Kusadasi / Aydin / Turkey | Kusadasi is located opposite the Gόvercin Island on the Bay of the same name. Obviously, the first settlement was established in the area at a place called Kadi Kalesi during the prehistorik era. Apparently, this place was established for the sheltering of the vessels in the trade between the Aegean cities and islands and Ephesus. Subsequently, owing to the transportation diffuculties the settlement was moved to the locality where the city lies today. The area which underwent through the same historical process as with the other western Anatolian cities at all times continued to function as a major harbour because of the silted-up port of the Ancient City of Ephesus and Ephesus thus remaining some way inland. Ephesus and Kusadasi as the terminal ports on the western Anatolian shores of the Silk Way extending from the Central Asia to Europe assumed such significance in all periods. The small island opposite the city was used as a military port during the Btzantine era. The area was annexed to the Ottoman landsin 1413.
On the island of Guvercin Ada of Kusadasi which functioned in the same way also during the Ottoman era a castle was built by the Ottoman in 1834. The most important historical work visible in the city is the two-storeyed caravanserai of quadrangular plan with porticoes and chambers inside as ordered to be built by Okuz Mehmet Pasa in 1618. The caravanserai serves as a touristic marketplace today. The other historical works in Kusadasi are Cifte Hamam (double Bath), Tas Kilise (Stone Church) of a quadrangular plan and with a single apse and Kaleici Mosque with a dome rising on 12 arches.
Today Kusadasi is one of the major tourism centers in Turkey thanks to its fascinating beaches, natural conservation areas such as the Davutlar National Park, and accommodation facilities, fish restaurants and entertainment grounds meeting the world standards.
| ©2005-2006 Turkey-net.com | |
