The name Kuşadası means bird island (kuş = bird and adası = island). You may be told that this is due to the fact that the bay's headland resembles a bird's head when seen from the sea. Personally, I don't get this. Perhaps this was once true, but it is difficult to see the resemblance today. I keep looking at maps and photos trying to imagine it.

Another theory concerning the name is based on the remark by the 17th century Ottoman traveller Evliya Çelebi (1611-1682), who reported that it was visited every year by a great number of birds. [1]

Even more confusing is that the fortified island (or islet) to the south of the town's harbour is actually called Güvercin Ada which means Pigeon Island (or Dove Island). And the island is technically not even an island. A causeway was built to it in the 19th century [2], as part of the refortifications during the Greek War of Independence, turning the islet effectively into a headland. The 350 metre long causeway is now a pretty solid structure, along which fishing and excursion boats moor and local anglers catch their evening meal.

The fortress on the island is thought to have been originally built by the Genoese who established a trading settlement here, known as Scala Nuova, in the 13th century. The fortifications were improved and extended by the Ottomans during the 15th - 19th centuries (see below).

Little is known about the history of Kuşadası, since there are very few historical documents relating to the town, and hardly any archaeological investigation has been undertaken there (see History of Kuşadası). It may have been populated in ancient times, but is first known as a port from the 13th century when it became a Genoese colony known as Scala Nuova. There may have been a Byzantine or Genoese fortress on Güvercin Ada at this time.

For many years the castle was generally referred to as "the Genoese fortress", however in recent years, with the greater emphasis in information provided by official publications and websites on Ottoman Turkish heritage, this name now seems to have been dropped. It is now referred to as Güvercinada Kalesi (Güvercinada Castle) or Kuşadasι Kale (Kuşadasι Castle).

The round-arched gateway is at the southeast corner of the outer walls, just to the south of the east end of the causeway from the mainland. It is flanked by a cylindrical tower to the south and a polygonal tower to the north. A hallway within the gate leads up to the large open courtyard around the much taller central tower, which stands south of the centre of the island. The tower is almost square in plan, measuring 15.5 x 17.5 metres.

It is currently thought that the square tower was commissioned by the Ottoman admiral Barbaros Hayreddin Paşa (circa 1478 - 1546) [3]. An engraving published by Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, who visited Kuşadası in 1702, and a drawing made there in 1777 by Johann Christian Kamsetzer, show the tower standing on a bare island, without surrounding walls. Evliya Çelebi, who visited in 1671 [see note 1], reported that the tower was manned by forty soldiers and armed with ten long-range cannons. Tournefort wrote that "they have built a square castle, where they keep a garrison of twenty soldiers".

An inscription high on the outer wall of the castle, to the right of the gateway, dated 1242 AH (the Islamic date; 1826 AD), states that the outer walls were built by İlyas Ağa, a local governor, with stone from nearby Yılancı Burnu.

The castle appears to have been abandoned during the 20th century and remained for many years in a semi-derelict condition. Gradually several temporary buildings were erected within the walls for use as a restaurant and a disco. There were also several trees, a flower garden, an enclosure containing rabbits as well as bird houses on tall metal poles for the innumerable pigeons and doves (see gallery page 7).

These amenities were all a bit makeshift and low-rent, adding to the old-and-crumbling charm of the castle itself, but the place was very popular in the summer, particularly with Turkish families. When I was there in 2004 I was informed that the place was run by the municipality, but recent reports refer to them as "illegal buildings". They were obviously too "down-market", and since the local authorities and businesses have been attempting to improve the town's image and attract a wealthier class of tourists, they had to go.

1. Evliya Çelebi on Kuşadası

Derviş Mehmed Zillî (1611-1682), known as Evliya Çelebi (his pen name), made a number of journeys around the Ottoman Empire, neighbouring lands and Europe over forty years, and recorded his travels in the ten-volume Seyahatname (Book of travel). He visited Kuşadası in 1671 during his pilgrimage to Mecca, recorded in volume 9.

No English translation of the whole work has yet been published. According to the few attempts to translate the passage conerning Kuşadası, Çelebi wrote that it was so named because "a hundred thousand birds" or "hundreds of thousands of birds" visited the island of Güvercin Ada every year. This is usually taken to refer to some type or types of migratory birds. Turkey's Central Aegean coast is on the migration paths of several bird species (see Ionian Spring Part 3 at The Cheshire Cat Blog), although none of them stop off at Kuşadası in large numbers today.

2. The causeway to Güvercin Ada

3. Barbaros Hayreddin Paşa and Kuşadası

Several recent publications state that Barbaros Hayreddin Paşa built or commissioned the castle "according to some sources", although the sources are not provided.

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