Turkey Guide
North Central Anatolia
The citadel
Address: Through İnönü Parkı
A pathway leads steeply up through İnönü Parkı between the inner and outer walls of the Hisar, the Byzantine citadel whose walls enclose the oldest part of the city. It's an Ottoman-era village of cobbled streets and ramshackle wooden houses that of all Ankara's districts most fully rewards a relaxed and aimless stroll. Most of the area is defiantly unrestored, not to say verging on the squalid, and at times the old-world atmosphere is pungently authentic with the stench of rotting rubbish and bad drains hanging heavy in the air. All this is changing, though, and a number of grand Ottoman mansions have been renovated, decked out with carpets and antiques, and transformed into restaurants or carpet shops geared towards the tourist trade. Some succeed in recapturing the atmosphere of times past, while others are just hopelessly kitsch.
Ankara's city walls were probably first constructed by the Hittites over three thousand years ago when they recognized the defensive potential of the citadel outcrop. The walls that are seen today are much more recent, built on the orders of the Byzantine emperor Michael III (remembered as "Michael the Sot") in 859, who updated defences built by the Roman emperor Heraclius (who in turn had used earlier Galatian fortifications as a foundation).
At the northern end of the citadel is the Ak Kale (White Fortress), presenting tremendous views of Ankara. The northeastern edge of the city, just about visible from here, is the approximate site of the battlefield where Pompey defeated the Pontic king Mithridates the Great in 74 BC. Şark Kulesi, a ruined tower rising out of the eastern walls, also has a panoramic outlook, as well as being a favourite kite-flying spot for local children. It's from here that you can best appreciate the impact of the squatter settlements that have grown up around modern Ankara.