Things to do
7-
Amasya Castle
The fortress on Mount Harşena above the tombs, with walls in eight tiers, a secret stair down to the river and a view straight down the gorge. The road up is narrow and the last stretch is on foot.
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Bayezid II Mosque
The largest mosque in the town, finished in 1486 by a prince who later became sultan, with a garden of plane trees running down to the river. Its library and school stand in the same complex.
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Amasya Museum
The town museum, holding Hittite and Hellenistic material from the plain and, in a separate building, six mummified bodies of the Ilkhanid period found under a mosque. The mummy room is not for everyone.
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Aynalı Cave
A rock-cut tomb of the Pontic period reused as a chapel, with Byzantine frescoes on the ceiling, three kilometres upstream from the town. It is the only painted tomb in the group.
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Büyük Ağa Medrese
An octagonal theological college of 1488, unusual in Ottoman architecture for its shape, still in use as a Qur'an school. The courtyard can be looked into rather than walked around.
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Tombs of the kings of Pontus
Five monumental tombs cut into the cliff face above the town for the Hellenistic kings of Pontus, reached by a stepped path and lit after dark. The scale is best understood from the far bank.
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Yalıboyu Houses
The row of restored Ottoman timber houses along the north bank of the river, lit at night and reflected in the water, several of them now small hotels. This is the view the town is known by.