Long before it was Izmir, this was Smyrna, and two sites let you touch that ancient city. Crowning the hill above the centre is Kadifekale, the Velvet Castle, a fortress whose origins reach back to the age of Alexander the Great and his successors and which was rebuilt by Romans, Byzantines and Ottomans in turn. The walls themselves are modest, but the reason to climb up is the view: a magnificent panorama over the whole sweep of Izmir and its gulf, especially fine toward sunset. Downhill, in the middle of the modern city, lie the excavated remains of the Agora of Smyrna, the Roman marketplace and civic centre rebuilt with imperial help after a devastating earthquake in 178 AD. Rows of Corinthian columns, arched galleries and a remarkably intact vaulted basement give a vivid sense of the commercial heart of the ancient city. Seen together, the hilltop castle and the agora below sketch the outline of Smyrna beneath the streets of today's Izmir.
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