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| The beach at Olympos |
14th April 2015. We managed to escape from working on the
boat for a few days when we hired a car and explored some of the historical sites
around the city of Antalya. Our first day was spent driving up into beautiful green
mountains then back down again to the coast to visit the ancient sites of
Olympos and Phaselis.
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The riverside remains of Olympos
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At Olympos we had the place to ourselves as we wandered along the side of a river where Lycian and Roman remains are almost hidden under the tangle of pine trees, vines and Oleander bushes. At the mouth of the river there’s a lovely sandy beach where we paddled before admiring the Lycian tombs that sit above it. On the edge of the beach we found an impressive sarcophagus that belonged to a sea captain called Eudemos. There is a ship symbol on the front and a representation of the Goddess Aphrodite whose job it was to protect sailors. The inscription on it aptly reads: ‘The ship sailed into harbour and anchored to leave no more…’
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| The sea captain's tomb |
The ruins of Phaselis were much busier, with tour buses
neatly lined up in the car park, but the setting is stunning, as the city was
built around three small sandy bays backed by pine trees. We walked along an original
Roman road and admired the baths, theatre and the remains of the viaduct that originally
brought water down from high in the mountains.
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| Impressive viaduct at Phaselis |
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| This was our bedroom in the restored Ottaman house |
We
got completely lost trying to find our hotel in the narrow, one way streets of Antalya
old town but when we finally arrived we found it was a real gem. Three ottoman
houses have been beautifully restored and surround a leafy courtyard with a
small swimming pool. The family that run it were very friendly and keen to
ensure we had a good stay. The next day we headed to the museum. We were
expecting to see one or two things of local interest, but instead we discovered
an absolutely stunning collection of statues and stone carvings from local
sites – so impressive in fact that we decided to spend more time exploring the
sites themselves.
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| The ancient city of Perge |
Our first stop the following day was Perge. This was a wealthy city in
Roman times and the remains are impressive, but I would have loved to have seen
just a few of the statues from the Antalya museum back in their original
location on the site. We then moved on to the theatre at Aspendos which is one
of the best preserved Roman theatres in Europe. We were lucky to arrive just as
a Japanese visitor burst into song and delivered a
perfect operatic aria from the stage.
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| The restored theatre at Aspendos |
Our next stop was Side – we had mixed feelings about going back here as we first
visited the village in 1976. Then it was just a collection of guest houses set
amidst the open ruins of a Roman city that was disappearing into the sand dunes and you could swim in the sea below the ancient stones of
the Temple of Apollo. Today it’s a big,
sprawling resort - our hotel was in a road with tacky kebab houses, tattoo parlours and hair salons - but the ruins have been carefully restored and the old town still retains its charm.
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| The Temple of Apollo in Side |
On our final day we drove up to see the ancient site of Termessos. This meant driving high into the mountains of the Güllükdağı Termessos National Park, but it was worth it. The city hasn’t been excavated and the remains have been
damaged by earthquakes, so after a steep climb from the car park there was much
scrambling over rocks to explore. We eventually reached the amphitheatre
which is set on an outcrop and we enjoyed the wonderful views back down to the valley.
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| Amphitheatre at Termessos |
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| Exploring the tombs at Termessos |
