Kaleici - Old Town, Antalya

In a restored Ottoman house in Kaleici is the Suna and Inan Kirac Kaleici Museum. On the upper floor the rooms has an ethnographic exhibition, showing life in the second half of the 19th century. Important events shown are the serving of coffee, the bride’s henna night and shaving of the bridegroom.
Across the courtyard is a restored Orthodox church. Here there is an exhibition of ceramics.
There is also a bookstore in the museum.
Entrance fee is 1 000 000 TL (July 2004).

When I was there I was the only visitor. It was in the morning so I hope more people find their way there later during the day. It is centrally located in Kaleici.

Kaleici is full of old restored Ottoman houses now turned into pensions, hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops. Some tourists stay here, but many come just on a quick guided tour with a group – Kaleici deserves more time than that. Do not only walk the main roads, but take your time to discover the small back streets as well.

The beach, Konyaalti Plaji, is to the west. It is a pebbled beach about 3 km long. Several hotels are built along the beach, but if you are staying in Kaleici you can take the tram to the end station Müze and then walk a few hundred metres down to the beach.

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The formation of traditional Antalya houses is based on the following principles;regard to life,nature and environment,importance to function rather than style.Sincerity,wisdom,flexibility and practicality,as well as these,the concept of the rooms conform to the traditional Turkish house.Antalya summers are very hot and winters are cool.The main onjective in the houses is to avoid the heat and to provide cool air rather than cold.To benefit from the gentle breeze which wafts from sea to land during the day and land to sea during the evenings is the subject of daily conversation and is the pride of traditional Antalya houses.For this reason shadowy paved courtyards,high ceilinged rooms,and courtyards are specific features of Kaleici houses..

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The history of the city walls surrounding Kaleici,the ancient nucleus of the city of Antalya,a district which cannot fail to remind the visitor of a cultural garden of a thousand flowers adorned with the choicest buildings from the Roman,Byzantine,Seljuk,Ottoman and Republican periods,is in effect,identical with the history of the city itself.
An examination of the defence walls reveals the whole historical development of the city and the opening up of the city and the opening up of the coastal cities to the outside,while at the same time it allows one to breathe an atmosphere of freedom.These walls,provide the sources for the history of Antalya,and it is by examining the stones,touching the mortar and reading the inscriptions,that you can get to know the cultural and historical identity of the city..
"the history of the city walls is the history of Kaleici and even of the city of Antalya itself"

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Kaleici can be called the center of Antalya.It is one of the liveliest parts in the city with its hotels,pensions,restaurants and entertainment facilities,
The streets of Kaleici extend to the old harbor,which is used as an international yacht marina today.

When driving to the town of Antalya and also in suberb of it , it's noticeable many new built residential quarters. On their roofs, there are sort of water heaters. We were told, that there are 300 sunny days a year in Turkey. Therefore...

When you are walking inside the kaleici (Inside the castle), you will soon start walking down and will find yourself at the Marina where private sailboats are anchored..

Boat tours are a favourite thing at Antalya, however you should choose very carefully.. Some tours are making loud music broadcasting and could make your tour terrible..

Boat shall take you around Antalya and will showyou the wonderful Falezes of Antalya.. the city also looks verynice from the sea and you should try once..

Kaleici is inside the fortress and Antalya has a very nive Kaleici.. Old Antalya houses, some are very old, some are being restorated.. But they all represent a way of life.. Touring along the kaleici will take you to a different environment, You should spare almost one hour to travel all around.. But it will worth to see..

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I loved walking around the Kaleici area, which is filled with old restored Ottoman houses that now serves as pensions, hotels, restaurants or souvenir shops. Many tourists stay here, but we were staying way off on the other side of town so just came here for a tour by ourselves which we enjoyed tremendously. The best thing for me was to discover the little back streets and see where they lead and what they have to offer. You always discover interesting things when you get lost, but somehow one always finds your way back to the main streets.