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Alanya Fort

We spent the night in Alanya on our way from Side to Anamur on the outward leg of our auto excursion east of Antalya. The old city of Alanya is built on a rocky peninsula with an old walled fort perched on the top of the rock.

Gerry was our driver and quickly found himself sort of lost in the narrow winding streets of the old city but we were enchanted when the streets became more and more steep and we realized we were climbing to the top of the hill. Unfortunately it was night time and street lights were few and far between making it very hard to get our bearings. We kept hoping against hope that we would come across a small guesthouse so that we could spend the night up here. At one point we saw a sign for a hotel and followed it a ways but found ourselves in a narrow one-way alley and were afraid to go any further for fear we wouldn't be able to turn around. Defeated we went back downhill and found a nondescript hotel at the bottom of the hill.

Tourist Alanya from Alanya Fort

The next day we went back up the hill in daylight and found that the one-way alley dead-ended at a big gate behind which was a wonderful hotel. How disappointed we were. But you can bet if we ever go back to Alanya it will be to that hotel.

The photograph (click on photos to enlarge them) was taken from the fort and shows the extent of the tourist development on the outskirts of the old city of Alanya. This photo was taken to the west of the city. There is as much or development to the east which we drove through later in the day. Both Alanya and Antalya are big centers for tourism because they have access to an international airport.

The photo at the beginning of the page shows some of the remnants of the walls of the fort from below. There isn't much left inside the fort to speak of, but it is a popular tourist destination and it does give you some spectacular views of the coastline. We spent about an hour early in the morning after our one night here and were lucky to get in before the big tourist buses started to arrive.

Handicraft Seller near Alanya Fort

This lady had a small shop near the fort and sold wonderful tablecloths and similar souvenirs. We liked her work a lot and bought several things from her for gifts.

The lower town also had its souvenir shops, interleaved with the numberless restaurants and bars and hotels, but they were not housed in an old stone house like this lady's. We have no idea whether she owned or rented the house, but although it made an interesting shop, it was certainly very primitive for a residence. We would have taken a photo inside, but Gerry's camera doesn't have a flash and it was too dark in there.

The scenery below is typical of what we enjoyed on the road from Alanya to Anamur. The road hugged the coast for most of the way, dropping steeply to the ocean most of the time but sometimes veering inland to climb over a particularly steep arm of land like here, from which we could look inland to the snow-capped peaks.

We loved being out on the open road again. Traffic was light, the weather was perfect: sunny but not hot, and the views were fantastic. Photos, alas, can't quite give you the colors and light as we perceived them. The water sometimes is a deep turquoise color that has to be seen to be believed.

The Road from Alanya to Anamur