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B + 6 : Climbing an Ottoman Fortress

Since we could not stop at Side we are now a day ahead of schedule. We are going to use it to have a closer look at the fortress the Ottoman Turks built when finally talking control of the area in the 15th century. Before that the town was called Coracesium. It was here that Pompeius defeated the Cilician pirates who had made the eastern Mediterranean their hunting ground and challenged Roman authority when cooperating with Spartacus. It stays in Roman and Byzantine hands until the 4th crusade in 1204.

The impressive and easy to defend rock was first settled 20'000 years ago and was well known to Phoenician and Greek sailors.

Today, the Turkish Fortress towers over the old and new town

Knowing there was another hot day ahead we started climbing early and benefitted from the morning fog that shrouded the rock's peak - it was a steep climb

Look back to the harbour - the Carpe Diem is in the middle of the closing quai

View down the northern side - ideal place for swimming

On our way back we crossed many gardens which are inside the Turkish walls - there were so many Pomegranate trees everywhere

The last part we walked through the old Turkish town - also inside the walls

Alanya Fortress and Old town from Carpe Diem V - we were back at lunch time and decided to take the boat out of the harbour for a swim on the northern side of the rock

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