Kadifekale

Kadifekale - velvet castle - crowns Mount Pagos, the 186-metre hill about two kilometres back from the shore of İzmir, on the site where Smyrna was refounded in the late fourth century BCE, traditionally at Alexander's instruction after a dream, as Pausanias tells it; the first walls were the work of Lysimachus, one of his successors. The walls standing today are a layering of Hellenistic foundations, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman rebuilding, enclosing a large open interior with cisterns, a stretch of vaulted substructure and fig trees growing out of the ramparts. Restoration has been under way since 2007, interpretation is minimal, and since 2020 the castle has been on Turkey's tentative World Heritage list as part of the historic port city of İzmir. What brings people up is the view: the whole of İzmir spread below, the gulf running west, the ferries crossing, and the mountains beyond - it is the best vantage point over the city and a standard sunset spot. There are tea gardens inside the walls.

What to look for

• The layered walls - Hellenistic through Ottoman fabric.
• The cisterns - vaulted water structures inside the enclosure.
• The bay panorama - İzmir and the gulf laid out below.
• The tea gardens - tables inside the ramparts.

When to go

April to June and September to October, in the late afternoon for the light over the gulf. Daylight hours only.

Things to know

The site is unrestored and largely uninterpreted - it is walls and a view.

Nearby

The Agora of Smyrna is on the slope below; Kemeraltı and Konak are at the bottom.

Key facts