Night at Alanya Castle

This image was captured during the Eid-e Qurban holiday. In the moonlit foreground is Alanya Castle, a World Heritage Site candidate. From the vantage point of the photographer, the decorative floodlights are nicely hidden behind the castle walls. The castle was built on a rocky peninsula which rises as much as 270 meters above the Mediterranean Sea, visible on the right. Most of the castle was built in the 13th century under the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum following the city’s conquest in 1220 by Alaeddin Keykubad I as part of a building campaign that included the Kizil Kule (Red Tower). This castle was built on the remnants of earlier Byzantine era and Roman era fortifications. – Hakan Buyuktuncay