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Photo: No machine-readable author provided. Godfried Warreyn assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons
This castle guards the southern approach to the Syrian Gates through the Amanos Mountains. The first known structure was 9th-century Byzantine, and it was kept in good repair by the Knights Templar and Armenians, until abandoned in the 13th century after defeat by the Mamluks. It's a steep rough trail and the ruin is so overgrown and tumbledown, you may struggle to find a way in.
Bagras or Baghrās, ancient Pagrae, is a ruined medieval castle in the İskenderun district of Turkey, in the Amanus Mountains.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
Bayazid Bastami (d 875 AD) was a Sufi mystic. The site on an outcrop was originally the castle of Darb-ı Sak, or Trapessac under the Knights Templar, and later a retreat for ascetic dervishes. One of the sarcophagi within is said to hold his remains, but his name means he came from Bastam in Semnan Province of Iran and the shrine there has a stronger claim. The Alaybeyli shrine was badly damaged in the 2023 earthquake and restoration continues.
Brilliant collection of classical mosaics, coins, sarcophagi, and Iron and Bronze Ages artefacts. It suffered minor damage in 2023 and is being repaired rather than rebuilt.
They were preparing to build a hotel in 2009 when they found remains of ancient Antioch, so they mounted the hotel on steel pillars and created a museum below. There's an ancient road pavement, a ruined bathhouse, and Roman floor mosaics.