Monday, April 28, 2014

Favorites from Turkey

I believe that most of my turkish cards were sent by Nihan and these two are no exception. Both were in my favorites gallery. The 1st shows Alanya's Dockyard and the 2nd the Dalyan Lycian tombs.

PTT
The construction of the dockyard started in 1227, six years later than the Sultan's conquest of the city, near Kızılkule and finished in one year. The Side of the dockyard overlooking the sea and having five cells with arches is 56.5 metres long and it is 44 metres in depth. The area selected for the dockyard was planned to have the most sunlight. 
The dockyard of Alanya was the first one of Selcuks in the Mediterranean, Alaaddin Keykubat, who had the dockyard of Sinop built before, was given the little of "the Sultan of the two seas" with the opening of the dockyard of Alanya. On one side of the dockyard there is a small mosque, and a guard room on the other. There is a well that has dried up in time in one of the cells. You can go to the dockyard by boats or on foot passing the walls near Kızılkule and can enter the dockyard without any payments. - in: http://www.alanya.cc/en/Historical-Places/88-The-Dockyard.html

Foto: Semih Kayalar
Dalyan is a riverbank town in Muğla Province located between the well-known districts of Marmaris and Fethiye on the south-west coast of Turkey. One of the most popular attractions are the Lycian Tombs. 
The six Lycian tombs on the outskirts of Kaunos are the most photographed place in the region. Standing in the cliff face, above the Dalyan River, they are seen from miles away and are the finest display of Lycian architecture, even though one was never finished.  
Dating from the 2nd to 4th century, the rock tombs were burial chambers for kings and queens of that era. Behind tall columns that stood next to the entrance, is the main chamber where royalty was buried with their possessions. Sadly over many years, looters stole the gold and expensive items that were meant to accompany the dead into the afterlife.  
Lycains believed that a winged creature would carry them into the after world and this is why most of their tombs exist on high cliff faces or hills. Sadly the high position and lack of safety has made it impossible to walk around the tombs now, however they still look majestic from afar.
While the rock tombs of Dalyan were reserved for royalty, any keen historian will tell you that Lycians who were not wealthy believed the dead should exist with the living. This is seen in Lycian sarcophagi standing in the streets of towns like nearby Kas or Patara. These should be explored if you want to see a Lycian tomb up close. - in: http://www.mydestination.com/fethiye/travel-articles/721832/the-ancient-ruins-of-kaunos-and-lycian-tombs#

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