Side Turkey

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Big Bear Lake
Prague Czech Rep.
Istanbul Turkey
Ankara Turkey
Konya Turkey
Antalia Turkey
Side Turkey
Demre Turkey
Cirali Turkey
Fethiye Turkey
Kayakoy Turkey
Marmaris Turkey
Rhodes Greece
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Enter Africa by Egypt

Side Turkey: The ruins at Side (pronounced See-day) Turkey.

Side Turkey: Here is proof that the ancient Greeks knew how to make concrete.

Side Turkey: More proof that the ancient Greeks knew how to make concrete.

Side Turkey: The ruins at Side (pronounced See-day) Turkey. Here is proof that the ancient Greeks knew how to make concrete.

Side Turkey: The highly developed village of Side today caters to tourists - mostly German as best I could tell.

Side Turkey: The highly developed village of Side today caters to tourists. This is the square in the center of town.

Side Turkey: The ruins at Side (pronounced See-day) Turkey.

Manavgat Turkey: Just to prove I actually took the pictures of the 26 hundred year old ruins of Side located in this region and am still alive at this point.

Side Turkey: The ruins at Side (pronounced See-day) Turkey.

Side Turkey: A view from the ruins looking toward the sea.

Side Turkey: Another view toward the sea.

Side Turkey:Columns and blocks stored for ongoing restoration work at the ruins.

Side Turkey: The archeological museum sits across the street from the area protected by a chain link fence.

Side Turkey:Columns and blocks stored for ongoing restoration work at the ruins.

Side Turkey: After many centuries some of the original columns still stand among the ruins.

Side Turkey: Supporting scaffolding protect the ancient crumbling ruins at Side.

Side Turkey: At the ruins at Side near the tourist area.

Side Turkey: One of the tourist buses bringing visitors to the ruins.

Side Turkey: The village of Side today caters to tourists.

Side Turkey: The tourist village of Side even has at least one Internet Cafe! (1.5 Million TL, about 3 times average in Antalya)

Side Turkey: One of the back streets in the village of Side.

Side Turkey: The few cars driving through the village of Side have a tight squeeze in some places.

Side Turkey: All of the streets through the village of Side are lined with souvenir shops.

Side Turkey: This nearly deserted street has been restricted to pedestrians for the moment.

Side Turkey: Some typical prices at the sidewalk cafes found all around the village.

Side Turkey: The village of Side today caters to tourists - mostly German at the moment.

Side Turkey: One of the hotel resorts in the highly developed village of Side.

Manavgat Turkey: Oops. Someone forgot their apples at the produce market.

Manavgat Turkey: Fresh vegetables on sale in the produce market at Manavgat.

26 February 2001

Greetings from Side (Pronounced See-day)

I took a day trip over to this little town, (pronounced See-day) about an hour away from Antalya today and managed to get the PenCam pictures uploaded in the evening. So, this is as close to being contemporaneous as it gets - at least for me. My commentaries are terse to say the least, but after all this is a postcard. No one expects much literary polish on a postcard, right? I did manage to take 78 photographs while looking over the ancient ruins.

Side is a highly developed tourist town built right among old Greek and Roman ruins. The name is derived from an ancient Anotolian language and means pomegranate, a fruit symbolizing abundance. Walking the town made me think of the main tourist section of Istanbul near the Blue Mosque. "Hello sir. Where are you from?" etc. Here, all the eager merchants thought I was part of a large German tourist group visiting that day and the salutations were more like: "Gutten Tag mein hier."

A quick search of the Internet finds a flood of sites covering the history, cultural and tourist aspects of the city and region. This site is particularly well done and includes a couple excellent videos exploring the ruins.

Well, as this is a postcard and there rarely is enough room on them to say much, I'll just squeeze in a final "Having a wonderful time. Wish you were here."

Peace,
Fred L Bellomy

BACK IN ANTALIA 'TIL 1 MARCH 2001

Side Turkey: Part of the ancient city wall: still in pretty good shape after all these thousands of years.

Side Turkey: Part of the ancient city wall: still in remarkably good shape after all these thousands of years.

Side Turkey: The ruins at Side (pronounced See-day) Turkey. Part of the ancient city wall: still in pretty good shape after all these thousands of years.

Side Turkey: One of the better preserved areas of the ruins.

Side Turkey: The ruins dating from 600BC at Side (pronounced See-day) Turkey.

Side Turkey: Much of the ruins at Side are protected by this surrounding fence. Here tourists inspect the site.

Side Turkey: View of the Mediterranean Sea from the ruins of Side in southern Turkey.

Side Turkey: After many centuries some of the original columns still stand among the ruins.

Side Turkey: The ruins at Side near the Museum date from the time of Socrates, very old.

Side Turkey: A view of the ruins of Side from a hill top.

Side Turkey: The highly developed village of Side today caters to tourists. Apparently a German cruise ship is in port as the merchants all greeted me in German.

Side Turkey: Side today caters to tourists. The guys in this cafe squeezed me a glass of fresh orange juice and got very curious about my little digital camera. One muttered: "CIA?"

Side Turkey: Tourists compete with cars for passage through the narrow brick streets.

Side Turkey: Some of the streets through the most popular areas of Side Village are restricted to pedestrians at certain times.

Side Turkey: This guy is obviously not a tourist judging by the serious look on his face and his attire.

Side Turkey: The square in the center of town.

Manavgat Turkey: The bus station (otogar) at Manavgat where I caught the bus back to Fethiye.

Manavgat Turkey: A beautiful open produce market at Manavgat.

Manavgat Turkey: This produce market near the bus station in Manavgat seems to be popular with the locals.

End

Side Turkey: The ancient Greek ruins at Side (pronounced See-day) Turkey were already here by the time of the Greek philosophers, Plato and Socretes.

Side Turkey: There is a lot of looking up... and down from the top of the city walls.

Side Turkey: The highly developed village of Side today caters to tourists - mostly German today as best I can tell. Some typical prices at the sidewalk cafes all over the village

Side Turkey: The ruins at Side (pronounced See-day) Turkey

Side Turkey: Details of stone carving which has survived all these centuries.

Side Turkey: The ruins at Side (pronounced See-day) Turkey.

Side Turkey: The ruins at Side (pronounced See-day) Turkey. (Paula would like this. I can hear her voice in my head: "be careful. Don't get too close to the edge!)

Side Turkey: The ruins at Side (pronounced See-day) Turkey.

Side Turkey: Doorway through the outer wall at the ruins.

Side Turkey: The sea around the ancient Side site.

Side Turkey: Rubble awaiting restoration work at the ruins.

Side Turkey: After many centuries some of the original columns still stand among the ruins.

Side Turkey: Another shot of the standing columns among the ruins of Side.

Side Turkey: Roman arches at the ruins of Side.

Side Turkey: Supporting scaffolding protect the ancient crumbling ruins at Side.

Side Turkey: The highly developed village of Side today caters to tourists - mostly German today as best I could tell.

Side Turkey: The highly developed village of Side today caters to tourists - mostly German this season.

Side Turkey: Locals go about their business in the village of Side waiting for the rush of tourists from a German cruise ship.

Side Turkey: Vehicular traffic is limited in the village.

Side Turkey: Waiting for the next batch of tourists in the village of Side.

Side Turkey: Not a whole lot of room for cars in the village.

Side Turkey: This travel agency sits next to shops selling curios of interest to tourists, mostly German today.

Side Turkey: The highly developed village of Side today caters to tourists - mostly German as best I could tell.

Side Turkey: Every town has a statue of Ataturk, the father of his country... like George Washington in America.

Side Turkey: One of the hotel resorts in the highly developed village of Side.

Side Turkey: Wide brick walkway out to a restaurant with a view of the Mediterranean where I had lunch.

Manavgat Turkey: This guy is hurrying to do some shopping at the produce market in Manavgat.

Manavgat Turkey: Scarf covered ladies do their produce shopping at the Manavgat market.