Kale-i Bala stands within the village of Yazlık, forty kilometres from the Çamlıhemşin district of Rize. The castle, on Avup Dağı, lies near the Başhemşin and Tatos passes that lead into the interior of the Kaçkar mountains.
The inner castle was rebuilt in the sixth century, and the lower walls were built by the Genoese at the beginning of the fourteenth. The castle was repaired and used in the Ottoman period and played a part in the Turkification of the region.
The inner walls are 1.5 metres thick and have five towers on a half-circle plan. Of the lower castle, which once ran north-east and north-west from the inner castle down to the sea, part of the western walls and some towers survive. The walls are in poor condition. In the working of the masonry the castle resembles Zilkale. Repair work has begun with a view to opening Kale-i Bala to visitors.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Rize as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 6.8 °C in February to 23.3 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in May, June, July, August, September and October; rainfall is heaviest in October (294 mm) and lightest in May (97 mm). Long-term means for 1927-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
