Adana Adventures

Welcome to Adana Adventure.

I lived in Adana from September 2003 to July of 2012 .  I experienced many ups and downs in my relationship with Adana but it was always an adventure!

Adana Adventures’ mission is “Helping you to make the most of your time in Adana”.   Whether you’re coming through for a weekend, or relocating indefinitely, I hope that Adana Adventures will help you to experience more of this wonderful city than you would have otherwise and to walk away having enjoyed yourself.

The content on this website is divided into the Following Sections:

27 Things to do in Adana – This section introduces my book and the 13 blog posts that birthed it.

Adana Food Guide – This page outlines some of the best food and drinks Adana has to offer.

Adana Restaurant Reviews – I reviewed a few restaurants over the years.  All of the reviews are indexed here.

Adana Day Trips -  Day trips around Adana.

Jake OlsonA little About Me: I am Jake Olson; Husband of Rana and father to Aksel and Mia.  I enjoy spending time with family, being involved in my church, gardening, homebrewing, traveling, talking with strangers and exploring new places on foot. I relocated to Minnesota in July 2012 and can be contacted most easily at JakeDOlson (at) gmail.com or on Twitter at Twitter.com/JakeDOlson .

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  • Kristen

    Hi Jake,
    I’ll be travelling to Adana in a few months to visit my husband’s hometown for the first time. I’m hoping to find a Turkish language school or program while I’m there. Have you heard of any? Thanks for any help you can give.

    • http://blog.familychristianmovies.com Jake Olson

      Hi Kristen, thanks for getting in touch. This website is for you! (and all the other people new to Adana or planning a trip to Adana.) http://www.orhonint.com/en/dil.html offers Turkish language consulting where Turkish teachers coach you in learning the language. I’d recommend getting in touch with them to see if there’s a beginner’s course or an opportunity for private lessons coming up around the time of your visit.

  • Joe Skeptic

    Hello Jake,

    Stumbled upon your blog while searching info on Iskenderun and Antakya. I’m an American living in Jordan, the one south of Syria and contemplating a visit to Aleppo, Antakya, and Iskenderun. In 2009 visited Fethiye looking for retirement locations and was very much impressed by what I saw. Since Iskenderun and Antakya are within a day’s road trip from Amman, Jordan, that was going to be my next exploratory trip. However, with the Syria unrest nowadays, it might get postponed. I realize not too many foreigners live around Adana and Iskenderun so I wonder what the real estate/property market is like in the area. Searching online only gives results in southwest resort areas of Turkey which means Iskenderun is not on many foreigners radars and maybe cheaper prices.

    • http://blog.familychristianmovies.com Jake Olson

      Hey Joe, I’d love to meet up with you when you make the trip. As you know from living in this part of the world, there’s no better time of year to be here than in April! I was in Iskenderun last weekend when we went up to Arsuz to rent a summer vacation home and was impressed again with what a nice little city it is. Antakya is beautiful as well and that’s where my wife is from.

      Unfortunately I don’t think there are many bargains to be found in the Turkish Real Estate market. I may be wrong in this, but whenever we talk with people who have purchased land or flats here, we’re shocked at the price that’s paid. It always seems like property prices are inflated when compared with the money people make. But I’m sure that if you’ve done even superficial research, you know more about the market than I do… i.e. I don’t know much at all. Check out this website http://www.hurriyetemlak.com/ it’s the top real estate site in Turkey as far as I know.

      please let me know if you have any other questions as you consider planning your trip and I’ll be happy to answer any that I can.

      • Joe Skeptic

        Hey Jake,

        Thanks for your quick reply. I kinda got sidetracked and got busy with other matters. I still check out your blog every once in a while. Interesting food choices. Jordan has similar farmers markets and lots of fresh produce where one can experiment with many local dishes. About the Adana Optimum Outlet Grand Opening, just consider that the Turks are more organized than the Arabs, if that is possible. No travel plans yet but very encouraged by Turkey’s lowering residency permit fees for most foreigners who wish to live in Turkey. Makes Turkey a more probable choice for retirement living.

  • Douglas

    Jake,

    I have been offered a job at Incirlik Air Base. My wife and I are discussing but I would like to take her and visit Adana this weekend. What is the best airline to fly to Adana from the Middle East?

    We would love to get together over coffee while we are in town.

    Cheers!

    Douglas

  • Daniel

    Hi Jake,

    Love the blog! My wife and I recently arrived in Turkey and we’re looking forward to visiting as much of Adana and as much of Turkey as we can. Do you have any suggestions re things to do or places to visit during the winter? Thanks!

  • Maltezeeck

    Hello there!

    My name is Malte Zeeck,
    and I am with InterNations.org. I really enjoyed reading your fantastic blog! I
    think expats in Turkey
    and around the world could really gain some great insights [and have a few good laughs]
    on this page. The quality of the blog in general is very convincing, which is
    why I would love to feature you and your writing on the Recommended Blog on Turkey section on
    InterNations.org

    Not only
    do we feature and link to your blog prominently; we also would like to hear from
    you directly in our questionnaire! We have also designed a link badge for your
    blog.

    If you
    are interested, please feel free to contact me via email: maltezeeck@internations.org

    Best,

    Malte
    Zeeck

  • Cagatay

    I’ve NEVER thought I’d stumble into such a blog about Adana. I mean, Adana! Of all places…

    • Anonymous

       Somebody had to create it Cagtay :)

  • ayse

    good.

  • http://aussieinadana.blogspot.com/ Andrew Rowland

    Hi Jake, I just put as I forcasted early in the year, I’m back in Adana again right now and writing a blog of my journey. http://aussieinadana.blogspot.com/ your website is fantastic so I have made it the main link off my blog just under my picture. I hope you doing well back in the US. Take care, Andrew