Kudefekale castle

The highest point in Izmir has a castle on top of it. Surrounding this castle, on the hill are some very old suburbs and lower class Turks. We expected a tourist location like many other places we had been to so far. Kadefukale was completely different- no entrance fee and really no other tourists that we could see; just plenty of locals doing their thing. There was a road going through as a thoroughfare. Boys were playing soccer. Yes there were some markets there but there didn't seem to be any tourists there at the time.



Exploring the castle walls was a lot of fun. Alexander the Great founded Kadefukale and Smyrna. It has been occupied over the centuries by all the resident empires: Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Selcuk, Ottoman and Turkish. As a result the walls do not seem to be in much disrepair.



There are some amazing views of the city below from the walls.



On the sides of the hill there are crowded suburbs and houses. We found ourselves driving down the hill through very narrow and winding alleys. We were concerned that we would hit a dead end. We breathed a real sigh of relief when we reached the bottom and found a main road.



An example of how high the castle walls are.



There were many locals doing their thing. I guess tourists must come there, perhaps we were after the rush that day. There were many boys lurking around, so we had to keep an eye on our valuables. This has not happened elsewhere in Turkey. These four boys were really hanging on at one stage.