Kadıkalesi Archaeological Site

Kadıkalesi stands on a mound above the harbour of Anaia, a coastal settlement of antiquity and the Middle Ages, in Kuşadası district. From here the fortress watched over the Samos Strait, an important trade route in the Aegean and so also for the western Mediterranean. That position explains why the mound holds traces of prehistoric, Eastern Roman and Ottoman building.

Excavations have been under way since 2001. They reveal a fortress built in the 13th century to protect Anaia's harbour and cultural layers beneath it that go back around five thousand years. Researchers have also found evidence of an Early Christian church, probably built over a temple on the ancient acropolis, which turned into a bishopric shortly after the 1200s.

Few ancient buildings survive here, but marble blocks from Hellenistic and Classical structures, from column capitals to architraves, were reused in Eastern Roman walls, and potsherds span prehistory to late Roman times. A Hittite figurine from the dig is displayed in the Aydın Archaeological Museum.