PERGE - SIDE - CENGERKOY

We decided to go see Tugcen's parents in Manavgat after many communication breakdowns. Once again Haydar bey came into the picture. We were going to catch a bus from Antalya to Manavgat which was an hour away. Some one quoted me $20 per person for the bus trip. This seemed quite expensive for a one hour trip.


Haydar bey then made an offer I couldn't refuse. He would take us by cab by stopping at the small villiages along the way. This was too tempting that we signed up to the offer.

So Haydar bey rocks up to pick us up. We start the drive towards Manavgat and stop at the ancient city of Perge. I have always wanted to see Perge. Those that know me would know I'm a real sucker for stones hehe


Perge is approx 15 kms from Antalya city center. I have been told that Perge was, for reasons of defence, situated at some distance from the sea on a flat topped hill.



The first building one encountering the city is the theatre. Directly opposite the theatre, on the right hand side of the road, lies the stadium. The stage building, which collapsed as a result of earthquakes, is adorned with a frieze of Bacchus aka god of wine and the theatre.



Some Perge pictures below:

Of course Perge wouldn't be the same without the famous middle aged woman trying to sell you something. Some how we managed to get caught up with one of them selling us beads. Before you know it another one appears from out of no where.

Now it's a challenge who you buy it from. Of course their punch line being "Let me feed my kids". They try and hit you where it hurts in order for you to hand over the money. Hence we fell for it and brought a few beads. It's apart of Turkey you need to get caught up in situations like this. It makes you realise how good we have it back at home in Sydney.

Back into the cab and our next stop was SIDE.

Side is a smaller town. I have been told that Side has been swallowed up almost by the modern holiday resorts leaving very little of the archaeogical site. The ruins are still however the best part of Side.

I don't think Haydar bey knew Side that well. We got a quick tour of the tiny shopping villiage before he mentioned that the beach was close to us. He wasn't going to show us the beach but we insisted that we get a quick glance of it.

Haydar bey turned into a street when security started screaming and running after us. I had no idea what was happening. For a split second I panicked. It was a private entrance apparently. He made Haydar bey reverse back out and gave him directions to the beach.

After much fuss we arrived at Side beach. Not quite sure what it is called but it looked pretty packed and popular.

Picture of Side beach below:

Next stop was Manavgat bus station where we would be greeted by Tugcen's parents. Those that don't know Tugcen's parents used to be our neighbours back in Sydney. They had moved to Ankara Turkey a year ago. They have a holiday house in Manavgat. The suburb is actually called Cengerkoy which is a 15 minute drive out of Manavgat towards Anlanya.

After a quick reunion at the bus stop we jumped back into the cars and headed off to their apartment. It's called Notaler Sitesi. It's a massive apartment complex with it's own security, pool and tunnel to the beach across the road.

The pool area was my favourite:

It's the ideal holiday place. You even have a small grocey store inside. So you can purchase your daily needs and not worry about stepping foot outside.

We decided to go for a walk to the beach. The beach is located opposite the apartment complex. However because there is massive freeway in between them the council has built an underground tunnel from the apartment complex to the beach to make it easier for the locals.

We arrived at the beach just in time to take a few snap shots of our Sydney reunion:

Picture above - Danyal Amca, NV & Gulay Teyze

The sun was about to set so it was perfect timing on my behalf:

Pictures above - Cengerkoy beach