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ALANYA |
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Until fifteen years ago, ALANYA was a sleepy coastal town with no
more than a handful of flyblown hotels. Now it's one of the
Mediterranean coast's major resorts, a booming place that has
fortunately managed to hold on to much of its character and is much less
crowded than Side, even in midsummer.
Most of old Alanya lies on the great rocky promontory that juts out into
the sea, dominating the modern town, the bulk of which is occupied by
the castle - an hour's winding climb or a short ride on an hourly bus
from the tourist office. At the end of the road is the Iç Kale , or
inner fortress (daily 8am-sunset; $5), built in 1226 and virtually
intact, with the shell of a Byzantine church , decorated with fading
frescoes, in the centre. In the northwestern corner of the fortress, a
platform gives fine views of the western beaches and the mountains,
though this originally served as a springboard from which prisoners were
thrown to their deaths on the rocks below. On the opposite side of the
promontory, the Kizilkule ("Red Tower") is a 35m-high defensive tower
that today houses a pedestrian Ethnographic Museum (daily 8am-noon &
1.30-5.30pm; $4), and has a roof terrace that overlooks the town's
eastern harbour. Back down at sea-level, apart from the hotels and
restaurants, modern Alanya has little to offer. On the western side of
the promontory, the Alanya Museum (daily 9am-noon & 1.30-6.30pm; $1) is
filled with local archeological finds and ethnological ephemera, though
the best thing about it is the garden, a former Ottoman graveyard.
Nearby, the Damlatas or "Cave of Dripping Stones" (daily 6-10am for
asthma sufferers; daily 10am-sunset for others; $1.50), is a stalactite-
and stalagmite-filled cavern with a moist, warm atmosphere said to ease
asthma; it's accessible from behind the Damlatas restaurant.
Alanya's beaches , though not particularly clean, are at least
extensive, stretching 3km west and 8km east. Finer sand and fewer crowds
can be found 23km away on the road to Side at Incekum (meaning "fine
sand"), still a beautiful spot despite recent bouts of hotel building.
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