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| Welcome to Alanya - Coming or Going? |
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| Some of the History of Alanya |
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| Turkish family, enjoying an outing |
The location/town Alanya, a picturesque small port on the
Turkish ‘Riviera’, was allegedly a present from Marc Anthony to his beloved
Cleopatra. One of the local beaches is still called ‘Cleopatra’s Beach’.
It was first settled 20,000 years ago in the Paleolithic
Era. More recently, Greeks and Romans (see Marc Anthony) left their mark. In
the 13th century, the Seljuk built a naval base here. Their
shipyards are almost in pristine conditions to this day. The famous Red Tower
was built to protect the marina. In the 13th century as well the
giant Alanya Castle with four miles of fortified walls, 93 massive towers, 140
battlements and 400 cisterns was constructed as well. It covers the entire
hills side adjoining modern Alanya and still houses a number of mosques, ruins
of a Greek Orthodox chapel and
traditional dwellings along tortuous winding paths.
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| Story of the Tower of Alanya |
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| Architect's Signature in stone |
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| Yes, we are docked within a stone throw of town |
What else to do but meander through the imposing shipyards
into the hills, where Cleopatra listened to whispered sweet nothings from her
famous lover? The shipyards are in great
shape, all built into the living rock walls on sloping carved rock covered in
sand. Cavernous halls lay side by side, and integrate with the fortress walls,
canon rooms and ammunition depots. Battling rams, giant war slingshot machines
were exposed in various locations, and a sample ship’s skeleton as fabricated during
the olden times were housed in the ‘dry docks’.
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| The Shipyards |
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| Cross section of the Shipyards |
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| Replica of ship, giving an idea of the size of these dry dock bays |
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| The waves are lapping into the shipyard, launching rails are gone, all else remains |
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| Elegantly constructed entrances to the shipyard |
Vistas of long beaches, steep cliffs, hidden rock lined coves,
fields of wildflowers in bloom, cypresses, canyons, caves and the all-embracing
cobalt blue sea greets the eye when emerging from the yards and searching for a
passage through the wall and up the mountain.
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| Starting the ascent |
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| and clambering along the ramparts and walls |
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| ...strolling along ancient back alleys |
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| .....into confusing wilderness |
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| .....with lizards as companions |
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| Where to go from here?? |
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| Glorious views from the slopes of the castle mountain |
What greets the feet is another story. Definitely an arduous
clamber amongst overgrown old walls, cobble stoned or rock strewn paths,
through ‘backyards’ of residents, meeting nothing more than the odd black
lizard and a multitude of twittering birds and cooing doves – thus I ascended
bathed in brilliant sunlight and profuse perspiration. Worth every drop!
The paths aren’t marked, of course, every so often one could
discern a sign pointing vaguely upward with a ‘multiple choice’ way of
interpreting which one of the many trails would be the one that actually goes
to the top of the castle on this rather respectable ‘hill’, which started to
feel like Mount Everest.
I got into glimpsing distance from the summit and tried to
decipher my local tourist map to establish where and for how much longer I
needed to proceed to the goal of my meandering. A local resident came bouncing
down one of the paths, and inquired where I wanted to go, and offered ‘help’.
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| Artisan shop on the hill side |
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| Byzantine Chapel remains |
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| A maze of walls and towers |
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| I rode on a smaller version of a scooter. This scooter led a Run for the World race event. |
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| 'Run for the World' participants |
He led me back down the mountain for a few hundred yards,
past an Orthodox chapel in ruins, where he claimed to have found skeletal bones
dating back centuries, and which are now slowly being excavated by the local
archeologists. For me the going was slow, as the footing is suitable for goats
but not human bipeds.
I fell for the oldest
trick in tourist business, and found myself shortly after on the back of a
motor scooter (skirt modestly drawn over my knees) with a helmet (too big) on
my head, driving up the steep tourist bus road. The road was so steep in fact,
that I was afraid to roll off the back of the bike. Hairpin curves added to the
‘thrill’ of wondering whether I could stay on this little machine (145 CC). Once
reaching the top the business angle of this friendly assistance came into play,
and I had to hand over 15 Euros. Later I discovered that a taxi ride up or down
would cost 6 Euros – well, so much for not bargaining. On the other hand, it
was rather ‘adventurous’ to ride past all the people who were making their way on
foot up the ‘safe’ access to the hill top castle.
Back in bustling modern Alanya the ‘Riviera’ part of the
city became evident. Apart from Bazaars filled with genuine fake artisan articles,
there are probably hundreds of sea side and street side restaurants, bars and
bistros – mostly filled with German tourists, who enjoy their stint in the ‘Turkei’,
something like Florida for the North American residents. Menus are often in
German, but other languages are definitely in evidence.
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| Flotilla of tourist boats - and more around the corner |
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| Genuine Fishing boats, who deliver daily fresh catch to sea side restaurants |
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| Not to be consumed. Turkish restaurants offer not only candles and flowers on their tables, but goldfish as well |
A whole flotilla of genuine fake sailing brigantines line
the front of the Bay, and they venture out to Cleopatra’s Beach, Caves in Sea
Cliffs nearby, or just to the perimeter
of the ‘shipyards’ to indulge in some heavy partying. Albeit it is a port in
Muslim Territory, alcohol flows abundantly, and alcoholic beverages are
available in grocery stores and hospitality venues. The beer is good, the wine
better, the food – what else – delicious.
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| Gemal Ataturk, Liberator of Turkey. |
