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The Karabel Pass and a Walk on Mount Nif in Kemalpaşa
Historical Sites

The Karabel Pass and a Walk on Mount Nif in Kemalpaşa

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East of İzmir, behind Bornova, a green mountain mass rises that is visible from the city every day yet rarely climbed.

Kemalpaşa / İzmir, İzmir
Historical Sites
Radar Editör
October 15, 2026

About Trip

East of İzmir, behind Bornova, a green mountain mass rises that is visible from the city every day yet rarely climbed. Mount Nif, as Turkish Wikipedia describes it, is a tectonic mountain one thousand five hundred and ten metres high forming the westernmost tip of the Bozdağlar range, and one of the nineteen mountains that bore the name Olympos in antiquity. The Karabel Pass cuts across its eastern slope; on the rocks of the pass stands a rock relief, one of the oldest historical traces in the Aegean. This piece combines the two in a single day: tracking a king three thousand years old at the pass in the morning, walking on the mountain's slopes from the Vişneli side in the afternoon, and, if you catch the season, ending the day with Kemalpaşa's cherries.

The pass and the mountain

The Karabel Pass, according to Wikipedia, lies on the road between Kemalpaşa and Torbalı, between Mount Nif and the eastern part of the Bozdağlar, about twenty kilometres from İzmir. Mount Nif, as described in the excavation report of Prof. Dr. Elif Tül Tulunay of Istanbul University, sits around the shared boundaries of the Kemalpaşa, Buca and Torbalı districts; to its north lie the Kemalpaşa Plain and Mount Spil, to its east the Karabel Pass, and to its south the Torbalı Plain. The report stresses the mountain's water sources, fertile soils and ores, and its roads linking both to the sea and to the interior; in other words, this mountain has drawn people in every period. Wikipedia also writes that because of its closeness to the sea the mountain has a humid climate, receives abundant rain, and its summits are covered with snow in autumn and winter.

Kemalpaşa itself is part of this story. According to Wikipedia the town's name in antiquity and the Middle Ages was Nymphaion; in the 13th century it became the favourite winter residence of the emperors of Nicaea, and a palace whose remains survive to this day was built here. Visit İzmir, which also hosts Kemalpaşa's tourism page, regards this building, also known as the Laskaris Palace, as the symbol of the district; sources give different names for the emperor who had the palace built. The district took its present name in 1923; Wikipedia links this to Mustafa Kemal Pasha coming to Nif on 9 September 1922 and following the army's entry into İzmir from here.

The Karabel relief

The relief, as Kültür Envanteri describes it, lies in the pass on the Kemalpaşa to Torbalı road, on the south-facing slope of a hill. A male figure is carved inside a niche about two and a half metres by one and a half metres; the figure walks to the right, holding a bow in one hand and a spear in the other. Between his head and the spear is a heavily worn, three-line Luwian inscription. The British scholar J. David Hawkins read this inscription in 1998: the figure is Tarkasnawa, king of the Land of Mira, a vassal of the Hittite Empire in the 13th century BC, and the inscription presents him as the son of Alantalli, king of Mira. Kültür Envanteri adds that the grandfather's name cannot be read and is thought possibly to be Kupanta-Kuruntiya.

The relief has a long history of interpretation. In the 5th century BC Herodotus mentions two figures carved in the rocks of Ionia and attributes them to the Egyptian king Sesostris; Kültür Envanteri notes that Karabel may be one of the monuments in this account, but that Herodotus may have been mistaken in describing the road. In Herodotus's description the spear is in the right hand and the bow in the left; on the rock the figure holds them the other way round. The French traveller Charles Texier saw the relief in 1839, and according to English Wikipedia Karl Richard Lepsius followed, both taking it to be Egyptian work. In 1843 Heinrich Kiepert compared it with the reliefs of Yazılıkaya at Boğazköy and linked it to Hittite culture. English Wikipedia also explains the relief's wider significance: by fixing the location of Mira it shows that the Wilusa of Hittite documents must be sought to the north, in the Troad, which supports the identification of Wilusa with Ilion, that is, Troy.

This was not the only monument in the pass. According to Kültür Envanteri, about a hundred metres north of the relief there was a second figure and two separate Luwian inscriptions; all three were completely destroyed during road works between 1977 and 1982. Turkish Wikipedia writes that Kazım Dirik, governor of İzmir between 1926 and 1935, had a tile-decorated arch built on the road to mark the location of the relief, and that this arch too was demolished when the road was widened. Today only the steps leading up to the monument can be seen from the road.

The relief's last decade has been painful. According to Hürriyet, archaeologist Nezih Başgelen documented with photographs in 2016 that acid had been poured over the relief; later treasure hunters broke it up with drilling tools. Kültür Envanteri records that the attacks of 2017 and 2019 almost entirely destroyed the lower half of the relief. The cover photograph was taken in autumn 2019; only the upper part of the figure in the niche can be made out. Stand in front of the relief for a while, look up from the steps and consider the scale of this loss. Do not touch the rock and do not climb into the niche.

The Karabel picnic area

Right next to the relief there is a picnic area in the shade of pine trees; a travel guide writes that it has picnic tables and basic toilet facilities. After the relief in the morning you can take a break here and get ready for the walking part of the day. Before lighting any fire, check that day's forest fire warnings.

From Vişneli to the mountain

A short distance from the pass along the Kemalpaşa to Torbalı road you turn off for Vişneli. According to Wikipedia, Vişneli is a rural neighbourhood thirty kilometres from İzmir and sixteen kilometres from the centre of Kemalpaşa, connected to the Kemalpaşa to Torbalı provincial road by a village road of a little over two kilometres. The neighbourhood appears as Fetrek in the records of 1890; until 1933 it belonged to Torbalı. The Turkish Wikipedia article on Mount Nif describes the mountain as lying directly in the village of Vişneli.

This face of the mountain is also an excavation site. According to Tulunay's report, preliminary trips in 1999 to 2001 found that remains on the mountain were being scattered by illegal digging; a surface survey was carried out in 2004 to 2005, and in 2006 excavations began on behalf of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Istanbul University. Two of the excavation areas, Karamattepe and Ballıcaoluk, lie within the boundaries of Vişneli and were registered as first degree archaeological sites in 2007. At Karamattepe a settlement dating from the last quarter of the 8th century BC to the middle of the 6th century BC came to light; the area was later used for a time as a Hellenistic cemetery. Wikipedia reports that traces of metal production, from bronze casting to iron forging, were found in the workshops here. At Ballıcaoluk there are the defensive walls of a fortress built with large stone blocks three metres long on its eastern side, and to the south a free-standing tower of the Hellenistic period. The excavation areas are protected; wherever you see a fence or sign, do not go in, and do not pick up fragments you see on the ground.

A walking suggestion

I found no summit trail in the sources that has been officially marked and published by an institution on Mount Nif; walking routes on the mountain mostly rely on records shared by hiking groups. So if you are climbing the mountain for the first time, going with a hiking group is the best choice. If you are walking on your own, choose the forest tracks leading out of Vişneli, carry a map that works offline and a location record, and let someone know when you plan to be back. A travel guide writes that the remains of a Byzantine fortress lie near the summit and that from there the Kemalpaşa Plain and the distant skyline of İzmir can be seen; this section takes effort and has no facilities. Weather on the mountain changes quickly; fog and cold wind on the higher sections are not unusual. In winter the summit may be covered in snow.

Kemalpaşa's cherries

The foot of Mount Nif is full of cherry orchards. Kemalpaşa Cherry was registered as a protected designation of origin on 24 March 2021. According to the certificate of the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office, the district lies in a fertile basin between Mount Spil and Mount Nif, and a constant breeze that begins at the Gulf of İzmir and blows through the gap between the two mountains provides the chilling the cherries need and protects the fruit from overheating as it ripens. According to the certificate Kemalpaşa's cherries are among the first harvested in the northern hemisphere: the harvest begins on the plain in the last week of April and continues until the end of July with the picking of the upland cherries on the slopes of Mount Nif. The certificate also notes that Evliya Çelebi mentions the cherries of Kemalpaşa in his Seyahatname. According to Visit İzmir, the Kemalpaşa Golden Cherry Culture and Arts Festival has been held since 1936 in the last week of May or the first week of June; it began as a one-day event and has lasted nine days since 2010. Check the festival dates each year in the announcements of Kemalpaşa Municipality.

Getting there

Kemalpaşa is reached from İzmir by the highway that runs through Bornova towards Ankara. If you prefer public transport, a travel guide suggests taking the metro to Evka-3 and changing there to buses heading for Kemalpaşa; check line numbers and departure times in ESHOT's current information. To move between the Karabel Pass and Vişneli and reach the mountain tracks, however, your own car is far more practical. Since the relief is by the roadside there are no visitor facilities; leave the car in a safe spot on the road and watch the traffic when walking along the main road.

Season and time of day

Spring is the best time for this trip: the mountain is green, the roads are cool, and from late April the cherry season begins. The front of the relief faces south; the side light of the morning is the light that shows the worn relief in the niche best, while midday light almost flattens it. In midsummer finish your mountain walk early in the morning; in autumn take the short daylight into account.

Practical notes

  • Do not touch or climb the relief or the excavation areas; if you see signs of suspicious digging, report them to the gendarmerie or the museum directorate.
  • Do not rely on drinking water sources on the mountain; carry your water with you.
  • Cherry orchards are private property; ask the owner's permission before entering an orchard or picking fruit.
  • Do not light fires during the forest fire season; check that day's restrictions in the picnic areas too.

Sources

Location - The Karabel Pass and a Walk on Mount Nif in Kemalpaşa

Trip Info
CityKemalpaşa / İzmir, İzmir
TypeHistorical Sites
DateOctober 15, 2026
SourceRadar Editör
Radar TürkiyeAuthorRadar TürkiyeVisit SourceGet Directions