Dec 10, 2012
Antalya travel guide
Antalya (Turkish pronunciation: [an'talja]; from Ancient Greek: “Attalia”) is the largest city on the Turkish Mediterranean coast, and is one of the hubs of the so-called Turkish Riviera.
It was third most visited city in 2011 by number of international arrivals in the whole world. It is biggest international sea resort in Turkey.
History
The city is named after its founder, Attalos II, king of Pergamon. It is considered that the city was established around 150. year BC, naming it Attalia and choosing it as a naval base for his mighty fleet. On the other hand, excavations in the Dogu Garaji district conducted in 2008. have revealed remains which date to the third century BC, which suggest that the city was established earlier than it was previously believed.
Main sights
Antalya has a number of beautiful and astonishing waterfalls and cascades than can be felt thoroughly by the tourists who come to see this beauty of nature. The amazing beauty of the waterfalls leaves a permanent impression on tourists and fascinates them.
The upper Duden waterfalls can be seen about 14 km north east of Antalya. The Duden waterfalls ultimately descend into the sea. The serene atmosphere and sounds of the waterfalls tranquilize the minds of the viewers who come to see this beauty of nature. The tourists that decide to see this beauty of nature come here rather by walking than by hiring a taxi. The Duden waterfalls also can be viewed from the sea.
Two other waterfalls that can be seen in Antalya are the Nilufer Lake and Kursunlu Waterfalls. Both of these waterfalls are 18 km away from Antalya.
Antalya has very rich ancient history and art.
The city has many mosques, churches, masjids, madrasahs, hamams (Turkish bath) and hans (caravanserai) which tourists can see.
- Kaleici – is the harbor and in the same time is the oldest part of the city, with its winding and narrow streets which are enclosed in ancient city walls. For tourists it is best to enter into the Kaleici and exit the old quarter through the Hadrianus Gate, which was built by the Hadrianus (Roman emperor) as the entrance arch to the city, though there are even other entrances in the Kaleici. It also features many historic houses with traditional Turkish and local Greek architecture.
- ancient Roman theater known as ‘Aspendos Theater’
- great archaeology museum and plenty of ancient ruins and historic buildings near to it
Antalya has some beautiful beaches like: Laran beach, Konyaalti beach and Karpuzkaldiran beach. The Lara beach is scattered with sandy spread is the archetype of a white bed spread.
Transportation
The main mean of transportation for tourists to Antalya is by air (Antalya Airport which has 1 domestic terminal and 2 international terminals) and by land (Buses and Rail). Sea routes are still under development.
Food
Food in Antalya is tasty and is not expensive. Cost of one full meal is around 10 – 20 TRY (Turkish Lira), converted it is around 5 – 11 $. The city has also many good seafood restaurants.
- this article is written using wikitravel.org and wikipedia.com
- images are taken from Flickr from these authors:
Forrestal_PL – flickr.com/photos/forrestal/
ole.overgaard – flickr.com/photos/24124347@N07/
zolakoma – flickr.com/photos/zolakoma/
astique – flickr.com/photos/astique/
A.M. Kuchling – flickr.com/photos/akuchling/
DigitalLeica – flickr.com/photos/digitalleica/
TURCOLIVE – flickr.com/photos/25921232@N02/
Wendy Schotsmans – flickr.com/photos/wendyschotsmans/
TurkeyVision – flickr.com/photos/turkeyvision/
Alaskan Dude – flickr.com/photos/72213316@N00/
Toni Birrer – flickr.com/photos/tonibirrer/
levork – flickr.com/photos/levork/
bortescristian – flickr.com/photos/bortescristian/
burntime – flickr.com/photos/burntime/
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