Market: Saturday Population: 2,000
The archaeological site at Alında, north of Muğla, must be one of Turkey’s most magnificent not only for the quality of its ruins but because of its spectacular setting high up above the village of Karpuzlu amid a wonderful rocky landscape that may put British visitors in mind of Dartmoor. Yet for some mysterious reason it receives almost no visitors and there is no admission charge (2013).
If you visit on a Saturday you will find an unexpectedly large market filling the streets of Karpuzlu.
Backstory
Alında has a backstory to match its setting drawing in not just one but two iconic figures from the ancient past: Alexander the Great and Queen Ada, the sister of Mausolus, the man who was laid to rest in the famous Mausoleum of Halicarnassus (Bodrum).
The site here is believed to have been settled by the Carians but only really stamped its mark on history when Queen Ada of Halicarnassus was usurped and took refuge in the mountain city. In 334 BC Alexander the Great appeared on the scene and Ada offered not just to surrender the city to him but also to help him against her treacherous relatives. Finally, she offered to adopt Alexander as her son and heir. He declined to take Alında from her but accepted both her adoption offer and the offer of help. Eventually he named her queen of all Caria.
Otherwise very little for sure is known about the site’s history; even the claim that it had a temple to Adonis endowed with a statue of Aphrodite by the sculptor Praxiteles is speculative.
The city appears to have survived at least into early Byzantine times when it was a bishopric associated with Stauropolis (Afrodisias). Later, though, a decision must have been made to move to a new site further down the slope. On flanks of the hill there are shells of pretty little stone houses like those at Stratonikeia that date from late Ottoman times. Karpuzlu itself looks entirely modern. 
Around the site
Assuming that you start at the top of the site, the first large structure you will encounter is an aqueduct with four arches near to part of the walls that ringed the acropolis and the small houses inside it. The views from here are magnificent, well worth coming up for even if you don’t usually care much for ruins.
If you walk up onto the bluff behind the arches you will see longs stretches of wall and a few huge, tub-like sarcophagi. If you then walk through the arches and turn right you will come to a narrow path that winds up round the hillside. Follow this and it will bring you eventually to a Hellenistic watchtower that still stands to two storeys even though its interior structures are lost.
The path continues round the hillside to the right and brings you out eventually above the ruins of a large theatre that has yet to be excavated; olives grow up through the seating offering refreshing shade from the sun. From the far right-hand side of the theatre you can look out to the right and see two more standing towers from the lower walls.
Since the waymarked Karia Yolu passes through the site it’s possible that a clear path runs between those towers. I tried to climb down from the theatre to the agora and the huge market building but found this a scary business since there was no proper path.
The agora, however you reach it, is amazing, a flat plateau of grass now but fronted by a solid wall two storeys high and still completely intact. The lower part of this building was probably filled with small shops originally. Above them a long line of columns still survives dividing up what was originally a second storey whose purpose is unknown.
Sleeping
There is a small hotel, the Alabanda, in Çine opposite the otogar but you’re probably better off making a day trip from Yatağan.
Transport info
There are regular minibuses from Çine town-centre otogar to Karpuzlu. From there a walking route is signposted from the Yeni Mahalle behind the marketplace. It’s a very steep 1km climb that rises through the agora to the theatre and then the watchtower; unless you’re very fit you would probably be better off taking the 4km road route to the top of the site by car then exploring the upper part of the site as far as the theatre from there. You can climb up to the agora from the marketplace afterwards.
If you decide to walk down from the site through the theatre and the agora be warned that the path is unmarked and you may end up scrabbling about on the slopes.
There are no official taxis in Karpuzlu to drive you to the upper site. However, if you ask about you can probably make an unofficial arrangement that wlll be cheaper than taking a taxi all the way from Çine. On the other hand if you do take an official taxi you will be able to continue to Alabanda on your way back from Alında to Çine.
The extraordinary market building in front of the agora at Alında
