Silivri Kalepark (Selymbria Kalesi)

Silivri Kalepark is a park and open-air museum laid out inside the castle of the ancient city of Selymbria, on the high hill by the sea in Silivri. According to the Silivri Municipality's district profile, the city's name in antiquity was Selymbria or Selybria. Because it had a natural harbour and lay on important trade routes, the city kept its importance in every period. According to the same profile, the settlement was founded east of the bay beside today's town, on a steep, rugged hill overlooking the Marmara. The hill was gradually ringed with walls, and the city later spilled beyond them and spread out. The municipality's profile explains that the city was founded on a spot walled on three sides and protected on the fourth by a sheer cliff impossible to climb from the sea. According to an account based on Strabo, the city's name comes from its legendary founder Selys and from bria, a word thought to mean city in the Thracian language. The city is described as a harbour where colonists from Megara settled in the 7th century BC. As the municipality relates, the Byzantine emperor Arcadius had the castle built to honour his wife Eudoxia and renamed the city Eudoxiopolis. The name never really caught on, and in time the old name returned. The Silivri article on Turkish Wikipedia writes that in the late 9th century Emperor Michael III built a fortress on the hill whose remains still stand today. Sources date the origins of the castle to the 3rd century AD, but most of the remains visible today date from the 9th and 12th centuries. According to the municipality's profile, the walls were repaired under Bayezid II after the great tremor of 1509. The seaward face of the hill is a cliff about 47 metres high, and the park's view opens from this height. After lengthy renovation work, the Silivri Municipality opened Kalepark to visitors on 30 August 2020. The open-air museum inside the park displays about 150 stone pieces found in and around Silivri. These pieces date from the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman periods and were brought here from different parts of the district for protection. According to an NTV report, architectural fragments and historic pieces from the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman periods can be seen together in the museum. Stopping beside each piece to look at its workmanship and the texture of the stone lets you see the city's long past in concrete form. At the entrance, a stone gate topped with crenellations greets you. Once through the gate, the walking paths lead between the trees towards the edge of the cliff. According to the municipality, the park has an amphitheatre, a viewing telescope, walking paths, a picnic area and a children's playground. From the viewpoints at the cliff edge, the Sea of Marmara and the bay of Silivri open out in a wide sweep. At sunset, as the sun sinks towards the west of the bay, the colour of the sea changes, and these hours are the best time for photographs. On clear days you can follow the coastline along the horizon. As you walk around the remains of the walls, try to tell apart from the coursing of the stones the repairs made in different periods over the centuries. At the cliff edge it is important not to lean on railings and to keep a close eye on children. Opening hours may change, so we recommend checking the Silivri Municipality's official announcements before your visit. Kalepark is right beside the district centre, so you can walk up from the Silivri market area. Visitors coming from central Istanbul can use İETT routes to Silivri, checking current route information through official channels. After coming down from the hill, a walk along the shore to see the town's waterfront is the natural continuation of the visit. According to the Silivri Municipality, the district lies on the shore of the Sea of Marmara about 67 kilometres west of central Istanbul. As the municipality relates, Silivri passed under Ottoman rule shortly after the capture of Istanbul in 1453, and Turkish households were settled inside the castle. The same profile explains that the town was first founded on a cliff rising as high as 56 metres above the sea and that the shore was later filled in by material carried by the sea. Summing up thousands of years of Selymbria's story on a single hill, Kalepark is an important stop for anyone looking for both history and views on the western coast.