Side Expectations, Antalya Realities

Side seaside....near our hotel.  This is what they come here for....

We were up at 06:00 to see ruins and photograph them before the hoards arrived.  In a few words, our expectations were too high and had resulted from not reading closely our Lonely Planet Guide.  Side is commercialized beyond one's wildest dreams.  Ancient ruins used as restaurant settings were the most blantant disregard of history for us.  Restaurants piled on top of each other with gaudy colors and decorations.  What we really wanted to see was the amphitheater which would not open until later in the day.  Having seen ruins in other parts of the country we decided to just have breakfast and head to Antalya.  Not that these would not have been worth seeing, it was more a case of wanting the same type of controlled access and hence preservation that we found in Ephesus twoyears ago.  This could be as spectacular a site as that if they had not allowed all the commercialization which revolves around restaurants, shops, the Mediterranean, and almost lastly, the ruins.

Apollo's Temple

So the question is, can you or do you become ambivalent if you live in a place so filled with antiquities?

Shuttle bus to the otogar turned out to be the local otogar in Side which was within walking distance of where we had stayed.  As we paid our fee and David asked about the otogar the token seller said yes.  Opps, wrong otogar.  Anyway, we soon were on the right bus to get us up to Manavgat.  A really nice young man got us off the mini bus and flagged down the big bus to Antalya!  By noonish we were in Antalya and before 1:00 in our hotel in the old city ready for lunch and to explore!

Typical Kaleici street

Just back from lunch, ice cream and walking about Kaleici, the old district of Antalya.  We are staying in a very nice, but reasonabley priced pension, the Kaleici Hotel and Pension.  We have for the first time on our trip, TV in English so we can catch up on some of the news.  We have seen the sights including visiting a lovely small museum, walking the narrow streets, checking out ruins, and lastly ending up at the harbor!  It has been a refreshing afternoon and now we begin the planning process for tomorrow and the next few days.

Old Roman harbor now filled with tour boats