Çandarlı Castle

Çandarlı Castle, locally known as Çandarlı Kalesi, lies in the seaside town of Çandarlı, in the province of Izmir in Turkey.

Çandarlı Castle is situated on the neck of a small peninsula. The first fortifications at this site were probably the city walls of the ancient Greek city of Pitane. A fortification at this site was destroyed and rebuilt several times during Greek, Roman and Byzantine times. The oldest stones used in the castle date back to the 2nd century BC.

During the 14th century however, the town of Pitane became property of the Genoese. They built the castle to protect their local interests.

In the 15th century the dilapidated castle was rebuilt by Çandarlı Halil Pasha the Younger, an Ottoman grand vizier. He built the castle to protect the teenage Sultan Murad II, who resided in nearby Manisa. Halil Pasha also changed the name of the town to Çandarlı, his family name.

A beautiful castle. When I came by it was closed. I could not find any information about possible opening times, even though I had read the castle had opened for visitors in 2014 after several years of being restored. Too bad, I would have loved to climb the towers.

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