A day trip to Aspendos

August 7, 2023

Today was a continuation of us easing back into the life of cycle touring. Supposedly a rest day, we rode a circular route to the Aspendos ruins where we climbed the Acropolis and walked a few kilometers looking at what is left from two thousand years ago, all in the blazing sun. We arrived back at the hotel mid-afternoon feeling as if we had ridden through a giant pizza oven.

The first four kilometers of today's ride was along the busy D400. Then we turned off towards an ancient bridge, the Eurymedon Bridge, that has had two lives. First as a much larger, and slightly straighter one built by the Romans in the 2nd century CE and then rebuilt in a smaller zigzag version by the Seljuqs in the 13th century using the remains of the Roman one that was damaged by an earthquake.

The original Roman bridge had a kink in the middle but the Sejuqs took it to a new level.

Then it was up a quiet road to the Roman theater at Aspendos. By all accounts this is the best preserved Roman theater in existence. However, the rest of the ancient buildings in the precinct are in poor condition.

The hippodrome was in poor repair and quite overgrown.

Clambering up the hill the basilica. We can't find much information about it at all.

Halfway to the basilica a path led us away to a view over the theater.

An old road with the drainage system visible.

The main reason, for me at least, for climbing up the hill was to get views of Aspendos' famous aqueduct. Nineteen kilometers long, the last two kilometers are well-known for having an inverted siphon instead of an open canal. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about it:

The siphon was split into three bridge sections 600, 900 and 150 m long, separated by 5.5 m square two towers where the aqueduct bends and where the water ascended and descended and which are today still 30 m high. The siphon was built on arches to cross the marshy valley between the hills and the town. The central section consisted of 46 arches up to 15 m high, 29 of which are still standing. The siphon was 40 m deep between the towers leading to a pressure of 400kPa (4bar) in the pipes and delivered about 5600 m3 per day. The pipes were carved blocks of limestone carefully fitted together to ensure a good seal using a mortar of lime and olive oil which expands when wet.

The first tower in the foreground and the second just visible in the far background.

The agora. On top of a hill! Leigh couldn't believe that the merchants could have the goods dragged up there.

Taking shelter in the shade in the basilica.

We took a longer route back to the theater. That is to say, we got lost. After bashing our way through the undergrowth we found ourselves high above the theater again, just behind the seating area. We sheepishly scrambled down to the entrance hoping that no officials had spotted us.

The stage where concerts are still held.

We spent a long time just hanging around enjoying the atmosphere in the theater. And also the cool breezes that came through various open archways. As midday approached the tour busses arrived in greater numbers and the theater started to fill up. We got back on the bicycles and cycled northwards where we found a restaurant and we enjoyed a nice gozleme before heading off to look at the aqueduct from a different angle.

Heading home we took a dirt track following a canal. This provided a tougher ride but only one vehicle over twelve kilometers and lots of water to help us cool off.

Tomorrow is another short ride down to the ancient town of Side. We'll spend two nights there visiting the ancient remains and dipping our toes into the Mediterranean while continuing our heat acclimatization. The hot and steep climb out of the coastal plain awaits us and we are putting it off for as long as possible.

Today's ride: 26 km (16 miles)
Total: 102 km (63 miles)

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