Day 12. Discovering Termessos and Antalya’s Old City

After a better night’s sleep and breakfast, we drove the 30 km or so to Termessos—an ancient city on a mountain top. This area is well known and is located within a national park, but nothing has yet been excavated. Our guide Yunus is an archeologist and was so excited to share this site with us. It’s his favorite site in Antalya.

Hard to imagine such a large community on the top of this mountain

Termessos lies about 1000m above sea level. In 334, Alexander the Great surrounded the place but decided not to attempt to conquer these people—good idea, given the height of the town and all.

Steep!  Learned not to step on the “shiny” stones—these were slippery from former hikers — Steep! Learned not to step on the “shiny” stones—these were slippery from former hikers

Built to create a terrace on top.  Used for storage — Built to create a terrace on top. Used for storage

The trek up the trail was easy at first—then rocky, and then nearly impossible. We climbed over stones, broken columns, and Yunus pointed out the three baths, the theater, the former main street and shop area, etc. The city covered a vast expanse and those living here collected taxes from anyone wanting to access the pass from the sea northward. The day turned warm and we lounged a bit at the theater site, enjoying the view.

Ruins everywhere.  Nothing here has been touched—no excavations — Ruins everywhere. Nothing here has been touched—no excavations

Descending was arduous as well—and we soon learned that the shine on some rocks was caused by those who had stepped there before us—and they were slippery. So...we learned to avoid them.

Once down, Yunus couldn’t help himself—he insisted on showing us the military burial area. So we walked through more ruins and some sarcophagi did have wonderful carvings to commemorate those who at one time had been buried within.

Sarcophagus—Lion on the left with man on the right pulling (?) it

As we drove back into the city, we noticed the green areas were filled with people—the Turks love being out and on Sunday, the parks were stuffed to the max with cars, families, picnickers, kids, strollers. And the city itself was packed as well on this gorgeous Sunday. Back in Antalya proper, we lunched overlooking the harbor. Tour boats slid in and out of the harbor and even a few sailboats were out.

Yunus took us around the old city and pointed out the various “eras” one could identify within the walls, etc. The harbor is definitely the highlight of the old city and on the weekends, the old city was very lively (as we found out Friday night!) Yes, the hotel took on an entirely different vibe as the nightlife and entertainment wound down.

With the crazy bars quiet and the hotel more peaceful, our gang took over one of the terraces to enjoy the wine we’d bought and didn’t want to carry to Istanbul with us. We’re leaving tomorrow to go back to Istanbul for a few days.

Our gang is such a fun, eclectic group. Each brings a delightful addition to the mix and it’s wonderful to share this trip with them.