Çandarlı Kalesi

Sitting on a peninsula surrounded by the sea on three sides, south of Dikili, Çandarlı Castle is one of the best-preserved castles in Türkiye. The town is about 100 kilometres from İzmir and 19 from Dikili, and is reached by turning off the İzmir-Bergama highway. Its ancient name is Pitane; according to the Türkiye Tourism Encyclopaedia, legend has the city founded by the Amazon queen Pitane, and the settlement goes back to around 4000 BC. According to Anadolu Agency the first castle was built in the sixth century BC to protect Pitane; Wikipedia adds that in the time of the Kingdom of Pergamon this was the kingdom's leading port. It continued to serve as a port town in the Roman, Byzantine and Seljuk periods. According to the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality's guide, the Dikili coast runs for 40 kilometres and holds five blue-flag beaches; Çandarlı is the southern end of that coast. The castle's present appearance took shape in the fourteenth century, when the Genoese had taken Foça and dominated trade in the region. The Ottoman conquest came in the reign of Murad II; the ruined castle was rebuilt in the fifteenth century by order of the Grand Vizier Çandarlı Halil Pasha. From then on the town carried the pasha's name; the Çandarlı family had held important posts in Ottoman government since the reign of Murad I. According to the Culture Portal the structure was strengthened against cannon fire with stone blocks and foundation buttresses, and reused Hellenistic stones can be seen in the walls. The plan is a rectangle close to a square; five towers, crenellated walls and a single gate complete the whole. According to Wikipedia the castle sits on a rock base sloping from east to west and covers an area of about 2,230 square metres. Above the entrance gate is a faded Arabic inscription from the Ottoman period. Excavations by the Bergama Museum Directorate brought to light wall remains at different levels, floors and a Byzantine cistern in the inner courtyard. The towers are placed so that the sea and the town can be watched through the embrasures; when you climb the corner tower you understand at a glance why the castle was built here. The castle was repaired in the 1950s; the last comprehensive restoration began in 2009 and was completed in 2014. The Türkiye Tourism Encyclopaedia describes this work as the intervention that put back on its feet a building neglected after the Ottoman period. According to Wikipedia the castle was opened to visitors in March 2016; according to an Anadolu Agency report from 2022 it is managed by Dikili Municipality and visited free of charge. An art historian appointed by the municipality informs visitors at the castle; since the entrance arrangements may change, get current information from the municipality. The building is registered as immovable cultural property in need of protection. In 2013 it entered the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List together with Foça Castle. The nomination file covers the castles and walled settlements on the Genoese trade route from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea; the Galata Tower and the castles of Yoros, Amasra and Sinop are in the same file. According to the announcement of the İzmir Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism the listing was made public in August 2013, and Anadolu Agency writes that visitor numbers have grown since then. Start your visit at the gate; in the inner courtyard you will see the mouth of the cistern and the floor levels exposed by excavation. Then go up to the wall walk and tour the five towers in turn; each tower faces a different direction, towards the harbour, the beach and the hills in the direction of Bergama. The late-afternoon light turns the stone walls golden; the best hour for photographs is just before sunset. The castle is the natural end of the town's seafront walk; the pier and the beach are within walking distance. There is no indoor museum hall; the building itself is the exhibit and the visit takes no more than an hour. Buses leave for Çandarlı from Dikili and İzmir throughout the day; the Culture Portal notes hourly services from İzmir. Look for the reused Hellenistic stones the Culture Portal mentions in the lower courses of the walls and at the corners of the towers. According to the Türkiye Tourism Encyclopaedia the town's resident population is close to seven thousand. In summer that number swells into a holiday crowd measured in the hundreds of thousands; May and October are better for a quiet visit. Taking in the castle on the same day as the ancient city of Atarneus in Dikili and the acropolis of Bergama means seeing three different ages of the same coast.