Around Antalya - Aspendos

On one of our days in Antalya, we hired a car and drove some 50 km east to Aspendos.

The area around Antalya includes the ancient regions of Lycia, Pamphylia, Cilicia, and Psidia. These have some of the most interesting archaeological sites where uninterrupted history from the traces of the earliest man to the present can be found. Aspendos is one of those sites.

Aspendos changed hands regularly in ancient times between the Persians, Greeks and Spartans, before coming under the control of Alexander the Great around 333 BC.  After his death, Aspendos became part of the Seleucid kingdom and was later absorbed by the kings of Pergamon

In 133 BC, the city became part of the Roman province of Asia. Roman rule consisted mainly of successive consuls and governors demanding protection money and carting off the city’s treasures. Only with the establishment of the Roman Empire did the city prosper, growing into an important trade centre, its wealth based on salt from a nearby lake.

The Theatre – dating back to the 2^nd century AD is one of the best preserved ancient theatres in the world. It is still used to stage the annual Aspendos Opera and Ballet Festival.

The Aspendos theatre was built by the architect Zeno. He used a Roman design, with an elaborate stage behind which the scenery could be lowered, instead of allowing the natural landscape behind the stage to act as a backdrop, as had been the custom in Hellenistic times

The stage, auditorium and arcade above are all intact, as is the several-storey-high stage building. What you see today is pretty much what the spectators saw during the theatre’s heyday.

A dubious legend relates that the theatre was built after the king of Aspendos announced that he would give the hand of his beautiful daughter to a man who built some great work for the benefit of the city.

Two men rose to the challenge, one building the theatre, the other an aqueduct. Both finished work simultaneously, so the king offered to cut his daughter in two, giving a half to each man. The builder of the theatre declared that he would rather renounce his claim than see the princess dismembered and was, of course, immediately rewarded with the hand of the girl for his unselfishness. 

Later, the theatre was used as a Selçukkervansaray, and restoration work from that period – plasterwork decorated with red zigzags – is visible over the stage

The overall site is huge and includes remains of the Stadium - where athletes will have raced

... the Basilica

... the Agora

... the Aqueduct. There was also an Acropolis - but we didn't get to see this as the heavens opened and we dashed for shelter

This is a splendid site and well worth the 20TL entrance fee

Around Antalya - the Old Town and Museum

We have just returned from a few days in Antalya which, according to The Rough Guide to Turkey, is one of the country's fastest growing cities.

We were staying at this hotel in the Lara Beach/Kundu area - some 25 kms east from the centre of Antalya

The name of our hotel - which you may have already guessed by the shape of the building - was The Concorde.

I don't think we saw the area at its best - we had heavy rain, showers and occasional sunshine for most of the time we were there. However that did not stop us from getting out and about.

Antalya was founded as late as the second century BC by Attalus II of Pergamon, and named Attaleia in his honour. The Romans only consolidated their hold on the city and its hinterland during the imperial period, following successful campaigns against local pirates.

Antalya was surrounded by thick defensive stone walls pierced by several gates that could be closed and sealed in case of attack from pirates or invaders. The grandest of these, and the only one surviving, is Hadrian's Gate (Hadriyanüs Kapısı), a monumental triple-arched portal. Hadrian's Gate was constructed in 130 AD to commemorate Emperor Hadrian's visit to the city

Christians and the Byzantines had a slow start - similar to the Romans - though because of its strategic location and good anchorage, Antalya was an important stop for the Crusaders. The Selçuks supplanted the Byzantines for good early in the thirteenth century

In the heart of town, the yacht harbour lies below the Roman walls, while the crescent of Konyaaltı bay curves to the industrial harbour 10km west. Interest for tourists is largely confined to the relatively tiny and central old quarter within the Roman walls, known as the Kaleiçi (or “within the castle”) - the Old Town.

The Clock Tower is the only one of some 80 towers in Antalya that has survived through to the present day. The tower dates back to the 2^nd century AD – clearly not with a clock in it! The clock was given as a gift by the German Emperor, Wilhelm II in the late 19^th- early 20^th century

The grooved minaret –Yivli Minare – was built in the 13^th century and is one of the earliest Islamic structures in Antalya. The base is made of cut stone while the body is made of brick and turquoise-blue porcelain tiles. The minaret has 8 vertical grooves in the body. It was restored in 1955 and again in 2010. The remains of the mosque associated with the minaret can still be seen next to the minaret

This is the Broken Minaret (Kesik Minare) of the Korkut Mosque (Korkut Camii), which itself was built originally as a Roman temple in the 2nd century AD. In the 7^th century AD a Byzantine church was built on the temple site but it was badly damaged during the Arab invasions in the 8^th century. It was later repaired and expanded.

When the Selçuks took Antalya from the Byzantines, the church was converted to a mosque and the minaret added, but in 1361 when Peter I, crusader king of Cyprus, took Antalya from the Selçuks it became a church again. It became a mosque yet again during the rule of Şehzade Korkut (1470-1509) and continued as a place of worship until 1846, when it was destroyed by a great fire but the minaret survived.  Since then it has be called the “cut minaret”

Hıdırlık Tower (Hıdırlık Kulesi) is a landmark tower of tawny stone where Kaleiçi meets Karaalioglu Park. It is believed that the ruling Roman Empire built it in the second century AD on a square plan. In the same century, it was turned into circular tower. It has since been used as a fortification or a lighthouse.

We also found time to visit the famous Antalya Museum. The province of Antalya is endowed with the richest natural and historic treasures of Turkey. The invaluable evidence attesting to the region's history is displayed at the Antalya Museum. 

At the end of the World War I, during the time when Antalya was under the Italian military occupation, Italian archaeologists started to remove the archaeological treasures that had been found in the centre or the surroundings to the Italian Embassy. To prevent these initiatives, Süleyman Fikri Bey, the Sultan's teacher, was appointed as curator of antiquities and tried to establish the Antalya Museum by collecting what remained in the centre

The museum at first operated in the Alâeddin Mosque in 1922, then in Yivli Minare Mosque (grooved minaret mosque) from 1937. It moved to its present building in 1972. It is highly regarded and is among the leading museums of the world on account of its sculpture works from the Roman period.

The exhibits on display include statues, mosaics, sarcophagi, pottery, coins, tools, weapons and jewellery. Many of the statues and sarcophagi came from the site at Perge and date back to the second century AD

On our last day the sun shone and we had blue skies all day - our flight home was not until 10.30pm, so we had a full day out and about. 

We walked along the cliff park through parks in the Lara area of Antalya

We saw the Lower Düden Falls on the coast. The main Düden Waterfalls are further inland - 12 kms north-east of Antalya - and are a group of waterfalls formed by the Düden River 

We also welcomed the local bird life

Our Bohemian adventure : Prague : Part 6 - Wencelas Square and New Town

We were staying in an apartment on Wenceslas Square - Václavské náměstí

In 1348, Bohemian King Charles IV founded the New Town of Prague. The plan included several open areas for markets, of which the second largest was the Koňský trh, or Horse Market. At the south eastern end of the market was the Horse Gate, one of the gates in the walls of the New Town

During the Czech national revival movement in the 19th century, a more noble name for the street was requested. At this time the statue was built, and the square was renamed - Václavské náměstí

During the Prague Uprising in 1945, a few buildings near the National Museum were destroyed. They were later replaced by department stores.

During what became known as the Prague Spring (March-August 1968), Alexander Dubcek, the Czech leader, attempted to reform the Communist Party and provide "socialism with a human face." His reforms were intended to transform the lives of all Czechs but he was also aware of what had happened during the 1956 Hungarian uprising.

He made several speeches (including one from the balcony of 36 Wenceslas Square - now Marks and Spencer) where he attempted to allay fears that Czechoslovakia would leave the Warsaw Pact and end its alliance with the Soviet Union. However his liberal reform package caused great concern throughout the Eastern bloc nations who saw their own regimes under threat if the Czechs succeeded. Soviet Premier Brehznev was not convinced and on 21 August 1968 Warsaw Pact forces, led by the Soviet Union, invaded the country. Realising the futility of their position the Czech government ordered its armed forces not to resist this invasion and thereby to avoid pointless bloodshed.

From 1928 until 1941, a monument to Woodrow Wilson stood in front of Prague’s main railway station. It was a mark of gratitude to the man who played a crucial role in the country’s independence.  In 1941, Wilson’s statue was torn down by the Nazis after Germany declared war on America. A new statue of Wilson was installed in 2012

Praha hlavní nádraží - Prague's main railway station - was originally opened in 1871 and named Franz Josef Station after Franz Joseph I of Austria. During the First Republic and from 1945 to 1953 the station was called Wilson Station (Czech: 'Wilsonovo nádraží') after former President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson

As well as a comprehensive rail network, Prague also has a wonderful tram system

The horsecar trams started to operate in September 1875. In 1891 the first electric tram line was opened in Letná and in the early 20th century they began to electrify the horse tram routes. In 1905, the electrification works were finished

Nowadays the tram network includes 22 day and 9 night routes with over 900 trams covering over 300 route miles

Finally, we saw this metronome from a distance. One of the largest Joseph Stalin statues ever erected, once stood here in Letna Park. It was completed in 1955 and razed in 1962. In its place this massive kinetic sculpture, a 75 foot fully functional metronome, was erected. It was designed by Czech artist Vratislav Novak and constructed in 1991. The metronome is meant to be a steady reminder of the history of Prague — its days as a Soviet satellite and its eventual rebirth as an active democracy.

This was our first visit to Prague - it is a superb city and well worth visiting