Silifke and Kızkalesi

Kızkalesi is a castle on a small island a few hundred metres out to sea: it’s not difficult to swim out to it from the sandy beach.

There’s a much larger ruined castle on the shore, with Roman origins.

Inland on the road towards Karaman is a plaque noting the place where the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa drowned while crossing the river, at the head of the third crusade in 1190.