Alahan

Some 60km/39mi south of Karaman a track snakes its way 1,200m/3,900ft up to the Alahan Monastery (magnificent view!). The fifth century complex consists of two churches and a chapel. At the beginning of the 1960s work began on the western church (Church of the Evangelists) to restore the main walls, including the monumental church portal and the relief stonework with symbols of the Evangelists. The resulting church was much smaller and had only a single nave. The eastern church with its three porches ornamented with vine tendrils and fish remains as an impressive domed basilica, whose style characterizes the transition from late Greco-Roman to Byzantine ecclesiastical architecture. The arcades in the nave are borne by Corinthian columns.