Wedding Gift for Cleopatra 
What can you give to a woman who already has everything? This question must have passed through Marc Anthony’s mind when he was thinking of a wedding gift for his wife Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt. 
And guess what he chose: a place where cedar trees were abundant, crystal clear water was dazzling and the air was clean to breath. Then it was known as Coracecium nowadays Alanya.

New home for Trojan people 
The very first human settlement in Alanya starts in the caves and dates back 20.000 years to the upper Palaeolithic age.  Herodotus tells that following the Trojan War people spread out to Anatolia and settled in Alanya region where Pamfilya and Cilician borders were. This town hosted also pirates who resisted the Roman Empire for ages. Alanya was ruled by Romans in medieval.

Winter Capital fo Seljuk Empire 
When you take a walk to the castle of Alanya you may be impressed by the history. If the ancient walls could talk they would tell you how the Seljuk Emperor Alaaddin Keykubat conquered Kolonoros (Alanya) from the Byzantians to control the whole Mediterranean Sea Region. Seljuk architecture was applied so beautifully to the town that it became the new winter capital city for the Seljuk Empire and was named Alaiye after the Emperor.

Alanya Fortress 
The walls of the fortress stretch 6500 meters and there are 93 towers and 140 battlements. Its historical features are under protection and people still live in it. Inner Fortress, which is at the highest point of the peninsula and the Middle Fortress, in the northern side of the peninsula are museums. The most important monuments of Inner Fortress are the ruins of the palace and clover shaped church from the 6th century. Adam Atacağı Tower is the last spot of the inner castle tour. It is related that the prisoners of the Roman times were made to play a similar gamble. They were given three stones and one who managed to throw the stone into the sea was released whereas those who could not were thrown into the sea through a catapult. The name Adam Atacağı (Man Thrower) is given for that reason. In the Fortress Süleymaniye Mosque, Bedesten, Andızlı Mosque, Akbeşe Sultan Mosque, Sitti Zeynep Türbesi and Roman period churches are worth to visit. Downwards to the fortress is the Red Tower, Dockyard and Gun house. Famous 17th century Turkish traveller Evliya Çelebi calls Alanya “City of Cisterns” because of the 420 cisterns inside the Fortress. Many of these cisterns are still in use even today.

Red Tower 
Sultan Aladdin Keykubat had The Red Tower built primarily to defend the town’s shipyard. The octagonal (eight sided) tower is 33 meters high and 29 meters diameter. There are 85 stairs to climb to the top. There is a cistern in the centre of the tower.