Antalya Part 5: Aspendos and Serik

(Justin) We were determined to explore more historical places while on this side of Turkey.  Myra was disappointingly too far from Beldibi by the bus system, but Aspendos was a workable day trip. Dad and I caught the first morning bus to Antalya, taking it into the bus station. From there, it was another bus on about an 80 minute ride to the town of Serik (6TL/person, I think), where you then have transportation options outside town to the ruins. Given the off-season, there wasn't a lot of obvious activity so we taxied there and back.

Aspendos was once one of the largest cities in Asia Minor. Part of the kingdom of Pamphylia, it was conquered by Persians, Alexander the Great, and the Romans. It was under Marcus Aurelius that its famous amphitheater was built in 155 A.D. It remains one of the best preserved Roman amphitheaters in the world.

You can also walk around the ruins of the old city. Excavations here looked pretty incomplete, and much of the area is overgrown with tall grass. It's also quite rocky in some places. Some of the buildings are marked but it's hard to get a picture of what the city once looked like, there are no maps depicting it on site.

The city ruins from one of the hills.

Dad standing at ruins of Aspendos' stadium.

Stone walls of various ancient structures are on site. Explore at your leisure.

You can also see the amazing aqueduct ruins in Aspendos. The aqueduct reportedly functioned until an earthquake destroyed parts of it in 363 A.D.

Looking down the cliff from the ruins into the quiet village below. This house was completely made of stone, I'd never seen anything like it.

The ampitheater itself was pretty impressive. The Seljuk Turks also used the structure as a karvansaray, so it's been preserved by quite a few civilizations.

View from the city ruins into the amphitheater.

Me standing at what I guess was backstage.

Fortunately, we finished our sightseeing just before it started raining. We returned to Selik and ate some kebab. While wandering the downtown, we came across a set of large busts outside the city courthouse.

Dad with Atilla the Hun

These busts were of ancient Huns, ancestors of the Turks, and the plaques told the story of the migration from Central Asia to Anatolia. Serik is still home to many ethnic Yörük and Türkmen, descendents of nomads. I enjoyed the history. There are other tourist sites to visit nearby, but we didn't have the time. We caught the bus and headed back to Antalya and Beldibi. That ended our Antalya adventures.