Page 115 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL MAGAZINE FALL 2023 DISCOVERING TURKEY

SELIME CASTLE

One of the first stops on our first tour was
Selime Castle, a 17th-century Ottoman out-
post built by Sultan Selim II in the 1560s.
Three towering rock towers rise above the Se-
lime Valley and Menderes River, overlooking
once strategic trade routes and protecting the
Ottomans from raiders and invaders. The cas-
tle also served as a prison, and it is said that
the sultan once imprisoned his own son there.
The largest and most elaborate cave com-
plex in Cappadocia, it includes an enormous
kitchen, two halls, a basilica church, and
other rooms sculpted around two court-
yards.Surrounding the castle are natural caves

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