Temple of Apollo
People i met here who contributed to, and improved my trip:
Entering Side is quite an impressive experience, as the dolmush weaves its way through ancient Roman ruins and drops you off at the imposing theatre. From here its only a five minute walk to reach anywhere in the town, which is rather convenient. My first priority was to find a pension, after which i planned to take a look at the Temples of Apollo and Athena, hopefully in time for the sunset.
As i wandered through the maze of streets, a young guy who owned a souvenir shop waved me over. As his shop was next to a hotel, i presumed he would offer me a room, so sat down to listen to what he had to say.
It took about 10 minutes to find somewhere to stay, and i settled on Emir Pension, which cost 25YTL ($15.50) a night and included air conditioning, satellite tv, breakfast and a view of the Temple of Apollo from my balcony. Not a bad deal, especially as in summer the cheapest place you can expect to find is 40YTL.
Having dumped my bags i made a beeline for the coast and and skirted the rocky outcrop until i received my first glimpse of the Temples of Apollo and Athena. Not much remains of the Temple of Athena, but the Temple of Apollo has several of its marble columns standing upright, dating from the 2nd Century AD, and only metres from the crashing waves. The sun was having a fight with the clouds and whilst it wasn't the warmest of afternoons, the only sensible thing to do was to grab a beer and take it all in.
I found a small market selling Efes beer and bought a bottle and sat on the rocks, listening to Jack Johnson and the sound of the sea.
Leaving my room at 20.00, i was surprised to find the place was like a ghost town and almost all of the cafes and shops had closed already. The few remaining restaurants that were left open were all charging through the roof, so i settled on some snacks from a shop and promised myself some good food the following day. As i was in no hurry to head back to the hotel, i went to take another look at the Temple of Apollo, which looked stunning, with spotlights illuminating it against the pitch black of the night.
When my alarm went off at 08.30 on Friday morning, i could hear the rain rat-a-tat-tatting on the roof, so went straight back to sleep. At 09.30 i decided that i really should get up, and went downstairs for a pretty good breakfast. I would have stayed another day in Side if i had been guaranteed hot water in the shower, but as it was raining and overcast, i didn't fancy the prospect of two days with only a cold shower, so packed up my stuff and checked out.
Before leaving the town i decided to take a look around the scattered ruins, which included two agoras, plenty of standing columns and the outside of the theatre.
Just after midday i returned to the hotel to collect my bags and catch the bus to Manavgat (1.75YTL), which is 5kms away and has a long distance bus terminal.
When i got to Alanya, i was dropped off in the centre and not at the otogar (bus terminal), like i had expected. It wasn't the biggest problem, as there were buses running out there on a regular basis, so i jumped on one of these and told the driver where i wanted to go. I knew that the station was on the outskirts of the town, but once we hit the motorway, i knew i was not where i wanted to be! When i went to ask the driver what was going on, he replied in German “ah, ich forgessen” - “oh, i forgot”.
What struck me as strange was the fact that he knew how to say he had forgotten in German, but nothing else. It seemed to me that maybe he always 'forgets' to tell tourists when to get off the bus? In the end he gave me the money, after it seemed like everyone else on the bus had exchanged heated words with him. Clearly the passengers were also not too impressed by his behaviour.
I managed to get a bus going back into Alanya, but this little detour cost me well over an hour, which could have been spent sightseeing or eating lunch.
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