Exploring Antalya



The beach at Olympos

14^th 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.
 

The riverside remains of Olympos
 

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…’

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.

Impressive viaduct at Phaselis

 

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.



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.  

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.

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.  

Amphitheatre at Termessos

Exploring the tombs at Termessos