Alanya Map

Alanya is a seaside resort city and district of Antalya Province in the Mediterranean region of Turkey, 74.6 miles (120 km) from the city of Antalya. The municipal district, which includes the city center, has close to 400,000 inhabitants. The population is almost entirely of Anatolian origin, but is home to almost 10,000 European residents, with a growing presence in the city and its economy.

The city has changed hands many times over the centuries, and its name has reflected this. Alanya was first known in Latin as Coracesium or in Greek as Korakesion from the Luwian Korakassa meaning "point/protruding city". Under the Byzantine Empire it become known as Kalonoros or Kalon Oros, meaning "beautiful" or "fine mountain" in Greek.The Seljuks renamed the city Alaiye (علاعية), a derivative of the Sultan Alaeddin Keykubad I’s name. In the 13th and 14th centuries, Italian traders called the city Candelore or Cardelloro. In his 1935 visit, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk finalized the name in the new alphabet as Alanya, changing the ‘i’ and ‘e’ in Alaiye, reportedly because of a misspelled telegram in 1933.

Because of its natural strategic position on a small peninsula into the Mediterranean Sea below the Taurus Mountains, Alanya has been a local stronghold for many Mediterranean-based empires, including the Ptolemaic, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman Empires. Alanya’s greatest political importance came in the Middle Ages with the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm under the rule of Alaeddin Keykubad I, from whom the city derives its name. His building campaign resulted in many of the city’s landmarks, such as the Kızıl Kule (Red Tower), Tersane (Shipyard), and Alanya Castle.

The relatively moderate Mediterranean climate, natural attractions, and historic heritage makes Alanya a popular destination for tourism, and responsible for nine percent of Turkey’s tourism sector and thirty percent of foreign purchases of real estate in Turkey. Tourism has risen since 1958 to become the dominant industry in the city, resulting in a corresponding increase in city population. Warm-weather sporting events and cultural festivals take place annually in Alanya.

History of Alanya

There are magnificent monuments in the citadel of Alanya, which is the nominee for Unesco Cultural Heritage of the world. Along with the monuments such as the walls, Kızılkule, the dockyard and the gun house, old houses of Alanya inhabited after having been restored are also protected and they are worth visiting. In some of the houses weaving is continued with old looms and meal is served in their gardens. If you look carefully at the citadel, a heritage from the medieval times, while visiting, you will notice some stone carvings dating back to the antiquity. Visiting the citadel of Alanya in details may take you a whole day. There are many caravanserais and fortresses to protect them, nearby since Alanya was a city on the route of the historical Silk Road.

Citadel of Alanya

The Citadel of Alanya, the walls of which are nearly 6.5 kilometres long, is on a peninsula whose height is up to 250 metres from the sea level. Although the settlement on Alanya peninsula, also known as Kandeleri, dates back to the Hellenistic Era, its cultural characteristics that can be seen today are thanks to Selcuks of the 13th century.

The citadel was constructed on the demand of the Sultan of Selcuks, Alaaddin Keykubat, who conquered and had the city rebuilt in 1221. The citadel has 83 towers and 140 bastions. Nearly 400 cisterns were built to supply the city surrounded by walks in the medieval times with water. Some of the cisterns are still used today. The walls were built in a well-planned manner; downwards to Ehmedek, Ä°çkale, Adama Atacağı, the upper part of Cilvarda Bay, Arap Evliyası Burcu and Esat Burcu, then through the gun house and the dockyard and they end up in Kızılkule-Ä°çkale, an open-air museum, is located at the peak of the peninsula. Alaaddin Keykubat, the Sultan, had his palace built there.

Today the citadel is still inhabited by people. In front of wooden and brick houses of historical value, silk and cotton are woven, white gourds are painted in different figures and authentic meals are served in small gardens. There are also restaurants and cafés on the way to the citadel and on its sides overlooking the harbour. The citadel is open to traffic. It takes you nearly an hour to walk to the citadel.

Red Tower

It’s in the harbour. The octagonal shaped building that’s the symbol of the city is a work by Selcuks of the 13th century. It was built in 1226 by Ebu Ali Rehç el Kettani, a master builder from Aleppo and had built the citadel of Sinop before on the demand of Alaaddin Keykubat, the Sultan of Selcuks. It was made of red bricks, the upper parts of which had been fired, since stone blocks were difficult to lift at a certain height, thus it was given the name of Kızılkule (Red Tower). Marble blocks of the antiquity are seen in the walls of the citadel. The height of the tower that is octagonal in shape is 33 meters and it is 29 meters in diameter, its each wall is 12.5 metres long. There are five floors, including the ground floor. You can go to the top of the tower with the help of stone stairs that are high-spaced and have 85 steps. Sunlight coming from the top of the tower even reaches the first floor. There is a cistern in the middle of the tower. The tower was built in order to protect the harbour and the dockyard from naval attacks and was used for military purposes for centuries. Being restored in 1950s, the tower was opened to visitors in 1979, and its first floor began to be used as the museum of Ethnography.

The Dockyard

Its construction started in 1227, six years later than the Sultan’s conquest of the city, near Kızılkule and finished in one year. The Side of the dockyard overlooking the sea and having five cells with arches is 56.5 metres long and it is 44 metres in depth. The area selected for the dockyard was planned to have the most sunlight. The statement on the front door of the dockyard has the Sultan Keykubat’s armorial bearings and is decorated with badges. The dockyard of Alanya was the first one of Selcuks in the Mediterranean, Alaaddin Keykubat, who had the dockyard of Sinop built before, was given the little of "the Sultan of the two seas" with the opening of the dockyard of Alanya. On one side of the dockyard there is a small mosque, and a guard room on the other. There is a well that has dried up in time in one of the cells. You can go to the dockyard by boats or on foot passing the walls near Kızılkule and can enter the dockyard without any payments.

Beaches

Alara Beach

It extendes almost two km. from Alara creek to Karaburun Bay. It has a sandy beach. It is well organized and there is a small island in the bay.

Ince Kum Beach

It is approximately 1 km length and famous with very fine sand. It gets deeper after 5 meters. You can hire umbrella and sun beds in this beach.

Konaklı Beach

It is nearly 10 km. long. It is totally sand but some small rocks give a naturel look to the beach. Along the beach are buffets and water sport are available.

Portakal (Orange) Beach

To the east of the city centre, and about 1 km. long. It owns a Blue Flag. As a part of Keykubat Beach, starts from the plce where Oba Creek reaches the sea and finished where the Dim Creek reaches the sea. Behind the beach rises magnificient slopes of the Taurus Mountains. In some parts the beach is 100 m. Wide. The sea is mostly sandy. Entrance is free. It is possible to get service from refreshment stalls or the beach cafes of the hotels. Various water sports are possible as well. Windsurf instructors are available in some hotels. The water is cool where the creeks reach the sea.

Kleopatra Beach

To the west of the historical peninsula, in front of DamlataÅŸ Cave. It has a Blue Flag. The sea and the beach is sandy. The beach leans backwards the skirts of peninsula. The small bay of this beach extending to the peninsula and made of stones is called Cleopatra. According to the mythology Egyption Queen Cleopatra, in a voyage in Mediterranean, stopped by in Alanya and had a swim in this bay. The special feature of Cleopatra Bay is that the clearness of its water. People who are looking for a long swimming coarse can swim along the coast to Fosforlu Cave under the peninsula. If you have a goggles you can see the fish and other services due to payment.

Night Life

Sunset in Alanya gives a piece of good news that the night life begins. Bars, discos are waiting for those who are young in spirit. Unlimited dance, music and fun. Pop-music, Turkish pop-music. Lots of different kinds of drinks. Different kinds of music come from everywhere in town. Even the stars in the sky are dancing. The yellow light which lightens the great city walls of the Medieval Castle takes you to a trip in the time tunnel. The nights in Alanya are far beyond human imagination.

It is like any other european town. Everybody enjoys total freedom whether alone or with a group of friends. We have tours to discos which are out of town totally free of charge. The boats that are covered with colourful lights, people dancing, sounds od cheers under the moonlight…

On the other hand people who come out of the cinema rush to their beds. For the next morning other activities are waiting so they have to get some sleep.

A trip to Sydra

Sydra was built in the third Century B.C. and is 18 km away from Alanya on the street to Mersin. When you climb to the top on which the city is you forget your tireness when you watch the penisula reached to the blue water and the ramports looks like they’re been crochet. Between the ruins of the Helenistic epoch is the steam bath, the crossroads with fresko tracks, the cementeries and great pieces of a palace. Inscription told us that the citizens of Sydra has been pester by pirates and so they needed the help and prediction of the gods.
The entrance to the city looks like a monument and is in a very good condition. Near the entrance there is a triple watersystem built one below the other terraced. This is a sign of the high technology because it is today still in use. The water comes from a source in the cave and the entrance of the cave is coverd up by a stone vault. In the East are the remains of an two-storied building with a tessallated floor. This was the steam bath of the city. You can feel the same athmosphere like the kings when you walk around the collonade in front of the bath. In the westside of the street is a wall with recess for statues. The Column on the other side are made of black granite. The words of an inscription told us that here was the senat and that the most building in Sysra had a tessallated floor. The fellow which shows Paris and the three maid pictures which shows the three beauties of the mythologie are made of mosaic and so we can see that this mosaic art has it’s own place in the culture.
You can walk on the colonnaded street on which once the Kings and Queens used to stroll. This road is situated to the north of the temple and extends from east to west. We shall finally conclude our visit after walking along the colonnaded street and observing various ruined buildings on both sides of the road and the wall tabloids made with different colored mosaics that have lost very little from their originality after so many centuries. From the inscriptions and the coins minted in the names of Marcus Aureoles and Antonius between the years 138 and 161 found in the area, this big city is known to be the remnants of the Roman period.
he ancient town of Syedra is found among banana fields located near the main road to southern Turkey. Like most ancient towns on the south coast it is divided into two parts - the harbour area from where all supplies were transported into the countryside and the inner city. In the inner city the population lived well protected by the thick city walls and the soldiers of the city.
By driving carefully it is possible to reach the first city walls by car and from this point there is only a couple of hundred metres to the inner city which is situated 240 metres above sea level. There is a fantastic view over the whole area and when the weather is good it is actually possible to see all the way to Alanya.
Like hundreds of other ancient towns in Turkey, Syedra is neither fully excavated nor explored. The reason for this is lack of qualified personnel and finances.
However the town walls and the fascinating aqueducts which lead to the water cisterns give a good impression of ancient Syedra and are well worth a visit.