Thursday, November 4, 2010

Antalya

So from the museum parking lot we took the tram into the old town and spent several hours walking around and seeing a few of the sights. If you visit Turkey, don't miss Antalya and environs...very great scenery, heritage, ambience....

Clock tower



















 
One of the things I wanted to see in Antalya
was the fluted minaret--remembering the
huge one in old Delhi--alas, it's under wraps





















A peek inside the Mosque of the Fluted Minaret (c. 13th
century)
















And a peek inside the wrap, a flute, some of
blue tile; actually it's a good bit younger and
a good bit smaller that the 200 foot high
fluted minaret at Qutub Minar (see the
November 16, 2008 post)






















Hadrian's Gate















Old town street scene




















Ruins of the Truncated Mosque















Why it's called truncated; it was originally a
2nd century temple (and probably an earlier
temple stood on the site; that's the way of
sacred sites), then a church, then a mosque,
then a church, then a mosque, then, best of
all, it burned down and became a truncated
tourist attraction
























Antalya had the best collection of beautiful Mediterranean
restaurants I have seen; dozens of them; this one merely
typical

















View across the bay, from the large park at the end of the
peninsula enclosing the old harbor
















Ditto; the haze added to the interest of the mountains, we
thought
















Looking back to the old town; the big flag is at the museum

More Antalya Archaeological Museum

In one of the halls of statues















The emperor Hadrian was very big here




















As were the Three Graces (Grace Kelly, Gracie Allen,  Grace 
de Coup)




















Part of the Hall of Busts















One of several Roman green men















One of the highlights is a large room displaying the marble friezes that once 
adorned the theatre at Perge
















And another was the collection of local Lycian sarcophogi, perhaps a dozen of the 
big ones
















For example...great condition















Detail




















Rebecca, Rachel: your mother and I have been rethinking our plans for cremation 
and have decided we would like something like this instead; maybe scenes from 
our travels in the friezes (not the Trojan War, please)

Antalya Archaeological Museum

From Aspendos we drove straight in to Antalya, a sprawling city of a million, and found our way to our main goal, its archaeological museum. The museum was one of the best we have seen, for a variety of reasons, and so I will give it two posts.
The Lycian sarcophogus is their trademark, but there is much more
















It has a beautiful setting just west of the sehir merkezi and a beautiful campus
















Bronze age burial practice around here (for some): in a big amphora jar

















I always tell her to stand next to something "for scale," then 
try to think of some outrageous caption...






















Perfume or oil jar, 5th century BCE




















Baby bottle, for feeding (seriously)















Roman legionnaire's canteen





















One of the things we really liked was an entire section--a big room--devoted to 
the various major digs and the archaeologists behind them

















Another was the overall educational emphasis of the place; I think I learned more 
at this museum--not merely about the collection, but about back-story practices and
technologies (where marble comes from, how it is mined, how it is moved, various 
types of sculpture, tools used by ancient sculptors, and so on)--than in any other I 
have seen; period; here's an entire large room devoted to pottery and especially the 
potter's wheel; and not dumbed-down to 9 year-olds, either






















One of the great paleolithic finds in the world is Karain Cave, not far from 
Antalya--continuously inhabited for 25,000 years, first by neandethals, then 
homo sapiens, everything from low paleolithic to age of metals; the good 
stuff is in the museum here



















Ditto
















Cute little solid gold cupid earring; its mate
is still out there in the ground somewhere...




















4th century BCE relief
























Monday, November 1, 2010

Perge

We drove on from Aspendos to Perge, intending to do just a drive-by of that site, and heading on up into the mountains again to see Termessos, yet another ancient city site. But photographs of Termessos in a book at the shop at Perge, the distance out of the way, and the rough ground surrounding the ruins at Termessos, all convinced us to stay at Perge, do its stadium and associated sites outside the ticketed area, and to enjoy another day of not doing much. After all, the museum in Antalya is closed on Mondays.
The colonnades at Perge















Perge's pretty much intact stadium, from the closed end of
the horseshoe
















Decorative piece on the ground...one of hundreds














South of the stadium, the best-ordered spare parts park I
have yet seen
















View from the open end














Here, again, the seats were built atop enormous vaults; the
vaults on the right remain, although their seats have been
toppled, presumably by earthquake
















Detail of vault and toppled seats















Interior of the same vault; well, I find this
stuff pretty interesting...




















Across the road, and closed to the public (for
"conservation"), the amphitheatre
















Later in the afternoon, I did something I have not done
since childhood, namely, crack open a cocoanut, drain (and
retain) the milk, and remove the meat; all this for a chicken
yellow curry Vicki was fixing; try explaining "shredded
cocoanut" to the guy in the Turkish produce department
sometime...


















Anyhow, we were all set to spend the night by the stadium
at Perge, when, right in the middle of fixing the curry, the
night watchman approached and told us "problem" and we
must leave; which we did, heading back in the darkness to
Aspendos; oh well...










Aspendos

Aspendos is a few miles down the road and a bit inland...the usual Greco/Roman city ruins, most in a more ruinous state. But it has one thing not ruined: its theatre, which is everywhere recognized as the most complete and best preserved instance of a Roman theatre anywhere.

It is a two camel site; note muzzles















Interestingly, these camels were capped at
both ends




















From the outside, the theatre looks like an ordinary 2,000
year-old 5-story building (built during reign of Marcus
Aurelius)

















Inside, you need a really big lens; ancient theatres are like
this, steep, nearly surrounding the stage, no seat more than
perhaps 150 feet from the action; no need to burn a 50 amp
fuse here

















Vicki center stage
















From where I was in the sky-boxes















In the high arcade...popcorn, peanuts, hot dogs, cold beer...















Sky-boxes
















View from proscenium














Proscenium, the part that is best preserved at Aspendos














Deus ex machina?















View from the hill above















Hill-top ruins














Countryside around Aspendos

























































The parking fee at Aspendos was 8YTL ($5), which entitled us, we thought, to an overnight stay. It was a very quiet night. But the internet connection was good.