Lampron Castle, Namrun

Lampron Castle

It's hot and humid, so it's about that time of year for many Turkish families to head up to their high country homes, called Yayla. Our family has a shuttered little limestone farmhouse in Gozne. Lonely, because it is never used.

Sometimes I wish one of the local djinn would move in at least. I've had news that someone chopped down the large fir in the side yard, since we weren't there to stop them.

Our Mersin neighbors were from Tarsus, so their yayla was the village of Çamlıyayla (yayla with pines). It's very picturesque, set high in the Taurus mountains, overlooking the Cilician Gates of Pozanti.

Perched even higher above the town is Namrun or Lampron, a crusader castle that was once home to a branch of Armenian princes, and part of my main character's heritage.

It's a spur castle complete with a lower ward, upper ward, and some stairs cut into the side of a craggy peak. However, if you didn't know what to look for, you might mistake it for a pile of rocks, but for the one a barrel vaulted hall left standing.

I've heard the only inhabitant there is a squirrel named Ozymandias.