Travel attractions and vacation advices in Side today: These days, Side Belek is more famous for its sun and sand than its ancient history. During the summer months of endless blue skies, European travelers flock to the town to flop out on the sand of the many beaches lining the surrounding coast. The closest, and most popular, strip of sand, though, is right in town. East Beach is a buzzing place packed with sun loungers, restaurants, and cafés, and offers everything you need for a full day of sunning, relaxing, and topping up the tan. If you’re looking for a little more action, you’ll also find water sports galore on offer here. For a picnic spot away from the beach, you can’t beat the Manavgat Waterfalls, about 13 kilometers northeast of Side Kemer. The waterfalls sit upon the Manavgat River, which rises in the Seytan Mountain Range of the Taurus Mountains. Set amid a landscaped garden, the area is hugely popular with both local families and tourists on sunny weekends. Try to pick a weekday for a visit if you’d prefer the site to be less crowded. You can walk right up to the falls using a network of gangways to get close-up views. The thunderous roar of the water is a dramatic soundtrack to a visit here. Combine a visit to the waterfalls with some history with the 5 in 1 Best of Antalya Region Tour, which packs in the major highlights of the area in a full-day tour. This tour from Antalya visits the waterfalls first before guided tours of both the Perge and Aspendos ruins. The tour then travels on to Side Belek for guided tours of the theater ruins area and the Temples of Apollo and Athena. Lunch, all entry fees, and transport are included. Find additional details on Belek excursions.
Turkey is one of the largest leather producers of the world. Particularly, in processing sheep/goat leather, Turkey has the 2nd place in Europe after Italy and 4th place in the world after Italy, China and India,. Besides, Turkey is the World leader in fur production with an annual processing capacity of 80 million units. Currently active big scale tanneries are located in Izmir, 50 miles north of Ephesus. In Selcuk town for the travelers who are interested with fashion products there are several leather outlets selling leather jackets and bags…
You can plan a full day trip to see the ancient city of Side with the temples of Athena and Apollo, and the magnificent theater of Aspendos. The theater is one of the most distinguished representatives of Roman Age theaters today, with its well-preserved condition and architectural features. If you choose to make this trip with an organized tour, it will be either combined with the famous Manavgat bazaar where you can find many things such as souveneirs, clothes, spices, fresh fruits, and vegetables, or the marvelous Manavgat Waterfall. The itinerary depends on which excursion you book. Some have Side, Aspendos, and the waterfall, some have Side, Aspendos, and the bazaar. The weekly market days of the Manavgat Bazaar also make a difference.
Alanya Castle was built in 1221 by the Seljuk Sultan, Alaaddin Keykubat, who captured the city and had it rebuilt. You can take the cable car to go up to the castle. The cable car station is near Atatürk Park. You will need to walk uphill another 1 km to reach the entrance of the castle after exiting the cable car. İçkale (Inner castle) is the top sight up there. It’s an open air museum at the summit of the peninsula. Byzantine, Seljuk, and Ottoman artifacts can be found in the inner castle. When you go to Alanya Castle by cable car, you will come across the Süleymaniye Mosque, a Seljuk work renovated during the Ottoman period. There is also a covered bazaar (bedesten) behind the mosque.
See the Pollio Fountain: According to the Latin and Greek inscriptions, this building was built as a “Mausoleum” for C. Sextilius Pollio by his stepson, in the area allocated by the city administration. Thus, the person who built the Basilica and Marnas Aqueducts and dedicated them to the emperor and the city was honored on behalf of the city. There is also a small pool inside. The water of this pool comes from the wall of the Agora. On the bench in the pool was the Polyphemos sculpture group, which is exhibited today in the Ephesus Museum.
Harbor-side, both the Red Tower (Kızılkule) and Seljuk Shipyard (Tersane) are extensions of Alanya castle fortifications, built in the 13th century. The octagonal, 30-meter-high Red Tower served as the harbor’s defense tower in the Seljuk era. Inside, there are exhibits on the Red Tower’s and Alanya’s history, but you’re really here to climb up to the roof for great views across the harbor front. From the tower, a pretty walkway runs along the harbor’s original fortification walls to Turkey’s only remaining example of a Seljuk-era shipyard. The arched halls here, built into the shorefront, are open to the sea, so that waves constantly pummel the stone. The walkway continues from here for a short length along the coastline to a small Seljuk-era watchtower building. Find extra information at https://www.tourmoni.com/.
Starting at the western foot of that promontory is Alanya’s main beach, a long gentle arc of coarse sand bathed by low-to-moderate surf. Kleopatra Beach is wide, tapering only a little the further north you go, and gives you unbroken views of the castle and the brooding mass of the Taurus Mountains. There are beach clubs with sun loungers at intervals along the beach, and between the sand and Atatürk Boulevard is a wide promenade, blessed with those same panoramas, under swaying palms and buffered from the street by a strip of greenery with playgrounds and flowerbeds. On the east side of the beach is the lower station for a cable car that opened in summer 2017, whisking you up to the castle promontory. The Alanya Teleferik climbs 250 metres on a 900-metre line, and one of its 14 gondolas will depart every 19 seconds. On board you’ll be treated to astonishing 360° views, out over the Gulf of Antalya, across the resort and beyond to the Taurus Mountains.
Cleopatra Beach: For many visitors, a vacation in Alanya will always be about the beach. The sandy shores, rimmed by resorts, trail the stretch of coastline between Side and Alanya. In Alanya itself, the main strip of sand is Cleopatra Beach, which sits on the western side of town, separated from downtown Alanya by the rocky, forested slope of the castle promontory. This stretch of white sand offers easygoing days of swimming and sunbathing with excellent facilities on hand for a full day at the beach. In the July and August peak season, the beach can get packed. Come in late spring or early fall, though, when the weather here is still sunny and warm, and you’ll find this strip of sand surprisingly uncrowded.
Alanya’s port for tourist cruises and diving excursions is defended to the south by Kızılkule, and is as good a place as any to potter around and see where your curiosity takes you. Along the water there’s a promenade, hemmed by gardens with palms, lawns and topiaries. There are lots of spaces to just park up and soak up the views out to sea, down to the castle or up to the Taurus Mountains, a constant, imposing presence all along the coast. You’ll never be far from a cafe for a hit of Turkish coffee, and for the best views you can walk along the harbour’s south arm to ponder Alanya and its mountainous hinterland. You may want to spend a whole day descending into the clear waters off Alanya. This experience is open to divers of all experience levels, and includes hotel pick-up and boat trips from the harbour to two dive sites, with a cooked lunch aboard the yacht on the way to the second site.