Antalya: Impressive Ancient Perge

From Antalya, we visited the archeological site of Perge. We only picked to go to Perge because it is easy to get to - the new tram goes within a couple of kilometers of the site. We didn't feel energetic enough for excursions to the other two greater Roman sites, Aspendos (theater) and Termessos(setting).

Perge turned out to be impressive enough. All the archeological sites we have visited on this trip seemed luxurious, each in their own way. Perga has a canal running down in the middle of the colondaded  Cardo, and fountains of various sizes all over the place. The Perge theater has well preserved lower panels of stage wall in bas-relief. Since they are at eye level, it is particularly easy to admire them.

Riding the local tram to Ancient Perge. Nice!


We spent about an hour inside the 2000 year old theatre admiring the stage house reliefs, and wandering around the upper cheap seats.












The view from the cheap seats!




The stadium is almost adjacent to the Theatre.




Hadrian's Arch was a Roman addition to the twin Hellenistic Towers behind. The towers are under repair. Second below is a side view of the left tower.




The triple-porticoed Agora.


The collonaded Cardo Maximus with its center, now dry, 2-meter-wide decorative canal.


This Cardo Maximus is stupendous, 22 meters wide. In addition to the center canal, there are wide pedestrian sidewalks on boths sides to front the shops. Not to mention a wide track for horse carts on each side of the canal. Wow!




At the north end of the Cardo is a fountain with a statue of the river god Kestros.






Great views from a point above the fountain. The second below more clearly shows the Decumanus (east-west crossing street); and at back right, the Stadium and Theatre.




The Decumanus has its own small canal (left) and porticoed walkway and fountain, and ends at the Western Gate.

Turkey: Accidental Lycian Way

From Antalya we took the bus to the Teleferico, not to ride the teleferico - rather the idea was to do a little high coastal walk. We ended up walking on the Lycian Way. The Lycian Way is a long-distance hiking trail in southwest Turkey, ancient Lycia. The trail has numerous ruins along the way. Weather was hot, so we turned around at the first collection of ruins. The Lycian Way is definitely a possibility for future walking.

Great views on the bus to the teleferico.


Passing under the teleferico.


Junction. Go right to the top of the teleferico. Go left/straight to stay on the Lycian Way.




Soon there are great views back towards Antalya city.


We stopped for a long break farther south.




The trail heads away from the coast and into the forest where there are several ancient walls and tombs.








We turned around at the tombs and retraced our steps back to the bus stop.

Antalya, Turkey: Back to the Modern World

On a Sunday we flew from Tel Aviv to Antalya, Turkey, another city on the Mediterranean. We would have left on Saturday; alas there is no public transport on the Sabbath, not even to the Tel Aviv International Airport. From the Antalya airport, a new tram took us to the city center. We paid for the tram by directly tapping our credit card at the turnstile. Turkey is not a new country for us. In the intervening 27 years since our previous visit, Turkey has progressed so much, it might as well be a new country.

We happened to land in Antalya because it was cheaper to fly to than other destinations in Turkey. Apparently there are many beaches around Antalya that attract hordes of tourists in the summer. The town itself is set on cliffs above the water. The old town with a few dozen Ottoman houses was minimally interesting to us.

Nevertheless we took a liking to Antalya. The city seems to be well set up for its residents. There is a lot of housing, shops and eateries at all hours, uncongested roads (minimal beeping), public transport every day, hard working people.... a far cry from the religious states we just came from. This is my idea of the modern world, a civilized world.

Our first views of Turkey are from the airplane window.




And here's the coastline, beaches, and mountains of Antalya. In two days we'll be hiking along the coast at the far left below.


Riding the spiffy new tram from the airport to city center was most welcoming.


The view from our hotel room balcony.


Soon after checking in we walked a few blocks south to the coast. Great views east to Old Town Antalya and west to the hills and mountains.






Hadrian's Gate in the Old Town.


The tail end of a huge election rally.


Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu - The leader of the CHP, the main opposition political party in Turkey.


A man pulling a large bag of recyclables that he has reclaimed from dumpsters. There were many of these hard working guys downtown.