The castle stands on a hill two to three kilometres east of Genç. Water surrounds it on every side, with a single way in from the east, which is what made the hill worth fortifying.
The district of Genç takes its name from the castle, which is also known simply as Genç Kalesi. Older records give it as Dara Hini and Dare Hindir Kelie, while people in the area say Dara Hindir Kella — the fountain of Dara.
Two stories are told about who built it. One holds that the Persian ruler Darius raised it in the seventh century BC for his daughter. The other assigns it to Uzun Hasan of the Aq Qoyunlu, built for Despina — also called Theodora — the daughter of the Greek emperor of Trebizond whom he married.
Little is left above ground. What a visitor sees today is a few stretches of wall and heaps of rubble stone.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Bingöl as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from -2.1 °C in January to 26.7 °C in July; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in May, June and September; rainfall is heaviest in January (137 mm) and lightest in August (4 mm). Long-term means for 1961-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
