ALANYA CASTLE

The mediaeval castle is located 250 meters high on a rocky peninsula jutting into the Mediterranean Sea, which protects it from three sides.

It is surrounded by the wall 6.5 km in length that has 140 towers on it. Most of the castle was built in the 13th century under the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm following the city's conquest in 1220 by Alaeddin Keykubad I as part of a building campaign that included the Kızıl Kule. The castle had several gates. The major ones had beautiful painting on them. Nowadays they are destroyed.

There are some ancient buildings inside if the castle -brick cisterns and Byzantine churches. A lot of villas were built inside in the XIX century.

Today the building is an open air museum.  

RED TOWER

The Kızıl Kule (Red Tower), a main tourist attraction in the Turkish city of Alanya, is situated in the port. The building is considered to be the symbol of the city, and is even used on the city's flag.

Construction of the building began during the reign of the Anatolian Seljuk Sultan Ala- ddin Kay Qubadh I and was completed in 1226. The sultan brought the accomplished architect Ebu Ali Reha from Aleppo, Syria to Alanya to complete the building. The name derives from the more red color brick he used in its construction. So well-made was it that it remains one of the finest examples of medieval military architecture. Though more preservation has gone into the building, it clearly is the best preserved Seljuk building in the city. The octagonal red brick tower protects the Tersane shipyard. In 1979 the tower was open for visitors.  

DAMLATASH CAVE

The cave is situated in the center of Alanya. The name DAMLATAŞ can be translated in English as "stone in drops" (DAMLA-stone and TAŞ- drop).

The cave was found in 1948 while building works in the port. Amazing 15 000 year stalactites and stalagmites were inside. From those times the cave was under protection and numerous studies began.

Together with its natural beauty DAMLATAŞ Cave is also known for its great atmosphere that makes people who have sick of asthma better. If you have such an illness you should definitely visit Damlataş Cave when you are in Alanya.

DIM CAVE

The cave is a natural formation that offers amazing scenery of stalagmite and stalactite for the visitors.

There is a small salt lake in the middle.

This place was well-known among local hunters as a shelter.

It was introduced to the visitors in 1998 and it is the second biggest cave known to the visitors.  

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.

TOPHANE

There's a gun house next to the dockyard. It was built with the aim of defence on a rock ten meters above the sea level. It's also known that cannons for battleships were made in the three-storey and rectangular building made of stone blocks and constructed in 1277.

There have been some efforts made by the Ministry of culture and the Municipality of Alanya to make the Dockyard and the Gun House naval museums.

EHMEDEK

It was rebuilt and began to be known as the "middle castle" during the Selcuks' Era, replacing the little one on the northern Side of the citadel left by the Byzantine Empire. It's clear from the inscription on its front door that it was built in 1227. It's thought to have been named after the master builder "Ehmedek" of the Selcuks' Era.

The middle castle consisting of two parts with three towers is located on a strategically important place and at the same time it can protect the inner one where the Sultan's palace is. The walls of the towers we can see today were built during the Byzantine Era, carving rocks. The three cisterns in the middle castle are still used today. 

SULEYMANIYE MOSQUE

It was built just outside İçkale on the top of the castle in 1231 when the city was being reconstructed by Alaaddin Keykubat, the Sultan of Selcuks. However the mosque was not in good condition in the following years and it was rebuilt by Kanuni Sultan Süleyman in the 16th century during the Ottoman Era.. The mosque with a single minaret is known as Alaaddin, Kale or Sülaymaniye. The building is made of rubble stones and it is square in shape.

It has a brick dome based on an octagonal frame. Fifteen little earthenware jars were placed in the part functioning as the hanger of the dome in order to ensure its acoustics. That quality is felt during religious practice, the final public place is found below three brick domes on a four-foot basis. The covers of doors and windows are fine examples of wood carving of the Ottoman.

BEDESTEN

It's in the citadel, near The Süleymaniye Mosque. It's thought to have been built in the 14th or the 15th century during the Karamanoğulları period as a bazaar or an inn. It's a rectangular building made of stone blocks. It has 26 rooms and a courtyard that is 35 metres long and 13 metres wide. Today this historical building is used as a hotel, a restaurant and a cafe.

The shops of the medieval times, overlooking the courtyard are now redesigned as hotel rooms. There's a big cistern at the end of the stairs in the garden. The garden overlooks the above walls on one side, and the Taurus Mountains, the Mediterranean and the beach on the other side. Bedesten can be visited with the permission of the person who runs it.

THE MINTING HOUSE

They are the buildings on Cilvarda Bay that has bluffs, nearly 400 meters long and they are at the end of the peninsula. Although known as "the Minting House" in public, those buildings made of stone blocks have never been used for issuing money.

One of the stone buildings of the 11th century is a little church and the others were possibly used as monasteries. The dome of the little church has remained standing. There's a cistern on the rocks. Although there's a passage of steps carved in the rocks from İçkale to Cilvarda Bay, it can't be used today. As for sea transport it is difficult and dangerous.

It looks magnificent both when looked at from İçkale and while turning the bend of the bay by boat.

THE SMALL MOSQUE OF AKBESHE SULTAN

It's in the citadel northwards of Bedesten and nearly 100 metres past Süleymaniye Mosque.

It was built in 1230 by Akbeşe Sultan, the first commander of Alaaddin Keykubat in the citadel of Alanya. Its outer part is of stones blocks and the inner side and the dome are of bricks. It has a square shape and two rooms. One of the rooms is a small mosque and in the other one there is the tomb of Akbeşe Sultan. There are three other tombs in the room. It's clear that the apse of the small mosque is decorated with painted files. The inscription there means:
"God knows the secrets of earth and heavens. Small mosques of God are only built by those who believe in Him and in doomsday. It was built in 1230 when the great Sultan Alaaddin Keykubat reigned, by poor Akbeşe, who needed God's compassion."

There's a cylindrical minaret made of bricks in body on the base of rubble stones, a few meters far from the small mosque.  

THE ANDIZLI MOSQUE

It's in Tophone district. The mosque named so because of a tree called elecampane nearby was built in 1277 by Emir Bedrüddin. It has some characteristics peculiar to the architecture of the Selcuks period. It's made of stone blocks and has a minaret which is not high. Its pulpit is one of the finest examples of Selcuks art of carving wood. You can go to the mosque through the door below; near Kızılkule minaret that ends with a balcony has an interesting look.  

THE TOMB OF SITTI ZEYNEP

It's on a rock on the way to the citadel. It's thought to be of the Selcuks or Ottoman period. It is square in shape and consists of two rooms, there is a long sarcophagus and the other room is empty. Evliya Çelebi wrote that the building was a lodge of Bektaşi Dervishes, we have no certain information about Sitti Zeynep. The name of the pious foundation of the tomb was Sitti Zeynep Gin't Zeynül Abidin" in that foundation's records of the Ottoman Empire during Kanuni Sultan Süleyman period.

The person who had a tomb there is thought to have been an enlightened mystic.
Three tombs, two meters long each, were carved in the rock where the tomb is situated in the antique era. Antique tombs were once used as water tanks.  

HIDIRELLEZ CHURCH

It is within the boundaries of Hacı Mehmetli Village in Hıdır İlyas, ten kms far from the center of Alanya.

The church that is thought to have been founded on a slope overlooking the Mediterranean at the beginning of the 19th century is used for worshipping by Christian and Muslim visitors today. It is rectangular in shape, its roof is built of brick, its walls are made of stone and it has a little apse. There's a mezzanine floor wooden decorated in the church. The frescos on the walls have been deteriorated. It's understood from the inscription that the church was repaired in 1873. The inscription being exhibited in Alanya Museum was written in Turkish (the language of Karamans), using the Greek alphabet. The church was closed when the people of Orthodox Church living in Alanya and speaking Turkish, went to Greece because of the exchange in 1924. Hıdırellez Church that has got a water source nearby is also known as the Church of Antalya Kaleiçi. Entrance to ruins is free.

SHARAPSA INN

It's a building from the 13th Century, 13 km to the west of Alanya on the highway. The caravanserai was built by Gıyaseddin Keyhusrev the Sultan of Seljuk between the years 1236-1246 on the historical Silk Way. The building which was built on a piece of land about 1000 square metres has walls built of bulky cut stones. The Caravanserai which was one of the most important accommodation points of the Middle Ages is to be used as amusement centre today.

THE CITADEL OF ALARA

The Citadel of Alara was built in 1232, 37 kilometres westward from Alanya on the demand of Alaaddin Keykubat, the Sultan of Selcuks and it is 9 kilometres far from the sea. The aim of the citadel that was on the Silk Road was to protect the crowds stopped at the inn near the Alara creek. It's built on a steep hill of 200 meters up to 500. It looks magnificent. It consists of an inner and outer part. A dark entrance-hall of 120 steps enters the citadel. It is important to be careful about the wild plants and ruins, since it is not organized as a place to be visited.

There are tunnels made by carving rock in the citadel. There is a small palace, the rooms of the workers, a mosque and a Turkish bath in the ruins. Those who would like to go to the top of the citadel through the walls and paths have to climb at least one hour and be equipped properly. However, the view from the top is worth climbing.

ALARA INN

It's located on a tableland 800 m far away the Citadel of Alara on the Alara Stream. Whole caravanserai has been built of cut bulky stones on a land of piece of 2 thousand square metres. The inn, built in 1231, was restored a few years ago and is to be used as restaurant and shop centre. The guard's room keeps its specialties today. The second door of the caravanserai opens out to the guest rooms. There are small rooms next two sides of the long hall. There is a fountain, a small mosque and a bathhouse in the caravanserai. The signatures of the stone craftsmen which searched out during the reparation are very conspicuous. Keykubat said in the epigraphs in Alanya he was, "the sultan of the land and the two seas, the owner of the Arabic and Persian countries" and in the epigraphs in Alara Inn he got the titles, the conqueror of Greek, Damascus, Armenian and European countries." Alara Inn must have been paid for visiting. You can have your meal in the restaurant in the Inn as well as the small eating houses on countryside and you can swim till mealtime  

KARGI INN

It is in the western part of Alanya, the north of the Kargı creek. We have no idea of the year when it was built since it has no inscription. It is a stone building 46 meters wide and fifty meters long. ItÕs thought to have been used as a caravanserai in Kesikbel, on the road that played a role of a bridge between the Mediterranean and central Anatolia in Roman times, Selcuk and Ottoman Era.

There are air shafts on the ceiling of each room and the rooms are found around the courtyard in the middle. There are mangers for animals carved on the rock opposite the door. The building is in ruins.