Softa Kalesi in Cilicia

 

     
 

 

Fortress Softa Kalesi  
   

Only 15 km from the crusader castle of Mamure Kalesi, another fortification was built in late Roman times on a 140-metre-high hill above the sea.

 
   

 
   

Originally called "Sycae", the refuge was fortified in Byzantine times, but did not take on its present appearance until the time of the Kingdom of Small Armenia (1080 to 1375). The castle was one of several fortresses built or extended by the small Armenian kings along the Cilician Mediterranean coast.

 
   

 
   

The entrance is on the west side. Inside the complex are the ruins of a palace, a bath, several cisterns and a mosque. It is widely believed that there is an underground connection between Softa Castle and Mamure Kalesi, but the distance between the two castles alone makes this more of a myth.

 
     
     
Photos: @chim, Monika P.    
Translation aid: www.DeepL.com/Translatorr    
Source: Wikipedia and others