Kurul Kalesi stands on a sharp rock in the lands of Bayadı village, 13 kilometres from Altınordu in Ordu province, and is protected as a first-degree archaeological and natural site. Between 250 and 300 steps have been cleared, and inside the area are an old passage and a water cistern. Roof tiles, walling and pottery examined during excavation place the settlement in the second and first centuries BC.
This was the first archaeological excavation ever carried out in the Black Sea region. Work began in 2010 under the provincial directorate of culture and tourism and the museum directorate, and continued from 2011 to 2016; temple and fortress walls some 2,300 years old came to light. In 2016, with support from Ordu metropolitan municipality, a marble statue of Cybele was uncovered at the castle gate — Hellenistic in date, and, the directorate notes, the first found in situ among known Cybele statues. Three further statues, of figures that accompany her, were recovered in 2018.
The site has been arranged for visitors, with walking paths, seating, viewing terraces, lighting, a picnic area and a 500-square-metre car park.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Ordu as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 7.1 °C in January to 23.6 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in May, June, July, August, September and October; rainfall is heaviest in October (131 mm) and lightest in May (57 mm). Long-term means for 1959-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
