Top 20 attractions in Side

Side Resort offers its guests a unique oppor­tu­ni­ty to com­bine a beach hol­i­day with a vis­it to ancient antiq­ui­ties.

What to do in Side

Con­nois­seurs of ancient archi­tec­ture should def­i­nite­ly vis­it the ancient the­ater. Built in the 2nd cen­tu­ry AD. e., it accom­mo­dat­ed 20 thou­sand spec­ta­tors — an unheard of scale for those times. The Ago­ra was the epi­cen­ter of life. And the ruins of the old square give an idea of ​​the lifestyle and cul­tur­al devel­op­ment of the towns­peo­ple.

The cities of Seleu­cia and Sel­ga, which have sunk into obliv­ion, will def­i­nite­ly appeal to lovers of rid­dles. Their ruins against the back­drop of Mediter­ranean green­ery impress with grandeur.

The tem­ples of Side invite you to make a jour­ney based on ancient Greek leg­ends. The sanc­tu­ary of Apol­lo and the tem­ple of Artemis were destroyed by an earth­quake. How­ev­er, even their restored frag­ments amaze with their mon­u­men­tal­i­ty. The Tyukhe tem­ple had an unusu­al exte­ri­or and was dec­o­rat­ed with zodi­ac signs.

The beach­es are anoth­er attrac­tion of Side. They are equal­ly attrac­tive for lovers of noisy and seclud­ed recre­ation.

Notable architecture

ancient theater

The amphithe­ater was built around the 2nd cen­tu­ry AD. e., and at that time it was the largest in Asia Minor. The con­struc­tion con­sists of 22 visu­al rows sup­port­ed by vault­ed arch­es, below — a round orches­tra. It host­ed glad­i­a­tor fights and per­for­mances. And in order to recre­ate the pic­ture of sea bat­tles, the stage was flood­ed with water.

The artists per­formed against the back­drop of a 3‑meter skene (anal­o­gous to a mod­ern cur­tain). Behind it were the “dress­ing rooms” and props. There was also a base­ment where wild ani­mals were kept behind a one and a half meter wall. The stage and vaults of the amphithe­ater were dec­o­rat­ed with ele­gant bas-reliefs. Alas, they are now lost.

Agora

The Mar­ket Square or Ago­ra was the cen­ter of cul­tur­al, polit­i­cal and com­mer­cial life in Side. Sci­en­tists believe that there were two Ago­ras in the ancient city — tourists are rec­om­mend­ed to vis­it the one that is locat­ed next to the amphithe­ater. It was pos­si­ble to get to it through the gates of Propil­ion — now they are locat­ed oppo­site the mod­ern city muse­um.

On all sides, the Ago­ra was sur­round­ed by columns and stat­ues on pedestals. One of them has sur­vived well to this day — this is Neme­sis, the god­dess of ret­ri­bu­tion. On the east side lie the ruins of a two-sto­ry build­ing. It must have been a library. If you go a lit­tle fur­ther, you can see the remains of the epis­co­pal palace and the bap­tis­tery in the Byzan­tine style.

Aspendos Bridge

The bridge was built in the XIII cen­tu­ry by the Seljuk Turks on the site of an ancient Roman struc­ture, which even­tu­al­ly fell into dis­re­pair. Its length is about 220 m, the width varies from 4.5 m to 5.7 m. From afar, the bridge seems to be hump­backed, deformed — the thing is that the sup­ports have shift­ed due to the mov­ing ground. How­ev­er, the design remained sta­ble and sta­ble.

Fountain Nymphaeum

The mon­u­men­tal struc­ture was erect­ed in hon­or of the emper­or Ves­pasian and his son, pre­sum­ably in the 2nd cen­tu­ry AD. e. The height of the foun­tain reached 5 m, and the width was about 35 m. The mar­ble bowl was framed by columns and stat­ues (some of them can be seen in the muse­um), and fres­coes dec­o­rat­ed one of the walls. Water was sup­plied from an aque­duct. Of the three tiers of the foun­tain, only two have sur­vived, but this is enough to appre­ci­ate the grandeur of the struc­ture.

city ​​walls

The once mas­sive walls reli­ably pro­tect­ed the inhab­i­tants of the city from ene­my attacks. The sur­viv­ing frag­ments of the for­ti­fi­ca­tions are locat­ed on the land side. Those that stood on the shore of the bay did not sur­vive to this day — they were swal­lowed up by sand.

For­ti­fi­ca­tions began to be built in the 2nd cen­tu­ry BC. e. They were destroyed, remade and recon­struct­ed for 7 cen­turies.

Most impres­sive is the 3‑storey build­ing of the 4th cen­tu­ry. Its walls pro­trude one above the oth­er. This was done so that dur­ing the bat­tle the sol­diers locat­ed at dif­fer­ent lev­els did not inter­fere with each oth­er. On the mid­dle floor there were bar­racks, and move­ment between lev­els was car­ried out by wood­en stairs.

Aqueduct

The ancient Roman aque­duct is locat­ed in the north­west of Side. Laid across the moun­tain­ous ter­rain, it sup­plied water from the Melos Riv­er (now Man­av­gat) through a com­plex sys­tem of pipes to each house and fed the Nymphaeum foun­tain. The engi­neer­ing design was very com­plex for ancient times. The length of the aque­duct is about 30 km. It con­sist­ed of 22 bridges and 16 tun­nels with a length of 2,260 m.

The aque­duct was built in the II cen­tu­ry BC. e., but after 100 years it was recon­struct­ed. The main rea­son is the unre­li­able rock used dur­ing con­struc­tion.

The most inter­est­ing frag­ments of the aque­duct are exhib­it­ed in the local muse­um.

arched gate

The majes­tic gate is locat­ed in the north­ern part of the resort. They are a kind of bor­der between the mod­ern and his­tor­i­cal part of Side. They were built by order of the emper­or Ves­pasian. The grandiose build­ing reached a length of 6 m. Unfor­tu­nate­ly, time did not spare the struc­ture, but even the remain­ing ruins look mon­u­men­tal.

Ancient settlements and temples

Tyukhe Temple

In the cen­ter of the Ago­ra is a small tem­ple that glo­ri­fies Tyche, the ancient Greek god­dess of for­tune. The round struc­ture was crowned with a pyra­mid-shaped roof, and on each of its 12 sides was a sign of the zodi­ac. The image of the sanc­tu­ary is mint­ed on the coins that cir­cu­lat­ed in the ancient pol­i­cy. This fact tes­ti­fies to the great sig­nif­i­cance of the tem­ple.

Temple of Apollo

At the south­ern tip of the Side penin­su­la in the II cen­tu­ry BC. e. built the tem­ple of Apol­lo from white mar­ble. They say that it was in it that the fate­ful meet­ing of Cleopa­tra and Mark Antony took place. Near­by stood the sanc­tu­ary of Artemis. Both struc­tures were destroyed by an earth­quake in the 10th cen­tu­ry.

The ruins of the tem­ple of Apol­lo look the most attrac­tive. The rec­tan­gu­lar base mea­sur­ing 30x17 m was framed by 66 Corinthi­an columns about 9 m high. After a nat­ur­al dis­as­ter, only 5 of them remained. The ped­i­ment was dec­o­rat­ed with a bas-relief depict­ing the Gor­gon Medusa. Now, in the rays of night illu­mi­na­tion, the ancient ruins look espe­cial­ly dra­mat­ic.

Seleucia

In the sub­urbs of Side, a cou­ple of kilo­me­ters from the vil­lage of Seil­er, lie the mon­u­men­tal ruins of the ancient city of Seleu­cia. Dur­ing the exca­va­tions car­ried out here in the mid-1970s, the remains of ther­mae, the ruins of the Ago­ra, the Byzan­tine tem­ple and the odeon, dec­o­rat­ed with a mag­nif­i­cent mosa­ic depict­ing Orpheus, were dis­cov­ered.

The archi­tec­tur­al fea­tures of the found build­ings led a num­ber of sci­en­tists to the con­clu­sion that this was not Seleu­cia, but the lost city of Lirbe, which was part of the Roman province of Pam­phylia. The ruins of the ancient set­tle­ment are over­grown with dense Mediter­ranean veg­e­ta­tion, which adds to the mys­tery of this place.

Selge

In the Tau­rus Moun­tains, a real pearl is hid­den — the city of Selge. Accord­ing to leg­end, it was found­ed by the seer Calchas, who lost his sight in the bat­tles of the Tro­jan War. For sev­er­al cen­turies the city remained inde­pen­dent and at the same time pros­pered eco­nom­i­cal­ly thanks to good rela­tions with Pam­phlia. Lat­er, it became part of the Roman Empire, and dur­ing the Byzan­tine rule, it fell into final decline.

You should def­i­nite­ly see what is left of the local amphithe­ater for 10 thou­sand spec­ta­tors, the ruins of the tem­ples of Zeus and Artemis, and also walk along the stones of the ruined Ago­ra.

natural attractions

Waterfall Manavgat

The beau­ti­ful Man­av­gat water­fall is locat­ed about 3 km from Side — next to the set­tle­ment of the same name. The attrac­tion is of arti­fi­cial ori­gin: after the cre­ation of the Oymap­inar dam, a reser­voir appeared on the riv­er. The riv­er changed its course, and a height dif­fer­ence formed, which is nec­es­sary for the oper­a­tion of the hydraulic struc­ture. This is how the Man­av­gat water­fall appeared.

Its height does not exceed 2 m, but its width reach­es 40 m. The spec­ta­cle of falling water is impres­sive. About 1 mil­lion peo­ple come to see this nat­ur­al pearl every year. Near the obser­va­tion deck there are sou­venir shops and shops. There is a restau­rant where, in addi­tion to Turk­ish cui­sine, they also offer to enjoy beau­ti­ful views.

Dur­ing the flood peri­od, Man­av­gat is com­plete­ly hid­den in the riv­er of the same name.

Koprulu Canyon

About 7 km from Aspendos, the moun­tain riv­er Kopruchay runs. Its banks are con­nect­ed by a long hump­backed bridge, built in the ancient Roman era. A lit­tle fur­ther, the water artery nar­rows — this is where the Kopru­lu Canyon Nation­al Nat­ur­al Park begins. This is the best place in the region for raft­ing.

Those who are indif­fer­ent to active sports can go hik­ing. The canyon offers sev­er­al routes of vary­ing length and dif­fi­cul­ty. All of them pass through pic­turesque places, so they will leave vivid mem­o­ries and beau­ti­ful pho­tos.

Dudanshik caves

In the sub­urbs of Cevi­zli, there is the deep­est net­work of caves in Turkey. Some stone bags go as deep as 350 m. Many caves are con­nect­ed by tun­nels and under­ground rivers. One of them comes to the sur­face in the form of a crys­tal clear and cold spring in the Pamuk­luk area. Inspec­tion of the caves is rec­om­mend­ed only with a guide.

green canyon

This nat­ur­al attrac­tion is called the azure king­dom. The canyon is locat­ed about 25 km from Side on the ter­ri­to­ry of the nation­al reserve. Most often, tourists view the enchant­i­ng land­scape from the boat. Sheer cliffs cov­ered with emer­ald veg­e­ta­tion open up to the eye. The white col­or of the rock enhances the col­or of the water — that’s why it seems sky blue.

Cafes and restau­rants locat­ed near­by invite you to sat­is­fy your hunger after a walk in the fresh air. The sig­na­ture dish is trout cooked in every pos­si­ble way. The catch is obtained from the sur­round­ing waters (so, at least, the own­ers of the estab­lish­ments say).

Oymapinar Dam

The Oymap­inar dam was erect­ed in 1984 on the Man­av­gat Riv­er. This is the sec­ond largest hydraulic struc­ture in Turkey. The height of the dam is 185 m, the width is about 360 m. The area of ​​the reser­voir formed near­by is about 5 square meters. km, and the max­i­mum depth reach­es 110 m.

The dam is locat­ed near Side, and the prox­im­i­ty to the resort makes it attrac­tive to tourists. They com­bine a trip to Oimap­inar with a vis­it to the Man­av­gat water­fall.

Entertainment and beaches

Side Museum

The muse­um occu­pies a build­ing of the 5th cen­tu­ry, which once housed the city bath. The exhi­bi­tion is small, but the exhibits stored in it are of great val­ue:

• The first hall dis­plays the old­est arti­facts dat­ing back to the Hel­lenis­tic peri­od. These are coins, ceram­ics and a rare set of med­ical instru­ments.
• In the sec­ond hall there are frag­ments of ancient stat­ues with bro­ken heads and limbs. Acts of van­dal­ism are on the con­science of the ear­ly Chris­tians.
• An old copy of the famous Three Graces stat­ue, as well as sculp­tures of Her­cules and the god­dess Nike, adorn the third hall.
• In the fourth, there are chil­dren’s sar­copha­gi with touch­ing draw­ings and inscrip­tions.
• Jew­el­ry and weapons are exhib­it­ed in the fifth hall.

In the court­yard lead­ing to the sea, you can find count­less frag­ments of columns, cap­i­tals and bas-reliefs, trans­ferred to the muse­um for safe­keep­ing.

West Beach

This is the most pop­u­lar and longest beach in Side, which, in addi­tion, bor­ders the prom­e­nade, where you can find enter­tain­ment for every taste. Tourists are wait­ing for restau­rants, clubs, bars and sou­venir shops. The coast­line starts on the right — just behind the cape with the tem­ple of Apol­lo.

The beach is cov­ered with soft fine sand, the entrance to the water is com­fort­able. The depth is small, which is a minus for active bathers, and a plus for cou­ples with chil­dren. Sun loungers, umbrel­las and awnings — every­thing is there.

East Beach

The length of this beach is about 1.5 km. It starts on the left side of the cape with the tem­ple of Apol­lo and ends at the restau­rant. Com­pared to the West, there are few­er peo­ple here, which affects the infra­struc­ture. The choice of cafes and restau­rants is small, there are no shops.

The coast­line is sandy and rocky areas, the entrance to the water is not always com­fort­able. How­ev­er, there are also sunbeds, umbrel­las, chang­ing cab­ins and toi­lets here.

Column Avenue

The first thing that tourists see when cross­ing the cen­tral gates of the city is a long street framed by rows of dilap­i­dat­ed columns on both sides. The orig­i­nal over­pass with a length of about 250 m pass­es through the his­tor­i­cal part of Side, goes around the Ago­ra, then cross­es the vil­lage of Selimiye and ends at the sea, rest­ing on the Tem­ple of the Moon.

Walk­ing along the pave­ment, dec­o­rat­ed with mosaics, leaves a strong impres­sion. A huge num­ber of restau­rants, shops and sou­venir shops set­tled on the columned avenue. Here you can buy var­i­ous goods at rea­son­able prices. Trad­ing is required.