The Sertavul Pass is a mountain pass

Mountain pass

A mountain pass is a route through a mountain range or over a ridge. If following the lowest possible route, a pass is locally the highest point on that route...

 situated on the central Taurus Mountains

Taurus Mountains

Taurus Mountains are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, dividing the Mediterranean coastal region of southern Turkey from the central Anatolian Plateau. The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğirdir in the west to the upper reaches of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in the east...

 at the border of Mersin Province

Mersin Province

The Mersin Province is a province in southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast between Antalya and Adana. The provincial capital is the city of Mersin and the other major town is Tarsus, birthplace of St Paul...

 with Karaman Province

Karaman Province

Karaman Province is a province of central Turkey. It has an area of 9,163 km². It has a population of 232,633 . According to the 2000 census the population was 243,210. Population density is 27.54 people/km². The traffic code is 70. The capital is the city of Karaman...

 on the road from Konya

Konya

Konya is a city in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey. The metropolitan area in the entire Konya Province had a population of 1,036,027 as of 2010, making the city seventh most populous in Turkey.-Etymology:...

 over Karaman

Karaman

Karaman is a town in south central Turkey, located north of the Taurus Mountains, about south of Konya. It is the capital district of the Karaman Province. According to 2000 census, the population of the province is 231 872 of which 132,064 live in the town of Karaman. The district covers an area...

 to the Mediterranean coast at Anamur

Anamur

Anamur is a town and district of the province of Mersin, on the Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey, between Antalya and the city of Mersin.Anamur is Turkey's southernmost point, a coastal resort famous for its bananas and peanuts.-Etymology:...

 or Silifke

Silifke

-Antiquity:Located a few miles from the mouth of the Calycadnus River, Seleucia was founded by Seleucus I Nicator in the early 3rd century BCE, one of several cities he named after himself. It is probable that there were already towns called Olbia and Hyria and that Seleucus I merely united them...

.

The landscape around the pass differs from the other Taurus Mountains' passes due to its relatively flat form. Its character changes as the passage extends further south into the deep valley around Mut north of Mersin Province. While the terrain is mainly treeless and is often with no grass, the plains are covered with cushion plant

Cushion plant

A cushion plant is a compact, low growing, mat forming plant that is found in alpine, subalpine, arctic, or subarctic environments around the world...

s. The karst landscape is dotted with limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 rocks and riddled with countless sinkholes.

Servatul Pass was the location that Holy Roman

Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...

 Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa crossed the Taurus Mountains on the Third Crusade before he drowned in the River Calycadnus

Göksu

The Göksu is a river in Taşeli Peninsula . Both its sources arise in the Taurus Mountains—the northern in the Geyik Mountains and the southern in the Haydar Mountains...

(currently ) in 1190.