GENERAL INFORMATION
Antalya, offering all the mysticism of past in our day, is now called the Turkish Riviera due to its archaeological and natural beauties. Antalya blessed with the perfect climate, is the place where sea, sun, history and nature constitute a perfect harmony and which also includes the most beautiful and clearest coast along the Mediterranean.
Antalya is located in the west of the Mediterranean region. Born of and developed as a result of many civilizations over thousands of years, It is an important region where almost 100 antique cities reflect mankind's magnificent past. The early civilizations, Lydians, Persians, the Hellenistic era, the Roman and Byzantine sovereignties, the Moslem Arabs, the Seljuks, Ottomans and Moslem Turks, have all left their mark. Due to this past, Antalya has a rich cultural heritage.

In Antalya, the pine-clad Toros (Taurus) Mountains sweep down to the sparkling clear sea resulting in an irregular coastline of rocky headlands and secluded coves. The region, bathed in sunshine for 300 days of the year, is a paradise for sunbathing, swimming, and sports activities like wind surfing, water skiing, sailing, mountain climbing and spelunking. If you come to Antalya in March or April,you can ski in the mornings and in the afternoons swim in the warmwaters of the Mediterranean.

Awaiting your discovery are important historical sites set in a landscape of pine forests, olive and citrus groves and palm, avocado and banana plantations.The Turkish Riviera is the tourism capital of Turkey. Its full range of accommodation from tourist class to deluxe hotels, and the hospitable people of Antalya will make your holiday comfortable and enjoyable. Surrounded by amazing scenery of sharp contrasts, Antalya, Turkey's principal holiday resort, is an attractive city with shady palm- lined boulevards and a prize-winning marina. In the picturesque old quarter of Kaleici, narrow, winding streets and old wooden houses about the ancient city walls.

History of Antalya

Antalya has been continuously inhabited since its founding in 159 BC by Attalos II, a king of Pergamum, who named the city Attaleia after himself. The Romans, Byzantines and Seljuks successively occupied the city before it came under Ottoman rule. The elegant, fluted minaret of the YivIi Minareli Mosque in the center of the city, built by the Seljuk sultan Alaeddin Keykubat in the 13th century, has become Antalya's symbol. The Karatay Medrese (theological college) in the Kaleici, district, from the same period, exemplifies the best of Seljuk stone carving. The two most important Ottoman mosques in the city are the 16th-century Murat Pasa Mosque, remarkable for its tile decoration, and the l8th-century Tekeli Mehmet Pasa Mosque.

Neighboring the marina, the attractive late 19th-century Iskele Mosque is built of cut stone and set on four pillars over a natural spring. The Hidirlik Kulesi (tower) was probably constructed as a lighthouse in the second century. The Kesik Minaret Mosque, which was previously a church, attests to the city's long history in its succession of Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman renovations. When Emperor Hadrian visited Phaselis in Antalya province in 130 AD a beautifully decorated three-arched gate with Corinthian columns was built into the city walls in his honor.