Alanya

Alanya Antalya, Turkey

Alanya is a touristic center on Turkey's Mediterranean coast 138 km/86 miles east of Antalya.The municipal district, which includes the city center, has close to 400,000 inhabitants
Alanya has been dubbed Kücük Almanya, or Little Germany.An influx of tourists from Germany drawn to its 70 km/43-mile coastline has transformed Alanya from a
sleepy fishing town surrounded by banana plantations and orange groves to one of the country’s most popular destinations.

Neighbours;Manavgat, Belek, Side, Aspendos, Anamur, Silifke

History

Alanya is a popular settlement centre since prehistoric period. The ancient town was the hideaway of pirates in B.C 2nd century; finally, Romans had enough. They decided that the pirates need "putting down", and occupied the town to obstruct piracy. According to Heredot’s opinion, there were too much immigrants after the war of Troy in this area. The climate and the flora of Alanya were attractive for all civilizations.

According to a legend, Cleopatra was impressed by the beautiful beaches and palm trees after her trip to the region. In the A.C 395, Alanya was under the sovereignty of Byzantium and had a name that means “ nice mountain”. Alanya was conquered by Aladdin Keykubad (the sultan of Seljuk Empire) in 1220. The city was occupied to protect the capital Konya, which was located at the north of Alanya.

Alanya was a very important naval base for Aladdin Keykubad; therefore Seljuks constructed a castle consisting of three parts.

Alanya had the speciality of being the most important naval base at the Anatolian side for hundreds of years because of being the connection of all the ways to east, west and north.

Sights;Red Tower (Kizil Kule),Damlatas Cave,Lovers Cave,Pirates Cave,The house of Ataturk,The Cave of Dim,The Museum of Alanya