Rockin Perge and Aspendos

Antalya to Aspendos
Distance: 54.2 km
Time elapsed: 2:44:00
Average speed: 20.1 km/ hr
Max speed: 47.2 km/ hr
Temp: 30 C
Weather: Humid late afternoon, cool rain and wind in the evening

Got a late start this afternoon leaving Antalya. I have no more room on my camera cards and flash drives are incredibly expensive here so I've been trying to figure out how to store my pics. Until now I have always used my iPod to store photos, which conveniently broke 3 weeks before leaving Albania, and as it turns out the Itouch does not enable hard disk use. Bummer. That's a real pickle. As a fix I bought some DVDs and hopefully I can find a computer to burn them with (though also as it turns out DVD drives aren't too common here either). Until then all photos will be from Chris' canon!


Chris' camera captures the storm

I struggled with my pic files until 3:30, then we hopped on the highway east from Antalya, conveniently starting in a neihborhood near the city's edge. The road is beautifully paved- smooth smooth!- so we made pretty good time. We reached the ruins of Perge before sunset, pausing at a truckfull of melons in the nearby village to buy a kavun (honeydew 2 TL), then parked our bikes near the ancient stadium entrance. We wandered around a bit, sitting to admire the lengthy rows of ancient stone seats and intricately engraved chunks of rubble and also to eat our melon. If there's one thing we're great at is impromptu picnics in beautiful (and sometimes not so beautiful but usually shady) places.


Perge's stadium, good picnic zone


Some decor from the ancient stadium

Then back on the road toward Aspendos. Approaching the city we faced a monstrous cloud with storms brewing below; it looked like something that should swirl above Mt. Olympus, encapsulating the mighty gods and goddesses just out of mortal view. Luckily the rain stayed in front, and as we entered the city of Serik, fully prepared to be drenched upon, we only found wet streets and a sweet winter smell. After sunset we stopped at a lokante (restaurant) where Chris got his first Adana kebab, the famous spicy lamb skewer. Out front the lokante sat a huge pile of oversized pumpkins, a hint that fall is coming soon.


Pumpkins galore!


Chris very carefully chooses his kebab meat


Typical lokante/ çorbasi

A few km outside of town is the turn for Aspendos. We crossed the underpass and entered the village, stopping at a restored Ottoman köprüsü (bridge) over the river. Underneath a pair of Turks were night diving; we could see their flash lights circling underwater, then they disappeared downstream.

Decided to break camp on the bridge. In true form it's Ottoman style is iconically peaked in the middle, which means we had to sleep at an angle. However it was comfortable enough, safe and quiet, and we fell asleep under a waxing moon.


Good campground