The Turkish Riviera is the most stunning part of Turkey's Mediterranean coast. The south coast of Turkey stretches all the way from Bodrum in the west, along the beautiful turquoise coastlines of Caria and Lycia, past rocky Cilicia, to the great plains where cities like Tarsus grew up. The region is dominated by the chain of Taurus Mountains that in places drop sheer into the sea, in other places rise up significantly behind the shore.
The coastal areas produce cotton (60 percent of Turkey's output), sesame, citrus fruits (more than 90 percent of the country's production - such as the oranges of Finike), early vegetables and the small bananas from around Alanya. Many of the alluvial plains are now swathed in greenhouses producing tomatoes, peppers, and aubergines.
The higher elevations, known collectively as yayla, offer a cooler retreat in summer. Lacking significant arable land the hills are sometimes terraced for grain or offer pasture for sheep, cows, and goats. A small number of semi-nomadic peoples, the Yoruk, still follow age old transhumance routes with their flocks between highland and lowland. Much of the hill and mountain sides are covered in dense pine forest, for several millennia a vital timber resource. Today pine honey is a lucrative product often sold by farmers by the roadside.