The city center surrounded by sea and land walls is called “
Kale İçi” today. The streets and buildings of
Kaleiçi brings the traces of the history of
Antalya to our present day. The old houses are not only important from the architectural point of view but also because they reflect critical information about the life style, behaviour, traditions and social aspects of the people. The streets of Kaleiçi are narrow. They mainly stretch towards the upper parts from the harbour in direction of outer walls. The houses may have different features depending on the economical status of their owners and the purpose of use. Yet , they have many features in common. Generally these houses are made of masonry and framework. All of them have a façade facing the street and a garden on the back side. On the façade facing the street there are only a few windows at the first floor. On the upper floor there are juts called “
Cumba” which have been built in harmony with the architecture of both the house and the street.These juts are embellished with wooden ornaments. The centrum of the houses is the stone floored courtyard called “
Taşlık” in the basement opening to the garden. In these courtyards there are resting sofas made of wood. From here one can pass through to the rooms in the basement and the upper floor can be reached through a staircase. The basement is mainly the service part of the house. Rooms such as the cellar, kitchen are situated here. The upper floor is for living. Since the windows of the upper floor are bigger, the rooms there are better illuminated. Usually there are two rows of windows one above the other in this rooms. The upper windows are not glazed but equipped with wooden grids instead. The lower windows can be opened. On the upper windows of the juts there are small and mainly coloured glasses. Many houses in the Kaleiçi have been restored maintaining the original structure. Kaleiçi today has become a uniqe tourism center with entertainment centers, pensions, restaurants, souvenir shops and carpet shops where antique carpets are sold. As a result of the restoration works Kaleiçi has become a tourism center with its pensions, bars and bazaar. The harbour has been arranged as a yacht harbour.
The Ministry of Tourism was awarded the
Golden Apple Prize which is deemed as the
Oscar Prize Tourism by FIJET on 28 April 1984.
