Antalya (formerly known as Adalia; from Pamphylian Greek: Αττάλεια Attália) is a city on the Mediterranean coast of southwestern Turkey. It is the capital city of Antalya Province. The population of the city is 1,127,634 (2007 census).

The city of Antalya corresponds to the lands of ancient Pamphylia to the east and Lycia to the west. Antalya has a hot climate.

Situated on a cliff over the Mediterranean, Antalya is surrounded by mountains. Atatürk claimed that without doubt Antalya is the most beautiful place in the world.

Developments in tourism, starting in the 1970s, transformed the city into an international resort.

The city of Antalya is situated by the Gulf of Antalya on the Mediterranean coast. The Taurus mountain range of southern Anatolia runs parallel to the Mediterranean in an east-west direction, resulting in the formation of narrow coastal plains, which are surrounded by mountains on three sides and open south to the Mediterranean sea. On some parts of the coast, the mountains plunge sharply into the sea, forming small natural bays and peninsulas. Antalya is situated on a plain which consists of two flat areas formed of falez rock at a height of 35 m, where the mountains recede from the shore. On the first rocky plain on the coast is the town centre and on the plain behind it, named Kepezüstü, small settlement units have been established.

In the 1st century BC, the Pergamum king Attalos II ordered his men to find “heaven on earth”. After a long search all over the world, they discovered this land and said “This must be ‘Heaven’ ” and King Attalos founded the city giving it the name “Attaleia” (Greek: Αττάλεια) which later became Adalia and then Antalya.

Since the area is closed to the cold northerly winds, it is characterized by the typical Mediterranean climate with hot, dry summers and moderately warm and rainy winters. Around 300 days of the year are sunny, the sea temperature never goes below 15°C and in summer is around 29°C. The temperature climbs up to 45°C in July and August. The sea breeze and the northeasterly winds blowing from inland relieve the area under this temperature.

The economy of Antalya depends on a mixture of tourism, agriculture, and commerce, with some light industry. Agricultural production includes citrus fruits, cotton, cut flowers and even bananas. Antalya is a leading agriculture center of Turkey due to its suitable ecology. Antalya Metropolitan Municipality’s covered wholesale food market complex meets 65% of the fresh fruit and vegetable demand of Turkey.

Places to visit in the city include sites with traces of Lycian,Pamphylian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman architecture and cultures.

Kaleiçi, with its narrow cobbled streets of historic Turkish and Greek houses is the old center of Antalya, now mainly hotels, gift shops, and bars. New hotels such as the Sheraton are along the coast above the Konyaalti and Lara beaches.

The tourism boom has brought migrant labour to the city, fueled the growth of a large construction industry and provided transportation and other large-scale infrastructure which has led to Antalya becoming the hub of commerce in this part of Turkey.

Kuşadası is a resort town in the province of Aydın on the Aegean coast of Turkey, 90 km (56 mi) south of İzmir, and 71 km (44 mi) from the inland provincial capital of Aydın.

Kuşadası is near the ancient city of Ephesus and to other places of interest including Miletos, Didim and Pamukkale, and a short distance across from Kuşadası lies the island of Samos.

The city stands on a bay in the Aegean with the peninsula of Guvercin Ada sticking out into the sea at one end, and the mountain of Kaz Dağı behind.

The Yavansu Fault Line passes near Kuşadası and there have been earthquakes here throughout history. In the hot summer forest fires are another danger.

Demographics

Kuşadası has a residential population of 50,000 rising to over half a million during the summer when the large resort fills with tourists (from Turkey itself, northern Europe and the Balkans), plus the hotel staff, bar staff, construction workers, and drivers who are needed for work in the restaurants, the holiday villages, aquaparks, rock bars beach clubs and big hotels servicing all these visitors. An addition to the visitors from overseas there is a substantial community of foreigners resident in the area.

Industry

Kuşadası caters to tourists, arriving by land, and as the port for cruise ship passengers heading to Ephesus. In a controversial deal in 2003 the previously public-owned port was leased to a private company and renovated to attract luxury cruise liners. These range from the huge Grand Princess to smallers tours.

Real estate agents sell holiday flats and villas. Among all the ice-cream, carpets, leather, and software, there are bookshops selling books in English, German, Russian and other languages.

Old houses near the seafront, some of them converted to bars and cafes, are the remnants of old Kuşadası, which has become a modern-European looking town. The hills behind are built up with big hotels and blocks of holiday flats. The building boom in the late 80s and onwards has been continued into the hinterland of Kuşadası.

Transportation

Transport around the town is by dolmuş (minibus). There are bus and taxi services to the nearest airports, in İzmir and Bodrum. Day trips are available by boat from Kuşadası and Güzelçamlı.

Etymology

The name comes from ‘kuş’ (bird) and ‘ada’ (island) as the peninsula has the shape of a bird’s head (as seen from the sea). Since Byzantine times it has been known as Ephesus Neopolis, Scala Nuova, becoming Kush-Adasi at the beginning of the 20th century. Some people from the Aegean region shorten the name to Ada.

Antiquity

The area has been a centre of art and culture since the earliest times and has been settled by many civilizations since being founded by the Leleges people in 3000 BC. Later settlers include the Aeolians in the 11th century BC and Ionians in the 9th century. Originally seamen and traders the Ionians built a number of settlements on this coast including Neopolis.

An outpost of Ephesus in ancient Ionia, the area between the Büyük Menderes and Gediz rivers, the original Neopolis is thought to have been founded on the nearby point of Yılancı Burnu. Later settlements were probably built on the hillside of Pilavtepe, in the district called Andızkulesi today. Kuşadası was a minor port frequented by vessels trading along the Aegean coast. In antiquity it was overshadowed by Ephesus until Ephesus’ harbor silted up. From the 7th century BC onwards the coast was ruled by Lydians from their capital at Sardis, then from 546 BC the Persians, and from 334 BC along with all of Anatolia the coast was conquered by Alexander the Great. From then onwards the coastal cities were the centre of the mixed Greek and Anatolian culture called Hellenistic.

Rome and Christianity

The Roman Empire took possession of the coast in the 2nd century BC and in the early years of Christianity, Mary (mother of Jesus) and St John the Evangelist both came to live in the area, which in the Christian era became known as “Ania”, although the spirituality was clearly not ingrained as during the Middle Ages the port was a haven for pirates.

Later as Byzantine, Venetian and Genoese traders began to work the coast the port was founded (as Scala Nuova “new port”), a garrison was placed on the island, and the town centre moved from the hillside to the coast.

The Turkish era

From 1086 the area came under Turkish control and the Aegean ports became the final destination of caravan routes to the Orient. However this arrangement was overthrown by the Crusades and the coast again came under Byzantine control until 1280 when first the Menteşe and then the Aydınoğlu Anatolian Turkish Beyliks took control. Kuşadası was brought into the Ottoman Empire by Mehmet I in 1413. The Ottomans built the city walls and the caravanserai that still stand today.

In 1834 the castle and garrison on the island was rebuilt and expanded, becoming the focus of the town, to the extent that people began to refer to the whole town as Kuşadası (bird island). However in the 19th century, trade declined in favor of İzmir with the opening of the İzmir-Aydın railway, as Kuşadası had no rail connection.

During the Turkish War of Independence Kuşadası was occupied from 1919-1922 first by Italian, then by Greek troops. It was eventually captured on September 7th 1922.

Under the Turkish Republic the Greek population was exchanged for Turkish people as part of the Population exchange between Greece and Turkey in 1922. Until the first holiday apartments were built here in the 1970s Kuşadası was a fruit-growing rural district, it then grew into a small resort town with holiday flats. These were built as housing co-operatives, membership sold to families in Ankara, Izmir, Denizli and other Turkish cities. From the mid 1980s Kuşadası grew again into the centre of mass tourism that we have today.

In 2005, the town was the location of a bomb attack targeting foreigners.

Places of interest

In the town

    * The city walls - Only one of the three gates still remains.

    * Kaleiçi Camii - mosque built in 1618 for Grand Vizier Öküz Kara Mehmed Pasha.

    * Öküz Mehmet Pasha caravanserai. Near the docks, built in 1618 as a strong-room for the goods of seamen.

    * Guvercin Ada - the peninsula at the end of the bay, has a castle and swimming beaches, including a private beach and cafe with a view back across the bay to the harbour of Kuşadası. There are public beaches at the back of the peninsula, on the open sea side.

    * Kirazli Village - traditional Turkish koy 12km from Kusadasi reached by scenic drive over gorge. Well visited by Turkish citizens looking for a return to nature and enjoy the cool breezes during the hot summer months and amazing views.

    * Yılancı Burnu - a second peninsula beyond Güvercin Ada. Possibly the location of the original settlement of Neopolis. Some walls are visible. There are more beaches and beach clubs here.

    * Pygale - 3km north, the small point behind Hotel Pigale. Once refuge of Agamemnon. Still to be excavated.

    * Also several aqua-parks with wave-pools, white-water slides are located near the town: the largest are NBGS International’s Aqua Fantasy, along with Adaland and Aqua Land.

    * Ladies Beach - near the town, next to the Imbat Hotel, named because it was once segregated for female bathers. Now open to all and quite busy.

and further afield

    * Kadıkalesi - Venetian/Byzantine castle, 10km along the Kuşadası-Davutlar road,

    * Panionium - 25 km (16 mi) south of Kuşadası, on the Davutlar-Güzelçamlı road. Once the central meeting place of the Ionian League. The ruins are in poor condition and their authenticity is disputed. (See Panionium).

    * Dilek Peninsula National Park. South of Kuşadası, begins at the town of Güzelçamlı. Lovely bays and beautiful beaches, including the bay of Kalamaki. A day trip by boat from Güzelçamlı is a good way to visit them, or there are minibuses from Kuşadası.

Confronted with the invasion of Seljuk Turks, the Knights Hospitaller, with their headquarters on the island of Rhodes, needed another stronghold on the mainland. Grand Master Philibert de Naillac (1396-1421) found a suitable site across the island of Kos, where there was already a castle of the Order. This location had been already the site of a fortification in Doric times (1110 BC) and of a small Seljuk castle in the 11th century. The same promontory was also the probable site of the palace of Mausolos, the famous king of Caria.

The construction of the castle started in 1402 under the German knight-architect Heinrich Schlegelholt. Construction workers were guaranteed a reservation in Heaven by a papal decree of 1409. They used squared green volcanic stone, marble colums and reliefs from the nearby Mausoleum of Maussollos to fortify the castle. The first walls were completed in 1437. The chapel was among the first completed inner structures (probably 1406). It consists of a vaulted nave and an apse. The chapel was reconstructed in Gothic style by Spanish Knights in 1519-1520. Their names can be found on two cornerstones of the façade.

Fourteen cisterns for collecting rainwater were excavated in the rocks under the castle.

Each tongue of the Order had its own tower, each in his own style and the French tower being the tallest. Each tongue, each headed by a bailli, was responsible for the maintenance and defence of a specific portion of the fortress and responsible for manning it with sufficient numbers of knights and soldiers. There were seven gates leading to the inner part of the fortress. The architect had applied the latest in castle design : the passages leading to these gates were full of twists and turns. Eventual assailants could not find cover against the arrows, stones or heated projectiles they had to confront. The Knights had placed above the gates and on the walls hundreds of painted coats of arms and carved reliefs. There remain now 249 separate designs : those of grand masters, castle commandants, countries, personal coat of arms of knights and religious figures.

The construction of the three-storied English tower was finished in 1413. One door opens to the north, to the inner part of the castle; The other door leads to the western rampart. One could only access this tower via a drawbridge. The western façade shows an antique carved relief of a lion. Because of this relief, the tower was also called “the Lion Tower”. Above this lion, one can see the coat of arms of king Henry IV of England.

For over a century St. Peter’s Castle remained the second most important castle of the Order. It served as a refuge for all Christians in Asia Minor.

The castle came under attack with the rise of the Ottoman Empire, first after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and again in 1480 by sultan Mehmed II. The attacks were repelled by the Knights.

In 1482, Prince Cem, son of sultan Mehmed II and brother of sultan Bayezid II, sought refuge in the castle, after a failure in raising a revolt against his brother.

When the Knights decided to fortify the castle in 1494, they used again stones of the Mausoleum. The walls facing the mainland were thickened as to withstand the increasing destructive power of canons. The walls facing the sea were less thick, since the Order had little to fear from a sea attack, since they had a powerful fleet. Grand Master Fabrizio Del Carretto (1513-21) built a round bastion to strengthen the land side of the fortress.

Sir Thomas Docwra was captain of the castle in 1499.

16th century

Between 1505 and 1507 the few sculptures from the mausoleum, that hadn’t been smashed and burnt for lime, were integrated into the castle for decoration. These included twelve slabs of the Amazonemachy (combat between Amazons and Greeks) and a single block of the Centauromachy, a few standing lions and one running leopard.

When faced by attack from Sultan Suleiman, Philippe Villiers de L’Isle-Adam, the Grand Master of the Knights Hospitallers ordered the Castle to be strengthened again. Much of the remaining portions of the mausoleum were broken up and used as building material to fortify the castle. By 1522 almost every block of the mausoleum had been removed.

In June 1522 the sultan attacked the Order’s headquarters in Rhodes from the Bay of Marmaris with 200,000 soldiers. The castle of Rhodes fell in December 1522. The terms of surrender included the handing over of the Knights’ fortresses in Kos and St Peter’s Castle in Bodrum.

After the surrender, the chapel was turned into a mosque and a minaret was added. This mosque was called the Süleymaniye Camii, as attested by a traveler Evliya Chelebi, who visited Bodrum in 1671. The minaret was destroyed on 26 May 1915 by rounds fired by a French warship during the World War I. It has been reconstructed in its original shape in 1997.

19th century

In 1846 Lord Stratford Canning, the British Ambassador to Constantinople obtained permission to take twelve marble reliefs, showing a combat between Greeks and Amazons. Sir Charles Newton, a member of the staff of the British Museum, conducted excavations and removed a number of stone lions and one leopard in 1856. Presently, these are all to be found at the British Museum.

In later years, the castle has been used for different purposes. It was used as a military base by the Turkish army during the Greek Revolt in 1824. In the 19th century the chapel was converted into a mosque and a minaret was added. At the same time a hamam (public bath) was installed in the castle. In 1895 the castle was turned into a prison. During World War I, the castle was fired upon by a French warship, toppling the minaret and damaging several towers. After the war, the Italians stationed a garrison in the castle, but withdrew in 1921 when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk came to power.

The castle stood empty for 40 years.

Museum of Underwater Archaeology

In 1962 the Turkish Government decided to turn the castle into a museum for the many underwater discoveries of ancient shipwrecks in the Aegean Sea. This has become the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology, with a vast collection of amphoras, ancient glass, bronze, clay, iron items. It is the biggest of its kind devoted to underwater archaeology. Most of its collection dates from underwater excavations after 1960.

These excavations were performed on several shipwrecks :

    * Finike-Gelidonya shipwreck (12th c. BC) : 1958 - 1959 ; first underwater dig in Turkey , showing that Near Eastern merchant ships played a much greater role in the Bronze Age than previously known.

    * Bodrum-Yassiada shipwreck (Byzantine, 7 th c. AD) : 1961 - 1964 ; Roman merchant vessel with 900 amphoras.

    * Bodrum -Yassiada shipwreck (Late Roman, 4th c. AD)

    * Bodrum-Yassiada shipwreck (Ottoman, 16th c. AD) (dated by a sixteenth-century 4-real silver coin from Seville (Philip II) )

    * Ṣeytan Deresi shipwreck (16th c. BC)

    * Marmaris-Serçe harbour shipwreck (glass, 11th c. AD) : 1977; amazing collection of Islamic glassware

# Marmaris-Serçe harbour shipwreck (Hellenistic, 3th BC)

# Kaṣ-Uluburun shipwreck (14th c. BC) : 1982 - 1995; 10 tons of Cypriot copper ingots; one ton of pure tin ingots; 150 glass ingots; manufactured goods; Mycenaean pottery; Egyptian seals (with a seal of queen Nefertiti) and jewelry [5]

# Tektaṣ glasswreck (5th c. BC) : (1996-2001)

The former chapel houses an exhibition of vases and amphoras form the Mycenaean age (14-12th c. BC) and findings from the Bronze Age (around 2500 BC). The many commercial amphoras give a historical overview of the development of amphoras and their varied uses.

The Italian Tower houses in the Coin and Jewelry Hall a large collection spanning many centuries.

Another exhibition room is devoted exclusively to the tomb of a Carian princess, who died between 360 and 325 BC.

The collection of ancient glass objects is one of the four biggest ancient glass collections in the world.

Two ancient shipwrecks have been reconstructed : the Fatımi ship, detected as sunken 935 years ago, and the large Uluburun Shipwreck from the 14th century BC.

The garden inside the castle is a collection of almost every plant and tree of the Mediterranean region, some of which have a mythological significance : the myrtle was dedicated to Aphrodite; the shadow of the plane tree was sought after by kings and noblemen, as it was thought to strengthen one’s health.

Bodrum (from Petronium; formerly Halicarnassus (Turkish: Halikarnas, Ancient Greek: Αλικαρνασσός)) is a Turkish port town in Muğla Province, in the southwestern Aegean Region of the country. It is located on the southern coast of Bodrum Peninsula, at a point that checks the entry into the Gulf of Gökova, and it faces the Greek island of Kos. Today, it is an international center of tourism and yachting. The city was called Halicarnassus of Caria in ancient times. The Mausoleum of Mausolus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was here.

Bodrum Castle, built by the Crusaders in the 15th century, overlooks the harbor and the International Marina. The castle grounds includes a Museum of Underwater Archeology and hosts several cultural festivals throughout the year.

The region includes the municipalities of Bodrum, Turgutreis, Ortakent, Türkbükü, Yalıkavak and Gümüşlük, and numerous recent tourist-oriented developments were built or are being built across the district area. The peninsula extends across an exceptionally dry belt contrasting even with its immediately neighboring regions, and poor rainfall results in a constant shortage of potable water, an issue that became more critical lately, with newcoming settlers and the visitors.

The first recorded settlers in Bodrum region were the Carians and the harbor area was colonized by Dorian Greeks as of the 7th century BC and the city later fell under Persian rule. It was the nominal capital city of the satrapy of Caria. Its location ensured the city enjoyed considerable autonomy.

Herodotus, the historian, (484-420 BC) was born here.

Mausolus ruled Caria from here on behalf of the Persians, from 377 to 353 BC. When he died in 353 BC, Artemisia II of Caria, who was both his sister and his widow, employed the ancient Greek architects Satyros and Pythis, and the four sculptors Bryaxis, Scopas, Leochares and Timotheus for to build a monument, as well as a tomb, for him. The word “mausoleum” derives from the structure of this tomb. It was a temple-like structure decorated with reliefs and statuary on a massive base. It stood for 1700 years and was finally destroyed by earthquakes.[citation needed] Today only the foundations and a few pieces of sculpture remain.

Alexander the Great laid siege on the city after his arrival in Carian lands and its capture was, in all likelihood, completed by his ally, queen Ada of Caria.

Crusader Knights arrived in 1402 and used the remains of the Mauseoleum as a quarry to build the still impressively standing Bodrum Castle (Castle of Saint Peter), which is also particular in being one of the last examples of Crudader architecture in the East.

The Knights Hospitaller of Rhodes were given the permission to build it by the Ottoman sultan Mehmed I, after Tamerlane had destroyed their previous fortress located in Izmir’s inner bay. The castle and its town became known as Petronium, whence the modern name Bodrum derives. Conveniently, the word “Bodrum” means basement in Turkish, and a common pun in reference to the town’s liberal morals decline its name as “Bedroom”.

In 1522, Suleyman the Magnificent conquered the base of the Crusader knights on the island of Rhodes, who then withdrew to Malta, leaving The Castle of Saint Peter and Bodrum to the Ottoman Empire.

A quiet town of fishermen and sponge divers until the mid-20th century, Bodrum was popularized among Turkey’s educated classes by a group of intellectuals centered around the writer Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı, who himself had first come here in exile. Since then, Bodrum constantly endeavored to attract people with artistic backgrounds, encouraging them to choose the region as a location for their secondary residences and many of the these people gradually became regulars who would stay throughout the year. Bodrum now hosts many poets, singers, artists, as well as commercially-minded investors and package tourists. Differences between the sensitivities of the first groups of residents, adamant in defending Bodrum’s heritage and soul, with the interests of the latters is an always imminent issue and one that surfaces frequently. For example, a group of trees felled in Bodrum for any reason is very likely to make local and even national news in Turkey.

The Bodrum region has attracted considerable foreign and domestic investment in real estate, specifically in second homes for customers from across Turkey as well as from Western Europe.

The current permanent population for the town of Bodrum was recorded as 32,227 in 2000 census although it is certainly much higher in reality, and reaches several times that figure in summer.

The sheltered anchorage contains yachts and locally-built gulets used by seafaring tourists.

Aphrodisias: A city of statues that seem about to come to life

The city of Aphrodisias, in which sacred rites were performed in the name of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, was a leading center of architecture, art, sculpture, and worship in ancient times. Aphrodisias was originally a Carian city and is today located on the former site of the village of Geyre 12 kilometers southeast of Karacasu township. Original settlement here appears to have taken place in the 5^th millennium B.C. at the beginning of the Chalcolithic period. The foundation of the city itself, as we learn from the Byzantine outhor Stephanos, goes back as far as 1300 BC. At this early period, the city was known as Ninos ant it did not receive the name of Aphrodisias until archaic times. The first clear and definite information we have is concerned with the 11^th century B.C. and is provided by the historian Appian who tells us that Aphrodisias together with a neighboring city called Plarasa (Bingeç) minted silver and bronze coins.

Aphrodisias’s brightest period was experienced however during Roman times. From the precious marble that was quarried from the foothills of nearby Babadağı, Aphrodesian masters created statues and architectural elements of extraordinary beauty that were exported to all parts of the empire and in doing so, they established a uniquely Aphrodesian school and style of sculpture. Thanks to the intensive urban development taking place throughout five centuries of Roman rule, Aphrodisias emerged as a city filled with works of art of dazzling beauty.

Dedicated as it was to the cult of Aphrodite, Aphrodisias went into decline during Christian and Byzantine times for religious and political reasons and steadily lost its importance. The city suffered from fires and earthquakes and was largely destroyed in the Arab raids into Asia Minor. Eventually the side was abandoned.

Archaeological excavations at Aphrodisias were first undertaken in 1904. Since the 1960’s they have been prosecuted under the direction of Professor Kenan Erim with the financing of the National Geographic Society and they are still in progress. With each season, new remains of building and valuable works of art are unearthed. As a result oh these excavations and other documentary research, it has been demonstrated that Aphrodisias was also an important center of medicine, mathematics, astronomy, and a variety of other arts: the medical researcher Xenocrates, the novelist Chariton, and the philosopher Alexander were all from Aphrodisias.

Marmaris is an important port city and a tourist destination on the Mediterranean coast, located in southwest Turkey, in the Muğla Province.

Marmaris’ main source of income for the city is tourism. Despite a construction boom in the 1980s, Marmaris still retains its charm due to the exceptional natural beauty of its location. The district’s population is estimated to reach 300,000–400,000 people during the tourism season.

It is also a major center for sailing, possessing two major and several smaller marinas. It is a popular wintering location for hundreds of cruising boaters. There are regular ferry services to the Greek island of Rhodes, and large cruise ships call at the port.

Although it is not certain when Marmaris was founded, in the 6th century BC the city was known as Physkos, and considered part of Caria.

According to the historian Herodotus, there was a castle in Marmaris since 3000 BC. During the Hellenistic Age, Caria was invaded by Alexander the Great and the castle was besieged. The 600 inhabitants of the town realised that they had no chance against the invading army and burned their valuables in the castle before escaping to the hills with their women and children. The invaders, well aware of the strategic value of the castle, repaired the destroyed sections to house a few hundred soldiers before the main army returned home.

The next important event during the history of Marmaris was almost two thousand years later, in the mid-fifteenth century, when the Ottoman Empire began to rise after the efforts of Sultan Mehmet II, who succeeded in conquering and uniting under one banner the various tribes and kingdoms of Anatolia. Some of his greatest difficulties came from the Knights of St. John, who occupied the Dodecanese Islands. Based in Rhodes, the Knights had fought for many years; they were able to withstand the onslaughts of Mehmet II until a succeeding and more powerful Sultan came on the scene.

The 17th century writer Evliya Çelebi mentions the castle, which was rebuilt by Süleyman the Magnificent in 1522 when he set out for his campaign on Rhodes. Since 1979, renovation work has been continuing at the castle, in order to restore it back to original condition. Under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture, the castle has been converted into a museum. There are seven galleries, of which the largest is being used as an exhibition hall and the courtyard is decorated with seasonal flowers.

It was under Süleyman the Magnificent that Marmaris came under Ottoman control. In 1522 Süleyman assembled a fleet of over 300 ships and a force of 200,000 in the bay of Marmaris to challenge the Knights’ headquarters on Rhodes. After many battles, the Knights had to give up and the Turks overtook Rhodes for the next 400 years.

Ölüdeniz is a small resort village in the Muğla Province on the South West coast of Turkey on the Aegean Sea to the south and the high, steep sided Babadağ Mountain, 14 km (9 mi) south of Fethiye. The town is a beach resort.

Olu Deniz remains one of the most photographed beaches on the Mediterranean. It has a secluded sandy bay at the mouth of Olu Deniz, on a blue lagoon. The lagoon is a national nature reserve and building is strictly prohibited. Olu Deniz is famous for its shades of turquoise and aquamarine, and is an official blue flag beach, and is frequently rated among the top 5 beaches in the world by Travelers and Tourism Journals alike. The resort is also famous for its paragliding opportunities. It is regarded as one of the best places in the world to paraglide due to its unique panoramic views, and the Babadağ Mountain’s exceptional height.

Fethiye is a city and district of Muğla Province in the Aegean region of Turkey with about 45,000 inhabitants (2005). 

It is one of Turkey’s well-known tourist centres and is especially prized during the summer.

Fethiye Museum, very rich in ancient and more recent artifacts, displays and testifies to the successive chain of civilizations which existed in the area, starting with ancient Lycia.

Fethiye was formerly known as Makri (Μάκρη); Greeks deported from the area under the terms of the 1923 exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey founded the town of Nea Makri ‘new Makri’ in Greece.

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.

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 tourists, and responsible for 9% of Turkey’s tourism sector. 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. Mayor Hasan Sipahioğlu of the Motherland Party has led the city since 1999.

Although first fortified in the Hellenistic period following the area’s conquest by Alexander the Great, the castle rock was likely inhabited under the Hittites and the Persian Empire. Finds in the nearby Kadrini cave indicate occupation during the Paleolithic era as far back as 20,000 BC. A Phoenician language tablet found in the district dates to 625 BC, and the city is specifically mentioned in the 4th-century BC Greek geography manuscript, the periplus of Pseudo-Scylax. Alexander’s successors left the area to Ptolemy I Soter after 323 BC. His dynasty maintained loose control over the mainly Isaurian population, and the port became a popular refuge for Mediterranean pirates. The city resisted Antiochus III the Great of the neighboring Seleucid kingdom in 199 BC, but was loyal to the pirate Diodotus Tryphon when he seized the Seleucid crown from 142 to 138 BC. His rival Antiochus VII Sidetes completed work in 137 BC on a new castle and port, begun under Diodotus Tryphon.

The Roman Republic fought Cilician pirates in 102 BC, when Marcus Antonius the Orator established a proconsulship in nearby Side, and in 78 BC under Servilius Vatia, who moved on the Isaurian tribes. The period of piracy in Alanya finally ended after the city’s incorporation into the Pamphylia province by Pompey in 67 BC, with the Battle of Korakesion fought in the city’s harbor. Isaurian banditry remained an issue under the Romans, and the tribes revolted in the forth and fifth centuries AD, with the largest rebellion being from 404 to 408. After the Roman Empire’s collapse and split, the city remained under Byzantine influence, becoming a suffragan of Side, in the metropolis of Pamphylia Prima. Islam arrived in the 7th century with Arab raids, which led to the construction of new fortifications. 681 marked the end of a bishopric in Alanya, although St. Peter of Atroa may have taken refuge here from iconoclastic persecution in the early 9th century. The area fell from Byzantine control after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 to tribes of Seljuk Turks, only to be returned in 1120 by John II Komnenos.

Following the Fourth Crusade, the Christian Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia periodically held the port, and it was from an Armenian, Kir Fard, that the Turks took lasting control in 1221 when the Anatolian Seljuk Sultan Alaeddin Keykubad I captured it, assiging the former ruler, whose daughter he married, to the governance of the city of Akşehir. Seljuk rule saw the golden age of the city, and it can be considered the winter capital of their empire. Building projects, including the twin citadel, city walls, arsenal, and Kızıl Kule, made it an important seaport for western Mediterranean trade, particularly with Ayyubid Egypt and the Italian city-states. Alaeddin Keykubad I also constructed numerous gardens and pavilions outside the walls, and many of his works can still be found in the city. These were likely financed by his own treasury and by the local emirs, and constructed by the contractor Abu ‘Ali al-Kattani al-Halabi. Alaeddin Keykubad I’s son, Sultan Gıyaseddin Keyhüsrev II, continued the building campaign with a new cistern in 1240.

At the Battle of Köse Dağ in 1242, the Mongol hordes broke the Seljuk hegemony in Anatolia. Alanya was then subject to a series of invasions from Anatolian Turkish Beyliks. In 1293, the Karamanoğlu dynasty took control after Mecdüddin Mahmud conquered the city, but their rule was intermittent. Lusignans from the Cyprus briefly overturned the then ruling Hamidoğlu Beylik in 1371. The Karamanoğlu sold the city in 1427 for 5,000 gold coins to the Mamluks of Egypt for a period before the general Gedik Ahmed Pasha in 1471 incorporated it into the growing Ottoman Empire. The city was made a capital of a local sanjak in the eyalet of Içel. The Ottomans extended their rule in 1477 when they brought the main shipping trade, lumber, then mostly done by Venetians, under the government monopoly. On September 6, 1608, the city rebuffed an naval attack by the Order of Saint Stephen from the Republic of Venice.

Trade in the region was negatively impacted by the development of an oceanic route from Europe around Africa to India, and in the tax registers of the late sixteenth century, Alanya failed to qualify as an urban center.In 1571 the Ottomans designated the city as part of the newly conquered province of Cyprus. The conquest further diminished the economic importance of Alanya’s port. Traveler Evliya Çelebi visited the city in 1671/1672, and wrote on the preservation of Alanya Castle, but also on the dilapidation of Alanya’s suburbs. The city was reassigned in 1864 under Konya, and in 1868 under Antalya, as it is today. During the 18th and 19th centuries numerous villas were built in the city by Ottoman nobility, and civil construction continued under the local dynastic Karamanid authorities. Bandits again became common across Antalya Province in the mid-nineteenth century.

After World War I, Alanya was nominally partitioned in the 1917 Agreement of St.-Jean-de-Maurienne to Italy, before returning to the Turkish Republic in 1923 under the Treaty of Lausanne. Like others in this region, the city suffered heavily following the war and the population exchanges that heralded the Turkish Republic, when many of the city’s Christians resettled in Nea Ionia, outside Athens. The Ottoman census of 1893 listed the number of Greeks in the city at 964 out of a total population of 37,914. Tourism in the region started among Turks who came to Alanya in the 1960s for the alleged healing properties of Damlataş Cave, and later the access provided by Antalya Airport in 1998 allowed the town to grow into an international resort. Strong population growth through the 1990s was a result of immigration to the city, and has driven a rapid modernization of the infrastructure.

Geography

Located on the Gulf of Antalya on the Anatolian coastal plain of Pamphylia, the town is situated between the Taurus Mountains to the north and the Mediterranean Sea, and is part of the Turkish riviera, occupying roughly 43.5 miles (70 km) of coastline. From west to east, the municipality is bordered by the Manavgat district along the coast, the mountainous Gündoğmuş in-land, Hadım and Taşkent in the Province of Konya, Sarıveliler in the Province of Karaman, and the coastal Gazipaşa, with which Alanya shares an airport.Manavgat is home to the ancient cities of Side and Selge.

The Pamphylia plain between the sea and the mountains is an isolated example of an Eastern Mediterranean conifer-sclerophyllous-broadleaf forest, which include Lebanon Cedar, evergreen scrub, fig trees, and black pine. The Alanya Massif refers to the area of metamorphic rocks east of Antalya. This formation is divided into three nappes from lowest to highest, the Mahmutlar, the Sugözü, and the Yumrudağ. The similar lithology extends beneath the city in a tectonic window. Bauxite, an aluminum ore, is common to the area north of city, and can be mined.

The town is divided east–west by a rocky peninsula, which is the distinctive feature of the city. The harbor, city center, and Keykubat Beach, named after the Sultan Alaeddin Keykubad I, are on the east side of the peninsula. Damlataş Beach, named for the famous “dripping caves”, and Cleopatra Beach are to the west. The name Cleopatra Beach possibly derives from either the Ptolemaic princess’ visit here or the area’s inclusion in her dowry from Mark Antony. Atatürk Bulvarı, the main boulevard, runs parallel to the sea, and divides the southern, much more touristic side of Alanya from the northern, more native side, that extends north into the mountains. Çevre Yolu Caddesi, another major road, encircles the main town to the north.

Architecture

On the peninsula stands Alanya Castle, a Seljuk era citadel dating from 1226. Most major landmarks in the city are found inside and around the castle. The current castle was built over existing fortifications and served the double purpose of a palace of local government and as a defensive structure in case of attack. In 2007, the city began renovating various sections of the castle area, including adapting a Byzantine church for use as a Christian community center. Inside the castle is the Süleymaniye mosque and caravanserai, built by Suleiman the Magnificent. The old city walls surround much of the eastern peninsula, and can be walked. Inside the walls are numerous historic villas, well preserved examples of the classical period of Ottoman architecture, most built in the early 19th century.

The Kızıl Kule (Red Tower) is another well-known building in Alanya. The 108 foot (33 m) high brick building stands at the harbor below the castle, and contains the municipal ethnographic museum. Sultan Alaeddin Keykubad I brought the accomplished architect Ebu Ali from Aleppo, Syria to Alanya to design the building. The last of Alanya Castle’s 83 towers, the octagonal structure specifically protected the Tersane (arsenal), it remains one of the finest examples of medieval military architecture. The Tersane, a medieval drydock built by the Seljuk Turks in 1221, 187 by 131 feet (57 by 40 m), is divided into five vaulted bays with equilateral pointed arches.

Atatürk’s House and Museum, from his short stay in the city on February 18, 1935 is preserved in its historic state and is a good example of the interior of a traditional Ottoman villa, with artifacts from the 1930s. The house was built between 1880 and 1885 in the “karniyarik” (stuffed eggplant) style. Bright colors and red roofs are often mandated by neighborhood councils, and give the modern town a pastel glow. Housed in a 1967 Republican era building, The Alanya Museum is inland from Damlataşh Beach. With its rich architectural heritage, Alanya is a member of the Norwich-based European Association of Historic Towns and Regions.

Culture

Alanya’s culture is a subculture of the larger Culture of Turkey. The city’s seaside position is central to many annual festivals. These include the Tourism and Art Festival, which marks the opening of the tourism season from at the end of May or beginning of June. At the opposite end of the season, the Alanya International Culture and Art Festival is held in the first week of October, and is a notable Turkish festival. Other regular festivals include the Alanya Jazz Festival, which has been held in the first week of September since 2002 at the Kızıl Kule, which is otherwise home to the municipal ethnographic museum. The Jazz Festival hosts Turkish jazz musicians in a series of free concerts. Onat Kutlar, Turkish poet and writer, and founder of the Istanbul International Film Festival was born in Alanya, as was actress Sema Önür.

The Alanya Chamber Orchestra, formed of members of the Antalya State Opera and Ballet, gave its inaugural performance on December 7, 2007. The International Alanya Stone Sculpture Symposium, begun is 2004, is held over the month of November. Atatürk’s Visit to Alanya is also celebrated on the visit’s anniversary each February 18, centered on Atatürk’s House and Museum. The Alanya Museum is home to archaeology found in and around the city, including a large bronze Hercules statue, ceramics, and Roman limestone ossuaries, as well as historic copies of the Qur’an.

Government

Alanya was set up as a municipality in 1872, electing its first mayor in 1901. Today, Alanya is governed by a mayor and a municipality council made up of 25 members; 13 are from the centre-right Motherland Party, which has maintained local loyalty despite its national disintegration, six members are of the current government’s Justice and Development Party, three members of the centre-left Republican People’s Party, two of the other centre-right True Path Party, and one independent. Mayor Hasan Sipahioğlu is also of the Motherland Party. Elections are held every five years, with the next to be held in 2009.

Alanya District is divided up into 17 municipalities, including the city center, and 92 villages. Alanya is greatly influenced by the provincial government in Antalya, and the federal government in Ankara, which appoints a governor for the district, currently Dr. Hulusi Doğan. Although Alanya has been part of Antalya Province since the Ottoman Empire, many local politicians have advocated a separate Alanya Province. Nationally, in the 2007 election, the province voted with the Justice and Development Party, who were followed closely by the Republican People’s Party and the True Path Party. Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, of the Justice and Development Party, is the only native Alanyalilar Member of Parliament representing Antalya Province in the Grand National Assembly, where he chairs the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population.

Economy

he tourist industry in Alanya is worth just under 1.1 billion euros, and is therefore the principal industry. The area is further known for its many fruit farms, particularly lemons and oranges, and large harvests of tomatoes, bananas and cucumbers. Despite the location, few residents make their living on the sea, and fishing is not a major industry. In the early 1970s, when fish stocks ran low, a system of rotating access was developed to preserve this sector. In 2007, locals protested the establishment of some larger chain supermarkets and clothing stores, which have opened branches in Alanya.

Tourism

Since the first modern motel was built in 1958, considered the first year of the tourist industry in Alanya, hotels have raced to accommodate the influx of tourists, and the city as of 2007 claims 157,000 hotel beds. Damlataş Cave, which originally sparked the arrival of outsiders because of the cave’s microclimate, with an average temperature of 72 °F (22 °C) and 95% humidity, is accessible on the west side of the peninsula with trails from Damlataş Beach. Many tourists, especially Scandinavians, Germans, Russians, and Dutch, regularly vacation in Alanya during the warmer months. They are drawn to the area because of property prices, warm weather, sandy beaches, access to Antalya’s historic sites, and fine cuisine. Other outdoor tourist activities include wind surfing, parasailing, banana boating and Turkey’s largest go-kart track.

Beginning in 2003, with the provisional elimination of restrictions on land purchases by non-nationals, the housing industry in the city has become highly profitable with many new private homes and condominiums being built for European and Asian part-time residents. This in turn has put pressure on the city’s many gecekondu houses and establishments as property values rise and property sales to locals fall. A height restriction in the city limits most buildings to 21 feet (6.5 m). This keeps high rise hotels to the east and west of the city, preserving the central skyline at the expense of greater tourist potential. The fringes of the city however have seen uncontrolled expansion.

For various reasons, tourist seasons after 2005 have been disappointing for Alanya’s industry. Among the reasons blamed were increased PKK violence, the H5N1 bird flu found in Van, and the Mohammad cartoon controversy. Alanya officials have responded with a variety of publicity initiatives, including baking the world’s longest cake on April 26, 2006, a Guinness World Record. The economy has also suffered due to investment in more than 20,000 surplus properties.

Transportation

The D400 Turkish Highway, the Alanya-Mersin Route, connects Alanya from the east and west, encircling it, and connectin through the city center via Atatürk Bulvarı. The D695, the Ankara-Akşehir Route, runs north-south and reaches the sea 25.5 miles (41 km) west of the city near Side, connecting with the D400. Antalya Airport, is 75 miles (120 km) away and connects internationally. The still unopened local Antalya Gazipaşa Airport, completed in 1999, is only 9 miles (15 km) from the city, and is constructing an international terminal. The international terminal will be completed by August 2008. No train routes go to Alanya or Antalya Province, and there are no train stations in the district.

There are bus and dolmuş systems out of Alanya’s two bus depots, but buses are usually limited to the major roads, and inside the city transportation is by car, taxi, or foot, as many roads in the old town are closed to traffic. The harbor includes cruise ship piers, and also seasonal ferries and hydrofoils depart for Kyrenia in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Further west of the city is the Alanya Yacht Harbor, a marina scheduled to start services in 2008.

Sports

Alanya is home to a woman’s basketball team, Alanya Belediye, which started in the first division but was relegated after the 2002 season. The city hosts a second level soccer team, Alanyaspor, although soccer fans in the city are mostly divided between the three major Istanbul teams. The club was founded in 1948, and play home games at Milli Egemenlik Stadium. In 2007, the city began constructing a new soccer facility with the intention of hosting winter competitions between major teams. The public Alanya Municipality Sports Facility is located adjacent to Milli Egemenlik Stadium, which is one of thirteen facilities.

Alanya is perhaps more famous for the annual triathlon, part of the World Triathlon Series, held every October, and for the city’s role as host of The Turkish Open, part of the Nestea European Beach Volleyball championship tour, which takes place in May. In 2007, the Turkish Volleyball Federation persuaded the European Volleyball Confederation to build a beach volleyball training facility in Alanya, and make it the exclusive “center of beach volleyball in Europe”. The city is also a frequent host to national events, such as the annual beach handball tournament, and the finish of the seven-day Presidency Cycling Tour of Turkey. Other cycling events include the Alanya International Mountain Bike Race. Additionally, the European Cycling Union will have its 2010 European road cycling championship and 2010 ordinary congress meeting in Alanya.