Alanya is a really great holiday destination

When the history books are written, not every city can boast of having had pirates, queens, and great warlords on its cast list – but Alanya can.

In its early years, Alanya was a small town founded by pirates, where the inhabitants mainly made their living through agriculture and trade. The city, which was then called Coracesium, only truly began to grow when Sultan Alaaddin Keykubad conquered it in 1221. He initiated the construction of the Alanya Castle and changed the city's name to Alaiye, which means "Alaaddin's city". The name Alanya was first introduced in 1934, when the country's then-president, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, visited the city. He did not like the name Alaiye and changed it to Alanya.

Other prominent guests include Queen Cleopatra of Egypt and the Roman emperor Antonius. According to legend, they spent their honeymoon in Alanya, after which Antonius gifted the area to his wife. Cleopatra then had the large forests cut down and the timber sent back to Egypt, where it was used for building warships.

Today, Alanya has grown large and strong and has become one of the Europeans’ favorite travel destinations in Turkey. The locals now primarily earn their living from tourism and work hard from the beginning of the tourist season in April until it ends in October. The winter months are then used for relaxation or visiting family in other parts of Turkey. Many people voluntarily leave their wives and children for the entire summer season to work in Alanya.