Out for some more exploring

Yesterday was a bit of a dreary day, but it never did rain, and it most certainly didn't snow. The temperature went up to about 19C (66F), but there was no sunshine at all. There was also no wind at all.

We drove east through the city of Antalya and headed to the city of Side (pronounced See-deh).

There are two parts to Side... one is the beach resort area, and the other is the remains of the ancient city of Side.

Here is our drive from yesterday...

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Yesterday's drive, 82 kms (51 miles).

And, it wasn't a very nice drive. Maybe the dreary day had something to do with it, but the drive was not scenic... lots of industrial area, and busy four lanes of traffic. In fact, I would avoid this section of drive in the future.

Unfortunately, there is no other easy way to get from Antalya to Side unless you take a long detour up through the mountains, which to be honest if we had more time we would have done that! I'm writing this mostly to remind myself when we come back with the motorhome to avoid this section!

Arriving in the Side area, there is a long stretch of nice sandy beach. During the summer, in a normal year, this would be packed with people, and so would the resorts that line the beach. But now, at this time of year, and with Covid, there is hardly anybody around and most of the resorts look to be closed up.

Nobody around.

Ruth went to stick her hand in the water.

She said it was cool, but not cold.

One of the many big resort hotels.

A lone palm tree.

We walked on the beach for 45 minutes or so and then drove into the town itself. Not our style of place. Definitely catering to the beach crowd that arrives from Ankara on weekends during the hot summer.

We knew also that there is an ancient ruins site in Side, and while we didn't go there specifically for that, we did enjoy seeing it. Lots of walking around to be done, and it is quite spread out.

Even in the newer part of the city, there are ruins.

The paved road you see in the foreground has been a road for over 2,000 years!

And it is still used today.

A 2,000 year old road.

Obviously it has been re-done several times or more!

But the ancient ruins are still beside the road.

These would have been shops and storefronts.

One of the original roads.

The state agora.

Detailed stone carving.

Look at the detail on this one!

Ruth.

Beach east of Side.

The back wall of the theater complex.

The entire site is open to be explored without paying, except for the theater. Admittedly, this theater was a little different but we felt there was enough for us to see without having to pay.

Looking back at the modern part of Side.

The rare remains of a two story building.

Feel free to wander around!

Looking back at the theater.

Just hope that nothing collapses while you are there!

This type of detailed rock carving amazes us!

One more earthquake...

We've seen a lot of ruins sites in Turkey, and this stop wasn't really planned, but we're glad we saw it. As we've said before, every ruins site is just a little bit different.

Today marks the start of our last week in Turkey! We fly out next Tuesday from Dalaman (DAL near Fethiye) to Istanbul (SAW), then from Instanbul to Doha, Qatar, then on to Tanzania.

Ruth is booked at a hairstylist for 11:00am this morning, then I will try to find a barber with an empty shop. Then after lunch we are meeting friends Volkan and Heather downtown for a walk after which we have an eye doctor appointment at 4:30pm.

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