Turkey Trip—Ruins of Perge, theater at Aspendos, lunch at 7 Mehmet, and the Perge museum—1/16/2010

Today we visited an excellent example of a Roman city, Perge. The arches in the doorways of the well-preserved stadium are clearly Roman. The seats/benches in the stadium are built of stone blocks, not of marble as in the stadium we saw yesterday in Aphrodisias. The Greek seats there were made so that the patrons had something to lean against. Not so with the Roman seats here at Perge. Walking out of the stadium area and into the city site, we saw 2 Roman towers, one in reconstruction.

In the baths complex, we saw mosaic floors (only a section is uncovered for us to marvel at while the rest is protected by tarp and sand).


Because some of the flooring is left un-restored, we could see below the floors. This allowed us to understand a little about how the baths were heated. Hot air was directed through the chambers below and rose through vents in the floor here.

Our guide said that the Turks improved on this system (for the Turkish bath). They set up the heating for the air immediately under the baths, so the warm air just rises. It does not have to be directed from another place.

As we walked down the main road of the site towards the statue of the water god and the source of the spring which watered the city,



I noticed folks (local people?) laying out wares to be sold. By the time we walked back towards the gate, they were ready to sell their jewelry, belly-dancing costumes, and other items. This was the first time we encountered people selling stuff on a site. I wondered if it was because today is Saturday or does this happen only at this site? By the time we exited the site, the parking lot was full of people selling souvenirs.

Next we drove to Aspendos where we saw the best preserved, most reconstructed theater of our tour. It is still used—each summer for an international opera and ballet festival.



Here we were able to see (not just imagine) how the back of the stage area was built up to the same height as the seating.



In the seating area, about halfway up, was a covered corridor all around the semi-perimeter. Archways adorned the very top of the seating area. It was raining pretty hard here, but I stayed dry in my rain jacket and pants. (Did I say “Thank you” to Mary Elizabeth, for outfitting me?)

Behind the theater is part of the Roman aqueduct which served this city.



We rode to it on the bus, so my sense of how far it is from the theater is off. At the aqueduct, we were accosted (strong word but accurate) by vendors. Again, is this a Saturday occurrence or is it at this site always?

We drove back into Antalya for lunch—at the fanciest restaurant during the whole tour—7 Mehmet. (Many years ago, the owner, Mehmet, was in a fight. He now has a scar that looks like the number 7 on his forehead. Hence the name of the restaurant.) The food here was delicious. (When have we not eaten delicious food for lunch on this trip?) It was also presented in such an artistic way! Our salad looked like a rose in a garden and had the best vinegar and oil dressing we’ve eaten. Our entrée was “mixed grill.” Several different kinds of charcoal grilled meats—T-bone steak, kabob, ground lamb. It reminded me of Kevin’s “el carnivore” meals he would grill on the deck at our house before we came to seminary. (And there will be no more “el carnivore” meals when I graduate since Kevin has since become vegan.) A cart of desserts was wheeled around for us to choose our dessert. I chose—the only chocolate dessert. Imagine that.

After lunch we drove to the Antalya Museum and spent the afternoon looking at statues and reliefs excavated at the Perge site.


Lindsay and I had fun mimicking the statues.


The best exhibits at the museum were at the end—the iconography and the carpets!


When we returned to the hotel, our guide and his wife took several of us on a walking tour of the old part of Antalya. We wound our way through steep cobblestone streets; toured a hotel (for Tosun’s future tour groups); made some deals on scarves, crosses, and pipes; and ended up at an open-air café overlooking the old harbor of Antalya, drinking freshly squeezed orange juice.


What a wonderful day!

Here are more pictures from our visits to Perge and Aspendos.