Our drive from Tarsus to Göreme could have been straightforward. The direct route is about 250 km and takes around three hours. But we decided not to go the direct way. Instead, we made a detour: first to the Varda Viaduct, then to Gülek Castle, and only after that did we get on the motorway and continue to Göreme.
This route took us through the Cilician Gates, also called the Gülek Pass, a pass through the Taurus Mountains that connects the plains of Cilicia with the Anatolian Plateau.
The Cilician Gates have been an important commercial and military route for thousands of years. In the early twentieth century, a railway was built through them, and today the Tarsus–Ankara Highway (E90, O-21) runs through the same corridor. The southern end of the Cilician Gates is about 44 km north of Tarsus, and the northern end leads toward Cappadocia.
From Tarsus to the Varda Viaduct
From Tarsus, I entered 6XWH+58 Karaisalı, Adana, Türkiye into the car’s GPS. That takes you to Varda Çardak Cafe Restaurant, where you get a good view of the viaduct.
It took us at least 90 minutes to get there from Tarsus. We came from the west, had a good first view, then passed through a tunnel underneath the railway tracks and went to the café viewpoint to see the viaduct from the other side. That worked really well.
The Baghdad Railway and the Varda Viaduct
This whole area is connected with the history of the Baghdad Railway, also known as the Berlin–Baghdad Railway (Turkish: Bağdat Demiryolu; German: Bagdadbahn). Construction started in 1903 with the aim of connecting Berlin with the then Ottoman city of Baghdad. The line was only completed in 1940. By the outbreak of the First World War, it was still 960 km short of its intended destination. The last stretch to Baghdad was built in the late 1930s, and the first train from Istanbul to Baghdad ran in 1940.
One of the best-known structures on this route is the Varda Viaduct. Construction began in 1905. The main work was completed in 1907, technical details were finished in 1912, and the railway on the viaduct went into service in 1916. The viaduct is 172 meters long and 98 meters high and has eleven ashlar arch spans in total. The central part has three 30-meter arches. It was also used in the opening chase scene of the James Bond film Skyfall, released in October 2012.
From Varda to Gülek Castle
From there we continued to Gülek Castle, Gülek, 33530 Tarsus/Mersin, Türkiye. The distance is only about 60 km, but it still took us at least 90 minutes. For directions, you can use this link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/VpJCJR7kgi3H7E9f9
Gülek Castle (Kalesi in Turkish, Armenian: Kuklak) is a large fortification with a long history. It still shows evidence of Byzantine and Arab periods of occupation, but most of what is there today dates from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and comes from Armenians.
The road there was slow. It is narrow, with lots of curves, often with no guardrails. Luckily, we did not meet another car on some of the narrower stretches going up or down. At some points we were high enough that we could see the clouds below us.
There were also rocks on the road in places, and we came across goats, sheep, and geese. So this is not the kind of drive where you can relax and just follow the road without thinking.
On to Cappadocia
From Gülek Castle, we continued north toward Göreme in Cappadocia. But we did not follow the GPS going down the mountain. Instead, we went back the same way and then took the E90 motorway. That was definitely the better choice. Google Maps tried to send us down a steep dirt road on the northern side, but that looked too dangerous. I would also not take that northern access going up.
Practical Information
So in practical terms: yes, this detour is worth it but it takes time. The direct drive from Tarsus to Göreme is about 250 km and around three hours, but once you add the stops, it becomes much longer. For us, Tarsus to the Varda viewpoint took at least 90 minutes, and then Varda to Gülek Castle was another 60 km and at least 90 minutes.
For the viaduct, I would use 6XWH+58 Karaisalı, Adana, Türkiye in the GPS and go to Varda Çardak Cafe Restaurant. For Gülek Castle, I would use this map link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/VpJCJR7kgi3H7E9f9.
What matters most is that you should be prepared for narrow roads, a lot of curves, no guardrails in some places, rocks on the road, and animals. And I would really avoid the northern dirt-road access to Gülek Castle.
My Turkey Google map list: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ARHHkhSCXbTsMUo7A
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