I always get a bit ecstatic when I climb to the wonderful fortress of Amasya. A notice indicates it started life in early bronze age, 3200 BC. What we now see is the result of a very recent restoration, the walls need some weathering.

The castle of Amasya stands on the ridge of a high rock behind the city, some 300 m above it. The first real fortress there dates probably from the time of the Pontus king Mithridates I (around 280 BC). It was expanded and repaired by the Romans, the Byzantines (1146, 1222) and the Ottomans (1449, 1511, 1669) to put off enemies, and very recently (starting around 2008) to attract tourists. Its renewed aspect is late medieval.

Correspondent: J.M.Criel, Antwerpen.
Sources: ‘Türkiye Tarihi Yerler Kılavuzu’ – M.Orhan Bayrak, Inkılâp Kitabevi, Istanbul, 1994.
& Website of ‘Emlakkulisi.com’ .

Views of the city at its feet and of the surrounding mountains is wonderful. In 2011 I took very many pictures under somewhat overcast and windy conditions. I add some other shot I took at earlier occasions.