We were on the road again today, destination Burdur, with a couple ruins to see along the way. We had breakfast at a different bakery, this one closer to our hotel. It was popular, with people lining up out the door to get their freshly-baked simits to go.
We placed our breakfast order, and found an open table. The simits were excellent, as well as a couple pastries Heather picked out to try. Their menu signboard had kahveli, (with coffee), so we asked for a Turkish coffee too.
Got back to the hotel, packed up the car, and started on our way to Termessos Ancient City. It was only an hour away, and most of the drive was escaping the urban sprawl of Antalya.
We exited the highway to the ruins, and paid our entrance fees. It was then a 9.5km drive 1000m uphill to the ruins. This was a fun drive, with switchbacks all the way up. There’s no guardrail, just a steep drop off the edge of the road.
Termessos is still in an unrestored state, with not much in terms of signage. It reminded us of Jordan where there’s too many archaeological sites and not enough archaeologists and/or funding. We just wanted to see the theatre sitting at the top of the hill. The rest of the ancient city is mostly piles of rubble covered in undergrowth, Lara Croft Tomb Raider style.
There were only a handful of cars in the parking lot when we arrived, which boded well. We tried to orient ourselves based on the rough map in the parking lot, it’s not obvious which way to go. (It’s the path well-taken, with the sign that says ‘ruins’).
It’s a steep climb up, passing by the rest of the unrestored ruins. After about 45 minutes we reached the top, and had our first view of the theatre. It’s a pretty cool setting. There was just a group of four other tourists, who were good for scale.
We took our pics and then headed back down to the car. We were passed by a few cars in the opposite direction on our drive down, it was a tight squeeze.
We had a two hour drive ahead of us to get to Sagalassos Ancient City. We stopped for lunch at a random roadside place that had a few cars parked out front. With some help from Google Translate, we ordered a meat and cheese pide (Turkish pizza), and two ayrans (yoghurt drinks). We ended up with two pides, and overate a bit. It was tasty though!
The drive to Sagalassos took us past fruit orchards, cow and sheep pastures, and other small farms. It was a nice snapshot of rural Türkiye. We actually drove through a small farming community on the approach to Sagalassos, with groups of women sipping tea at tables spilling onto the road.
Sagalassos is also at the top of a hill, at around 1700m. We needed a boost so had a Turkish coffee before exploring the ruins.
Sagalassos is amazing, my favourite site so far. Most of the places we had to ourselves. I posted a video of the Antonine Nymphaeum. (Like and subscribe!) The theatre is also really cool, I liked it as much as the one at Termessos. Overall, Sagalassos is one of my favourite Roman Ruins. Baalbek and Jerash are still the top two; this would be the best of the next tier. I thought we might be tired of Ancient Cities at this point, but Sagalassos was impressive.
It was just a 40 minute drive to our hotel in Burdur, a decidedly non-touristy city. The hotel was right in the busy centre. I double-parked in front to unload our luggage, while Heather sorted out where the parking lot was. She then checked us in while I drove around to the parking lot. I got thrown off cause the access is by a road with a Do Not Enter sign, and finally looped around to the front of the hotel again. Turns out the sign would have been better read as Do Not Enter Unless You’re Going To The Hotel Parking Lot. Oh well.
The hotel was a very functional business hotel, with the best rainhead shower we’ve had on the trip. Also the best bathroom lighting.
The hotel folks had given Heather a recommendation for dinner. It was about 500m down the main street. They were super friendly at the restaurant. We both ordered the Burdur çiç (shish), it was tasty, served on really good pitas. It was very busy with locals, who set some speed records for eating. Heather and I are not the faster eaters in the world, but the other tables must turned over three times in the time we were there. They were all seriously quick eaters.
Got back to the hotel and called it a night. Burdur looked like a nice city with a vibe, it’s too bad it was just a transit stop for us.
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