The ramparts
From the towers you look over the marina to the Greek island of Chios sitting plainly on the horizon.
Gargarapalvin — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Didier Descouens — Public domain · BSRF — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Özge Kesgin — CC BY-SA 4.0
A fortress built to guard a harbour that is no longer in front of it. When Sultan Bayezid II ordered it built in 1508, after Venetian raids on the town in 1472 and 1501, the water lapped at its walls; five centuries of silting have since pushed the sea back, and the castle now sits a block of cafés and houses inland from the marina it was meant to protect. Six squat stone towers, a rectangular curtain wall that survives almost intact, and at the gate a statue of the Ottoman admiral Cezayirli Gazi Hasan Paşa with the pet lion he reputedly kept aboard ship, which is the detail children notice first and remember longest. Inside the walls is the Çeşme Museum, small and honest about it. Bronze Age finds dug up in the town itself, pieces from the nearby Greek city of Erythrai, amphorae and storage jars that once held oil and wine. The hall worth lingering in covers the Battle of Çeşme of 1770, when a Russian fleet burned the Ottoman navy in this very bay: maps, flags and objects recovered from the sunken flagship of a Russian admiral tell the story in a few minutes, and the right sequence is to read it here and then climb the wall to look at the water where it happened. The ramparts are half the visit, probably more. From the top you see the marina, the ferries leaving for the Greek island of Chios, which sits plainly on the horizon a few kilometres off, and if you know the Genoese castle over there you will notice its towers are near-twins of these, which is no accident. The steps are stone and uneven and parts of the wall have low or no parapets, so pushchairs stay at the bottom and small children need a hand. Worth it? Yes, within limits. An hour covers it, the castle is in the middle of town so it costs no detour, and six euros for the view and the naval hall is a fair trade. In summer go late in the day when the stone has cooled and the light slants across the bay, then walk down to the marina for dinner; in August the shadeless courtyard makes mid-day a mistake. The Çeşme International Music Festival has staged its summer concerts inside the walls, and if your dates line up, the castle at night is a different place altogether.
From the towers you look over the marina to the Greek island of Chios sitting plainly on the horizon.
Maps, flags and objects recovered from a Russian admiral's ship sunk in this very bay.
The admiral's statue with his pet lion at the gate is what children notice first.
Musalla Mah., 1001 Sok. No. 1, Çeşme, İzmir
The outside takes two minutes from the street, but the view from the ramparts and the 1770 battle hall are only available inside, and six euros buys about an hour. If you are short on time in Çeşme or it is brutally hot, the statue and the walls from outside will do; with children, the climb up the towers is worth the ticket.
The courtyard and ground-level galleries are easy; the ramparts are reached by uneven stone steps with low or missing parapets in places. Leave the pushchair below, and anyone who struggles with stairs can stick to the museum and the courtyard.
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