Side, a Historical site which is not so far away (about 10-15 minutes) from Manavgat and can easily reach by mini van that cost 1.9TL one way. The 1st day we went there, the weather was a bit disappointing. It was raining on and off and the cloudy looks gloomy. Even the photos that 1 took look sad. So we came back to side for second time when the weather was better. Thank god that time i got some really nice shots. So there will be both gloomy and sunny day of Side.
the site plan of Side. it's quite huge. We spend about half the day here. It's an open air museum. and it's FREE
the monument fountain ( Nymphaeum), one of the most important monument of the city built in the 2nd century A.D
description of the fountain
Boon @ Nymphaeum
here a bit of the history of Side. Side is one of the most important cities of Pamphlia. It was founded on the west side of the nearby Melas (Manavgat) river. It rose to importance by it favorable position as a harbor city. Another interesting mythology story claims that "Side" was the daughter of Mountain and bull god Taurus
the city gate or what was left of it. built during the Hellenistic period and served as the northern entrance to the city
marble columns
house with peristyle
the house was built in Hellenistic period and used until to Byzantine period. At least that was what it was written on the information board
there were many small path ways leading to more well, ruin buildings
and one of them is this hospital, or they think it was a hospital back in the 6th century A.D
it does have this creepy vibe of a very old hospital. Except for Boon, he seem to be having fun
me @ Side
the state Agora. it was built in the 2nd century A.D and was the government center of the city
panorama view of the state Agora
this is how it once looks like
the once beautiful decorate marble ceiling are now left to rot
it's really sad to see that the Turkish government are not doing anything to reconstruct this area. I do wish someone would do some restoration here
i saw also many collapse marble column are left lying on the beach
panorama view
panorama view of the amphitheater
me with the amphitheater
toilet area for the Amphitheater
built much like a Roman Amphitheater, although it is not as well preserved as the one in Aspendos but it's almost as large with seating of 15-20k people
it's in poor condition
but at least they are restoring bit by bit
and they got alot of work to do still
time to put some speed to it already
to the famous Temple of Apollo
the Vespasian Gate, it was dedicated to Emperior Vaspasianus in the 6th-7th century A.D
some Greek wordings detailing
panoramaview
one can visit the amphitheater with some entrance fee..i'm not sure how much it cost. No one seem to be entering it because basically one can see the overall of the amphitheater from the front. Anyway the entrance is just on the left side after you pass by the Vespasian Gate
back part of the amphitheater
moving along. Going straight up is the shopping avenue. There are 2 long stretch of shop houses selling souvenirs, "branded" goods, restaurants and etc...
walk till the end of the "shopping" avenue is the Temple of Apollo.
It's gorgeous. We never really visited Greece yet so, we were pretty excited to see this temple
us @ Temple of Apollo
the temple was built during the Roman Civilization that is infront of the sea viewing the historical trade point harbor, to dedicated to obviously Apollo, the god of light and the sun
the medusa head which decorates the frieze
does look like Versace logo...hehe. Well duh! it's Medusa head
the temple of Apollo is also surrounded by other important ruins that date back to 7th century B.C. Side was one of the main cities of the ancient region known as Pamphylia that later became Antalya
in the 5th century A.D, a basilica was built over the area of Athena and Apollo temples. But then was destroyed in the 7th century A.D, in the middle of the old church the new and smaller church has been constructed using old Spolia stones from the old church
many locals come to do some fishing
the best time to visit Side is in the afternoon about 3pm that would give you plenty of time to slowly walk around the ruins and just in time to see the sunset behind the Apollo temple.
Unfortunately the weather was gloomy the whole day we decided not to wait for the sunset and hope to come back again when the weather is better
It was our luck that the next day the weather was sunny with blue sky. We came to visit for the 2nd time
different weather does give me different feeling
the grass was greener
the ruins looks much alive and beautiful
even the berries tasted better....lol just kidding i have no idea what berry is this
one thing for sure is that our pictures looks better with sufficient light
did some artsy-fatsy shots
us @ temple of Apollo take 2
i am loving the blue sky
it is a romantic place to watch sunset
a must visit!!!
at the end of the day we headed back to our hotel satisfied
i love Side
my next post will be on Antalya! A beautiful city on the Mediterranean coast of southwestern Turkey and oh the Kebab there is awesome!!! yummy
~ hoscakal ~
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