the east and the Mediterranean just over the hills to the west, both Turkish and Arabic are still widely spoken. Opting for the Museum Hotel<\/a> was something of an indulgence. But for the price of a Motel 6 in California, we had the best room in town in a building straddling the world\u2019s largest intact Roman floor mosaic.<\/p>\n

After breaking ground in 2009, the hotel\u2019s developers discovered the 1,050 square metre (11,300 sq. ft.) mosaic, along with a richness of artifacts and buried buildings. The project was stopped and an entirely new design respecting the finds called for. Ten years and $120<\/a> million later the hotel, complete with suspended, prefabricated rooms, covered the entire site, protecting it and giving guests something truly unique to marvel over during cocktails.<\/p>\n

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