Tepebağ Mound, the Adana Cinema Museum, Atatürk Museum and Bebekli Church

Rising on a natural and artificial mound directly between Taşköprü / Sabancı Mosque and the historic bazaars of Kuruköprü is Tepebağ Höyüğü, the exact prehistoric mound where the Hittite-Luwian city of Adaniya (Uru Adaniya) was founded more than 3,500 years ago. Preserved as an urban archaeological conservation zone of narrow cobblestone alleys and 19th-century two-storey stone-and-timber mansions (konaklar) with projecting bay windows (cumba), the river-facing edge of Tepebağ along Seyhan Caddesi (Kayalıbağ) houses three wonderful, inexpensive museums side by side.

1. The Adana Cinema Museum (Adana Sinema Müzesi, Seyhan Caddesi)

Adana has produced more legendary directors, screenwriters, novelists and actors for Turkish cinema (Yeşilçam) than any city outside Istanbul, hosting the prestigious International Adana Golden Boll Film Festival (Altın Koza Film Festivali) every September since 1969. Set inside a restored two-storey 19th-century riverfront mansion right north of Taşköprü, the Adana Cinema Museum celebrates the city's film and literary giants:

• The Yılmaz Güney, Yaşar Kemal & Orhan Kemal Rooms: inspect original film posters, vintage cameras, handwritten scripts, personal belongings and life-size wax sculptures of Cannes Palme d'Or-winning director and actor Yılmaz Güney (Yol, Umut), novelist Yaşar Kemal (Memed, My Hawk), playwright Orhan Kemal, actor Şener Şen, director Ali Özgentürk and painter Abidin Dino.

2. The Adana Atatürk Science and Culture Museum (Suphi Pasha Mansion, Next Door)

Immediately adjacent to the Cinema Museum stands the grand two-storey stone mansion of the Ramazanoğlu Suphi Pasha family, where Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his wife Latife Hanım stayed on 15 March 1923 (and where Atatürk famously declared, after plans for the Hatay liberation were discussed here: "A forty-century Turkish homeland cannot remain in enemy hands."). Admission is free: tour the preserved study, bedroom, press room, traditional Şark Odası (Oriental salon) and the ground-floor Kuva-yi Milliye gallery.

3. St Paul's Catholic Church ("Bebekli Kilise", Built 1880 on 5 Ocak Square)

Walk five minutes west down through the timber-and-brick mansions of Tepebağ to 5 Ocak Meydanı. Hidden behind a peaceful garden courtyard stands the 1880 Italian Catholic Church of St Paul, universally called Bebekli Kilise ("The Church with the Baby/Doll") by Adana locals because the 2.5-metre bronze statue of the Virgin Mary standing atop its roof gable looked like a giant bronze doll from the street below. The church courtyard is open daily to visitors.