P

erge

 

April 4, 2002













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Entrance Gate of Perge

Perge, which dates from the 3rd century B.C., is only a half-hour bus ride out of Antalya, but finding the bus is a bit difficult. The bus (or dolmus, as they call minibuses in Turkey) leaves from a traffic circle on the outskirts of the modern city. It took us a long walk and several helpful bystanders before we actually found it.

The site is about a mile from the main highway where the dolmus drops you off, but it is well worth the walk as you can see from the pictures here.

Sadly for us, the large theater by the entrance to the site was being reconstructed  and so could not be visited, but we did see the hippodrome and then entered the rest of the site via the re-erected main gateway to the city of Perge shown at left. 

The photo to the right shows part of an aqueduct, fed by the fountain whose arch is visible at the foot of the hill. The fountain in its turn was probably fed by a spring in the side of the hill.

Having wandered through the site, we climbed the hill and found a seat on some remains of the acropolis that gave us a panoramic view of the entire site and the Turkish countryside beyond.

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Fountain and Aqueduct
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Perge Main Street

These columns mark the main street of the city and are to one side of the agora, or market place.

We were very impressed by this, our first visit to a Graeco-Roman site in Turkey. Entrance to the sites is somewhat expensive, but it is clear that the money is put to good use to protect and improve the monuments.


 
 

For more information about Perge on the web go to: http://www.kusadasi.com/perge.html




Updated September 9, 2004