Alara Inn |
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Built in 1232 by Sultan Alaaddin Keykubat, the Alara Inn is located on Alara Creek which forms the boundary between Alanya and Manavgat, 9 km in north of the sea. The 2000 m² inn is made entirely of cut stone. The guardhouse, fountain, mosque and baths are in mint condition and certainly worth seeing. Thirty kilometres before reaching Alanya on the Antalya-Alanya highway,one has to make a turn to Alara Han and continue 10 kms. It was built in 1231 on the orders of Sultan Alaeddin Keykubat I. It is a very solid construction, entered through a gate with inscriptions and lion heads. It has somewhat the appearance of a fortress as if warding it from aggressors. t’s located on a tableland 800m far away the Citadel of Alara on the Alara Stream. Whole caravanserai has been built of cut bulky stones on a land of piece of 2 thousand square metres. The inn, built in 1231, was restored a few years ago and is to be used as restaurant and shop centre.The warders hut keeps its specialities today. The second door of the caravanserai opens out to the guest rooms. There are small rooms next two sides of the long hall. There is a fountain, a small mosque and a bathhouse in the caravanserai. The signatures of the stone craftsmen which searched out during the reparation are very conspicuous. Keykubat said in the epigraphs in Alanya he was,” the sultan of the land and the two seas, the owner of the Arabic and Persian countries” and in the epigraphs in Alara Inn he got the titles,”The conqueror of Greek, Damascus, Armenian and european countries.” Alara Inn must have been paid for visitting. You can have your meal in the restaurant in the Inn as well as the small eating houses on countryside and you can swim till mealtime. |
