Antalya Attractions

Considerable stretches of the Hellenistic and Roman town walls on the east side of the Old Town of Antalya have been preserved, sometimes incorporating later building. The most notable part is the well-preserved Hadrian's Gate, erected in honor of the Emperor Hadrian on the occasion of his visit to the town in A.D. 130. This imposing marble gateway, with two massive towers flanking its three arches, has rich sculptural decoration.

The Karain cave, 27km/17mi northwest of Antalya, near Dösemalti, in the karst country around Sam Dag, was inhabited by prehistoric man. It has yielded finds from both Lower and Middle palaeolithic, including bones and teeth belonging to Neanderthal man. Some of the finds are on show in a small but remarkably comprehensive museum on the site.

Since the restoration of the picturesque quarter below the citadel (kaleiçi) in Antalya, the Old Harbor, nestling in its recess in the cliffs, and the area surrounding it, with hotels, restaurants, boutiques and bazaars, have become a busy focus of tourist activity. The citadel, on the clifftop overlooking the small-craft harbor, has also recently been restored.

A little way northeast of the Old Harbor is Antalya's most striking landmark, the Yivli Minare (Fluted Minaret), a vigorous example of Seljuk architecture with a square base surmounted by an octagonal drum bearing the fluted shaft with its corbelled gallery round the top. The minaret, faced with brown tiles, belongs to a mosque converted from a former Byzantine church by Alaeddin Keykubad (1219-36).

Along the east side of Hadrian's Gate and the old town walls in Antalya runs a broad avenue, Atatürk Caddesi, with dual carriageways separated by a double row of stately date palms. It sweeps southwards in a wide arc to the Town Hall and Municipal Park. The latter, extending to the cliff edge overlooking the Gulf, offers some splendid views. At the northwest corner of the park can be seen the 13m/43ft-high Hidirlik Kulesi, the stump of a tower which may once have been a Roman lighthouse.

From the eastern outskirts of Antalya a series of splendid beaches extend along the north shore of the Gulf. Lara Plaji is perhaps the best of them, with a number of new hotels.

Features of interest in the narrow bazaar-filled streets of the Old Town of Antalya are a fortified gate with a clock-tower in the busy main square, the nearby Tekeli Mehmet Pasa Mosque, the Seljuk Karatay Mosque (1250Ô and, farther south, the Kesik Minare (Truncated Minaret) beside the ruins of an abandoned mosque which was once a Byzantine church.

Only 3km/1.75mi south of Kemer are the ruins of the old Lydian port of Phaselis where, in 334-333 B.C., Alexander the Great set up his winter quarters. There are remains of a theater, an aqueduct, temples, and a Hadrian's Arch erected in A.D. 114. There is also a museum.

A small winter-sports center has been built at an altitude of 2,000-2,400m/6,500-7,875ft near the village of Saklikent (1,850m/6,071ft) in the northern Bey Daglari, about 70km/43mi west of Antalya (via Çakirlar). Although chair-lift facilities are still modest the resort offers significant accommodation.

With one lovely beach giving way to another, the 220kms/137mi of coastline on the Gulf of Antalya, from Kemer eastwards to beyond GaziPasa, is known as the "Turkish Riviera".