Continuing with our tour… Waking up early in our hotel in Antalya, I headed out to explore Old Town soon after sunrise. The night before was busy, with people meeting in restaurants and pubs. Sunrise was quiet and streets were empty. I waited in a street close to the hotel and waited for someone to appear. After a few minutes, an early morning street walker appeared.
Street Walker, Old Town, Antalya
The image above give an indication of narrow width of the street… just over one car wide! Although we had a small bus, it is obvious why we would not be able to navigate the Old Town streets in the bus.
As the sun rose, it lit up a line of water tanks mounted on the roof of a nearby building.
Roof Top Water Tanks, Old Town
In one of the nearby streets, I found these blue doors closing off parking area behind someone’s house.
Blue Doors, Old Town
Traveling through Turkey, one finds many groups of men having conversations and sipping tea around a table. This looks like one location, where the colorful chairs and chest were packed away for the night.
Street Furniture, Old Town
Here, one early morning shopper stop to buy some fruit at a street vendor. Shopping for breakfast?
Shopping For Fruit, Old Town
Many people in Turkey drink bottled water. Tap water is not always fit for drinking! Some enterprising person collected and bagged blue bottle caps from water bottles. I found this bag hanging from one of the street walls.
Bag Of Water Bottle Caps
Across the street from out hotel was this restaurant. There are several quotations decorating the exterior walls. In this image is the following.
“Don’t bother me; that’s all I ask of you”.
This is a quotation by the Greek philosopher Diogenes (aka Dijayen), that I found interesting. Find out more information on Wikipedia.
Empty Tables Old Town
I found one store close to the hotel, where I found beads and bowls.
Beads And Bowls, Old Town
Old Town has many Ottoman houses. This is one of the more interesting doors that I found.
Ottoman Door, Old Town
Soon after, I headed back to the hotel for breakfast. After packing up, we left Old Town by way of Hadrian’s Gate. Hadrian was a very popular Roman emperor. Many of the ancient sites that we visited had statues of him and gates named after Hadrian.
Hadrian’s Gate, Antalya
This arch shows a detailed ceiling stonework, that is typical of many Roman buildings.
Hadrian’s Gate Arch
Arriving at the parking lot, our luggage arrived at the bus by taxi. After loading up, we headed towards Konya by way of Aspendos. The theater in Aspendos is a magnificent structure. This is extremely good condition, probably because it was occupied and cared for by Ottomans. Around the top perimeter of the theater is a gallery with many arches that look out across the seats and the stage.
Aspendos Roman Theater
We climbed up the theater steps to reach the gallery. Inside the gallery are a ring of arches, that stretch out along the perimeter. This is captured in the following image.
Gallery, Aspendos Theater
From one of the arches, I captured the view over the seating, the stage and the distant mountains.
Aspendos Theater Stage
The image below shows more detail of the wall above the stage.
Stage Wall, Aspendos Theater
Several people had been visiting the theater during the morning. However, I this image I was lucky to catch a single lone audience member once crowds had moved through.
Lone Theater Audience, Aspendos
The city of Aspendos was supplied with water by means of an aqueduct. Climbing the hill above the theater gives a great view of the surrounding countryside and ruins of the aqueduct.
Aspendos Aqueduct
After leaving Aspendos, we stopped for lunch at a roadside restaurant. Gozleme (pancakes) was the main specialty of this restaurant — yummy!