Settlement type	City
Coordinates display	inline,title
Coordinates region	TR
Subdivision type	Country
Subdivision name
Timezone	EET
Utc offset	+2
Map caption	Location of Antalya within Turkey.
Timezone dst	EEST
Utc offset dst	+3 |official_name Antalya |image_skyline Lupus-Collage Antalya.png |image_caption |image_blank_emblem antalya.svg | blank_emblem_type Seal of Antalya Metropolitan Municipality | subdivision_type1Region
subdivision name1	Mediterranean |subdivision_type2Province
subdivision name2	Antalya
population metro	1001318 |population_as_of 2010 |population_footnotes
Population density km2	478
Area total km2	1417
Elevation m	30
Pushpin map	Turkey
Pushpin label position
Pushpin map caption	Location of Antalya
Postal code	07x xx |area_code 0242 |blank_info 07
blank name	Licence plate
government type	Metropolitan municipality
leader title	Mayor
Leader name	Mustafa Akaydın (CHP) |website http://www.antalya-bld.gov.tr/en }}

Antalya (from , "Attalia") is a city on the Mediterranean coast of southwestern Turkey. With a population 1,001,318 as of 2010. It is the eighth most populous city in Turkey and country's biggest international sea resort.

History

It is uncertain when the site of the current city was first inhabited. Attalos II, king of Pergamon, was believed to have founded the city around 150 BC, naming it Attalia and selecting it as a naval base for his powerful fleet. However, excavations in 2008 in the Doğu Garajı district of Antalya have uncovered remains dating to the 3rd century BC, suggesting that the city was founded earlier than previously supposed. Antalya became part of the Roman Republic in 133 BC when King Attalos III of Pergamon willed his kingdom to Rome at his death. The city grew and prospered during the Ancient Roman period.

Christianity started to spread in the region after 2nd century. Antalya was visited by Paul of Tarsus, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles: "From Perga, Paul and Barnabas went down to Attalia and sailed from there to Antioch after preaching in Pisidia and Pamphylia" (Acts 14:25-26).

Antalya was a major city in the Byzantine Empire. It was the capital of the Byzantine Theme of Carabisiani (Θέμα Kαραβησιάνων, Thema Karavēsianōn), which occupied the southern coasts of Anatolia and the Aegean Islands. At the time of the accession of John II Comnenus (1118) it was an isolated outpost surrounded by Turkish beyliks, accessible only by sea.

The city, along with the surrounding region, was conquered by the Seljuk Turks in the early 13th century. Antalya was the capital of the Turkish beylik of Teke (1321–1423) until its conquest by the Ottomans. The Arabic traveler Ibn Battuta who came to the city in between 1335-1340 noted:

In the second half of the 17th century Evliya Çelebi wrote of a city of narrow streets containing 3,000 houses in twenty Turkish and four Greek neighborhoods. The town had grown beyond the city walls and the port was reported to hold up to 200 boats.

In the 19th century, in common with most of Anatolia, its sovereign was a "dere bey" (land lord or landowner). The family of Tekke Oğlu, domiciled near Perge, though reduced to submission in 1812 by Mahmud II, continued to be a rival power to the Ottoman governor until within the present generation, surviving by many years the fall of the other great beys of Anatolia. The records of the Levant (Turkey) Company, which maintained an agency in Antalya until 1825, documented the local dere beys.

In the 20th century the population of Antalya increased as Turks from the Caucasus and the Balkans moved into Anatolia. By 1911 it was a city of about 25,000 people, including many Christians and Jews, still living in separate quarters around the walled mina or port. The port was served by coast steamers of local companies. Antalya (then Adalia) was picturesque, but ill-built and backward. The chief attraction for visitors was the city wall, and outside a promenade -a portion of which survives to the present. The government offices and the houses of the higher classes were all outside of the walls.

The city was briefly occupied by the Italians from the end of the First World War until the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923.

Etymology

According to tradition, in the 2nd century BC, the Pergamon king Attalos II ordered his men to find "heaven on earth". After an extensive search, they discovered the region of Antalya. King Attalos rebuilt the city, giving it the name "Attaleia" () which later mutated in Turkish as Adalia and then Antalya. Attaleia was also the name of a festival at Delphi and Attalis (Greek: Ἀτταλίς) was the name of an ancient Greek tribe at Athens.

Demographics

As of 2010, the Address-Based Birth Recording System showed a metropolitan population of 1,001,318 (502,491 male; 498,827 female).

Geography

This metropolis consists of five boroughs: Konyaaltı (112,647), Kepez (399,006), Muratpaşa (416,576), Aksu ( 45,094), and Döşemealtı (27,995).

Antalya is in south-west Anatolia, on the Mediterranean Gulf of Antalya, approximately from Ankara, from Adana, from Izmir, and from Istanbul.

The Taurus mountain range of southern Anatolia runs parallel to the Mediterranean in an east-west direction, resulting in the formation of narrow coastal plains surrounded by mountains on three sides and the sea on the fourth. Some parts of the coast feature mountains plunging sharply into the sea, forming small natural bays and peninsulas. Antalya is situated on one such plain where the mountains recede from the shore, consisting of two flat areas formed of travertine rock at a mean height of ; the town center is located on the rocky plain closest the coast, with urban sprawl extending to the Kepezüstü Plain further inland.

Climate

The area is shielded from the northerly winds by the Taurus Mountains. Antalya has a Mediterranean climate with hot and dry summers and mild and rainy winters. Around 300 days of the year are sunny. Antalya has over 3000 hours of sunlight per year. The sea temperature ranges between during winter and during summer. The air temperature reached a record high of in July and a record low of in February. The average air temperature ranges between the low-to-mid .

Economy

The economy of Antalya used to depend on a mixture of tourism, agriculture, and commerce, with some light industry. Agricultural production includes citrus fruits, cotton, cut flowers, olives, olive oil and bananas. Antalya Metropolitan Municipality’s covered wholesale food market complex meets 65% of the fresh fruit and vegetable demand of the province.

Since 2000, shipyards have been opened in Antalya Free Zone, specialized in building pleasure yachts. Some of these yards have advanced in composites boat building technology.

Tourism

Kaleiçi, with its narrow cobbled streets of historic Ottoman era houses, is the old center of Antalya. With its hotels, bars, clubs, restaurants, and shopping, it has been restored to retain much of its historical character; its restoration has won the Golden Apple Tourism Prize. Cumhuriyet Square, the main square of the city, is the location for temporary open air exhibitions and performances. The city also features sites with traces of Lycian, Pamphylian, and Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman architecture and cultures. International luxury hotels, such as the Sheraton, stand along the coast above the Konyaalti and Lara beaches.

Education

There are a total of 12,000 teachers serving 275,000 students.

Akdeniz University is located here.

Culture

Cuisine

Antalya’s signature cuisine includes Piyaz (made with tahini, garlic, walnuts, and boiled beans), spicy hibeş with mixed cumin and tahini, şiş köfte, tandır kebap, domates civesi, şakşuka, and various cold Mediterranean dishes with olive oil. One local speciality is ''tirmis'', boiled seeds of the lupin, eaten as a snack. "Grida" (also known as Lagos or Mediterrenean white grouper) is a fish common in local dishes.

Festivals and events

A number of sports championships including motor rallies and the 2010 World Weighlifting Championships.

Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival: Turkey's largest national film festival, last week of September

International Eurasia Film Festival: International film festival held annually

Antalya Festival: September

Mediterranean International Music Festival: October, 6 days

Antalya International Folk Music and Dance Festival Competition: Last week of August

Aspendos International Opera and Ballet Festival: June and July

Flower festival May

Main sights

Antalya has beaches including Konyaaltı, Lara and Karpuzkaldıran. For winter sports, Beydağları and Saklikent are both natural beauties of the city.

There are a number of mosques, churches, madrasahs, masjids, hans (caravanserai) and hamams (Turkish bath) in the city. Kaleiçi, the harbor, which the city walls enclose, is the oldest part of the city. Kaleiçi features many historic houses with traditional Turkish and local Greek architecture.

Historic sites in the city center

Kaleici: the historical center of the city.

Ancient monuments include the City Walls, Hıdırlık Tower, Hadrian's Gate (also known as Triple Gate), and the Clock Tower.

Hadrian's Gate: constructed in the 2nd century by the Romans in honour of the Emperor Hadrian.

Kesik Minare (Broken Minaret): Once a Roman temple then converted to a Byzantine Panaglia church and finally into a mosque.

Yivli Minare (Fluted Minaret): Built by Seljuks and decorated with dark blue and turquoise tiles, this minaret eventually became the symbol of the city.

Museums

Antalya Museum: Prize winning archaeology museum. Kaleiçi Museum: Opened in 2007 by the Mediterranean Civilizations Research Center (Akdeniz Medeniyetleri Araştırma Merkezi)

Atatürk's House Museum

Sites of interest

Karpuzkaldıran

Tünek Hill

Karaalioglu Park

Arapsu Bridge

Konyaaltı Beach Park

Minicity

Transportation

Main transportation to the city is by air and land. Sea routes are still under development. In 2007, the airport added a new terminal.

The city has a main port at the south of the Konyaaltı. It is planning to launch local routes to Kemer.

Buses

A local bus system serving the greater municipality is operated by a private corporation.

There is a network of look-alike Dolmuşes that are privately owned and operated minibuses, run under strict municipal control.

Antalya Ulasim, a municapally-owned corporation, runs the public bus system. The corporation owns Antobus and Antray. AntObüs was started in September 2010. 40 buses arrived in June 2010. The city is planning to increase the number by 140 more buses.

Payment for public transportation was made in cash until the launch of a public transportation card, ''Antkart'', in late 2007. The card system met with criticism and was subsequently canceled in June 2009, returning to a cash system. The municipality launched a new card system, unofficially called ''Halkkart'', in Summer 2010.

Rail

The tram system runs from Antalya Museum and the Sheraton Voyager and Falez hotels, along the main boulevard to the city center at Kalekapisi, Hadrian's Gate, Karaalioglu Park, and ending at Talya Oteli. Trams depart on the hour and half-hour from the terminal (east and west), and reach Kalekapisi between 10 and 15 minutes later.

In December 2009, a light rail line Antray was opened from one of the main city public bus hub northwest to the Zoo and beyond to suburban areas.

Major routes

The infrastructure such as roads and drains are struggling to catch up with the increase in population and tourists.

Airports

Antalya Airport has two international terminals and one domestic terminal. In 2007, its number of passengers on international flights surpassed the total number at Istanbul Ataturk Airport and Sabiha Gökçen International Airport for the first time, officially earning the title of "the capital of Turkish tourism".

Sister cities

Antalya is twinned with: Austin, Texas, United States Bat Yam, Israel Cheboksary, Russia Famagusta, Cyprus Haikou, People's Republic of China Kazan, Russia Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina Nuremberg, Germany Rostov-Na-Donu, Russia Taldykorgan, Kazakhstan

Notable people from Antalya

Burak Yilmaz, football player

Cafercan Aksu, football player

Coşkun Göğen, film actor

Deniz Baykal, 1992-2010 leader of Turkish Republican People's Party (CHP)

Deniz Seki, pop musician

Levent Yüksel, musician, composer

Michael Attaliates Byzantine lawyer of 11th century

Musa Uzunlar, actor

Onat Kutlar, writer

Özgürcan Özcan, football player

Rüştü Reçber, football player

Sümer Tilmaç, actor

Tarık Akıltopu, architect, historian, poet, writer

Yağmur Sarıgül, musician, composer of maNga

References

External links

WikiSatellite view of Antalya, WikiMapia

Weather forecast, Turkish Meteorology Service

Category:150 BC establishments Category:Populated places established in the 2nd century BC Category:Mediterranean port cities and towns in Turkey Category:Populated coastal places in Turkey Category:Archaeological sites in Turkey Category:Turkish Riviera Category:Ancient Greek cities Category:Ancient Greek sites in Turkey Category:New Testament places Category:Attalid colonies Category:Populated places in Antalya Province

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