The Ruins of Perge

Yay! Ruins!

When we started this adventure, I envisioned being whisked about all of Turkey, seeing ruins upon ruins with Alan's class.  Sadly though, Georgetown's itineraries have, for the most part, ended up being way too hectic for Brewer and Ruby and so- save Istanbul, Cappadocia and Ankara, myself and the tots have stayed in Alanya these past 2+ months.  In our final weeks, Alan and I have set out to remedy this deficiency by visiting several significant Roman ruin sites close to Alanya.

Swimming in one of the baths

This past weekend, we tackled the first with a short 2 1/2 hour bus ride to the world-class city of Antalya.  Antalya is a coastal resort town that perhaps is best known to Americans for its golf courses.  Alan's dad told us that just recently he watched Tiger play there on a course overlooking the magnificent Med.  We stayed in Old Town, in a quaint, remodeled Otoman style villa, Ninova Pension.  Our room was charming with a wood floor and ceiling and two beautiful Turkish rugs.  During the kids' nap, Alan let me go explore and I meandered the maze of streets where shops were selling everything from 2 lira magnets to antique rugs for many 1,000s of lira.  Old town overlooks the Med and is dotted too with hellenic ruins including a clock tower from the 2nd century.

Remnants of an ornate arch at the city entrance

The next morning, after our Turkish breakfast of boiled eggs, bread and cheeses, we were picked up by our driver the hotel had arranged the night before and whisked 20 km outside the city to the Perge ruins.  There, under a clear blue sky we explored an entire Roman city, complete with a stadium, baths, merchant streets, a theater (although it was closed for renovations) and basilicas.  We were there nearly 2 and 1/2 hours and the kids absolutely loved it.  I think they could have stayed twice as long.  So much to explore.  As an added bonus, the site was not at all crowded, allowing to take in many of the ruins in solitude.

Later, realizing that our time here was ending soon, Brewer and I contemplated what each of us would miss the most about Turkey.  For Ruby, we guessed the cats; for Dad, the beach; for me, the farmers markets, and for him, it was, yes, the ruins. - Kelly

Galleys used for shops outside the Stadium

Main entrance

Running for the Acropolis

Ruby liked the "rocks"

Sitting in the 12,000 seat stadium