Day 23 - Konya to Antalya

This the morning we started our 340km drive to Antalya with sunny blue sky's but it was still only 4 degrees. on the way we drove through some spectacular scenery in the Taurus Mountains.

 

We stopped at the highest point we would be going at 1825 meters above sea level. We stopped for a photo and it was a sunny day with magnificent blue sky but it was only 4 degrees outside, the wind chill factor made it feel like -6.

Once we crossed over the other side of the mountains the temperature went up 20 degrees to a lovely 24. We stopped at a roadside fruit shop were our guide bought us a huge bunch of bananas. These are the first bananas I have seen in Turkey. We also had a freshly squeezed pomegranate juice.

When we arrived at the Aspendos Roman Theatre it had gone up to 29, we are now in the Mediterranean. Yah. The Roman Theatre is the best preserved in the world mainly due to it being used as a Caravanserai. While we were there a gentleman who could sing sang a bit of a song and it was great as it showed how good the acoustics are. We explored The site for a while and enjoyed being warm again.

From here we went to extensive ruins of the Hellenistic/Roman city of Perge. We saw the great theatre, the stadium, the gate towers, the shopping mall but the most impressive was the main road leading to the city on top of the hill. What a magnificent city this would have been in its hay day. The main road was lined with shops, a pedestrian path and a huge wide street with a canal running down the middle. You could see the rut marks in the stone from the chariots. We also saw the very impressive roman baths which used hot springs to warm the building and bath water. They have only excavated 10% so far so when they finish this place will be even more magnificent. 

We then headed for Antalya which is on the coast to our hotel on the sea front. The view is superb with the blue sea and spectacular Olympia Mountains. They say these are the original Olympia Mountains of Apollo and that there is natural flame burning in the mountains so I think they want to claim the Olympic flame.

We have a free day tomorrow however our guide has organised a boat trip for us who want to so we will do that before an afternoon by the pool I think. Until then J&N

BTW saw the smallest Maccas ever