Today we drove out of the city to Perge, another Roman city, with a stadium that was a bit less in tact than the Aphrodisias stadium. It was really interesting how the mosaics and floor tiles were covered with sand and gravel to prevent erosion, but disappointing that we were unable to see them. Because Anatolia is prone to earthquakes (as we witnessed last week), most of the ruins that we see have been put up by archeologists. At Perge we have the opportunity to sponsor a column to be erected in our honor! Hmmm senior gift?
We then went to Aspendos, which is the most intact theatre that we have seen yet (except the stage was missing) because the Turks had fortified the bricks of the structure. Unfortunately all the statues from here are also in museums for protection and preservation, so we were unable to see them in their "natural habitat." We did have some fun climbing the bleachers and admiring the view though :) On the way out of the museum we saw a couple of camels and a "baby" camel for our entertainment. 2TL per picture, please!
Our next stop was the Sultanhani Karavansaray, which is a caravan palace/fortress like an ancient bus stop.
Then we finally ate lunch at this really interesting restaurant that descended into a swamp-side cafe. Seems like Turkey has everything!
We then traveled to the Antalya Museum with all kinds of prehistoric, Byzantine, Roman, and Ottoman statues. My personal favorite was the description of the life of Saint Nicholas from Anatolia, which gave the Eastern history and meaning behind some of the Western Christian traditions.
Day's not over yet! We had some free time to relax before starting a walking tour with Tosun to see the Old City of Antalya that concluded with freshly-squeezed orange juice overlooking the marina and the Mediterranean Sea. What a sight to remember.
After a dinner buffet at the hotel (yes, it is only dinner time haha), we went back to the Old City Bazaar to listen to live traditional/folk music for a few hours. What an action-packed day!
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