The Mediterranean seaside resorts of Side and Alanya have both become a great deal more attractive recently with neater streets and new attractions to supplement the beaches that were always their greatest assets.
Dim Mağarası
One of the most popular excursions from Alanya is to the Dim Mağarası, a spectacular stalagmite and stalactite-filled cave network in the outlying suburb of Kestel. This is a cave that certainly has the wow factor and completely casts into the shade the small and overcrowded Damlataş Mağarası that is a (too popular) attraction within Alanya itself. Perhaps the biggest plus Dim has is that at the far end there’s a small lake into which rock formations stride like chess pieces. As always with caves like this, you will be able to let your imagination rip on the shapes made by the rocks but the small pair of stone owls helpfully labeled by the authorities are guaranteed to have everybody chorusing “aah!”
Perge and Aspendos
For history lovers, the most obvious daytrip destination from Side or Alanya is to the ruins of Perge and Aspendos. After Ephesus, Perge is probably Turkey’s most impressive archeological site, where you can easily while away several hours exploring the remains of the huge bathhouse, the fine colonnaded streets, the elaborate nymphaeum (fountain) and the large stadium. Perge also boasted an enormous theater although at the moment it’s closed for restoration. Not that that matters much because the main attraction at nearby Aspendos is a theater that was restored on the express instructions of Atatürk and is now used occasionally for events during the annual opera and ballet festival (noisier and more fabric-threatening events have been exiled to a purpose-built theater nearby). You won’t need quite so much time to explore Aspendos although if you climb up to the acropolis, you will find work going on in the agora where there is also a fine basilican building. Otherwise, Aspendos’s other attraction is a long stretch of ancient aqueduct with a kink in it in the nearby village of Camili.
Perge and Aspendos are closer to Side than Alanya. From Side you may find a trip to Antalya included in the package so that you can admire the magnificent second-century statues and friezes that once adorned Perge on display in the Antalya Museum.
Seleucia and Manavgat waterfall
The transport hub for Side, the small town of Manavgat sits on a glorious stretch of river that cuts inland to the Taurus Mountains. From here the excursion to the romantic ruins of ancient Seleucia (Lyrbe) set amid a pine forest used to be a tough one along an unmade road. Recently, however, the authorities laid tarmac right up to the start of the ruins, making them much more readily accessible. Already noisy jeep safaris have them in their sights and next year it’s likely that a ticket office will also materialize. For the time being, however, you will probably be able to explore the rather austere remains of an Indiana Jones-style forgotten city all on your own.
On the way back to Manavgat, you’ll pass the remains of the aqueduct that used to supply the city with water. Then you’ll pass the entrance to the Manavgat Şelalesi (waterfall) where white water cascades over the rocks, a truly beautiful sight despite the crass commercialism that hugs the perimeter (expect prices twice those you’d pay in town).
Akseki, the Button Houses and the Altın Beşik Mağarası
As you head from Manavgat to Seleucia you’ll spot a sign pointing enigmatically to the Düğmeli Evleri (Button Houses). If that whets your appetite for exploration, it’s worth knowing that the houses are more easily visited from the small town of Akseki, itself accessible by bus from Alanya via Manavgat. Akseki itself is fairly dull although it has a spectacular location on terraces up a steep hillside. As soon as you get there, though, you will start to understand what a “button house” is when you spot old Ottoman houses made of wattle and daub that have wooden beams sticking out all over their facades so that from a distance they appear to be studded. Side on, however, those jutting beams look alarmingly like small spears.
To see the best of the button houses you need to press on from Akseki via nearby İbradı to the sleepy small village of Ormana, where many fine examples of the style survive, some of them newly restored.
The local dolmuş continues on (if you ask) to the village of Ürünlü where similar houses line the cobbled streets. From there you can pick up informally arranged transport to visit the Altın Beşik Mağarası (Golden Cradle Cave) which is filled by a small lake that trickles out onto a beach where you pick up a rowing boat to explore the interior. The cave is not large but it is breathtakingly beautiful — and when Handel’s Water Music was played there on Sept. 1 this year, it must have been a remarkable experience.
Sapadere Kanyon
A relatively new addition to the tour programs is the trip northeast from Alanya to Sapadere, where a steep-sided canyon with a river running along the bottom has been kitted out with a boardwalk leading to a cluster of waterfalls and small pools where it’s possible to swim. Midway through the canyon you can grab a cup of tea and at the entrance there’s a large restaurant catering for tour groups. At quiet times you might still have Sapadere to yourself though.
With your own transport you might want to pause on the drive back to explore the newly opened Cüceler Mağarası (Cave of the Dwarves). While not as stunning as the Dim Mağarası (it’s considerably smaller), this stalactite and stalagmite-filled cave, accessed via a boardwalk wrapped around a rock, still beats the Damlataş Mağarası hands down.
Antiochia ad Cragum
Due east of Alanya along the coast road is the small town of Gazipaşa, which has little to detain travelers besides a small beach, a soon-to-be museum and a short stretch of ruined aqueduct that must once have fed the ancient town of Silenus whose ruins bestride a headland. With your own transport, you might want to venture out to Güney in the eastern outskirts in search of the ruins of Antiochia ad Cragum, a town dating back to around 170 B.C. that is spectacularly scattered across the hillside with the remains of a medieval castle overlooking it from a nearby headland.
Excavations to uncover the remains of what must have been yet another huge town in antiquity are still ongoing and already you will be able to pick out several stretches of Roman road, one stretch leading to a gate, the other to a temple to Venus. A caretaker is on site to point out the more interesting carvings on the pieces of marble that have been uncovered. This season’s excavations uncovered the single longest stretch of mosaic pavement yet found in southern Turkey although for the time being it has been covered over again to protect it. You may need to ask for directions since roadworks mean that the sign from the coast road has been taken down.
(Hürriyet Daily News)
