Antalya city tour

Antalya is well known trade center since Ottoman period. Today this popular summer destination is also a shopping paradise. Variety of shop serves exotic spices, high quality textile, leather and authentic carpets for every budget.

Our first stop will be one of the biggest leather center of Turkey. Here our guests will attend  a private fashion show with newest leather creations demonstrated.

The Old City of Antalya now called Kaleici. Streets and buildings still bear the marks of Antalya’s history.  The best surviving parts constitute the impressive fortifications which, perhaps, hide the Hellenistic period of the city. The latest constructions on the walls date to the Ottoman period. The walls served intact until the twentieth century. In the illustrations from 1880’s the Clock Tower is flanked with seven gates and there were more than 50 towers.

The most attractive part of the fortifications is the Hadrian’s Gate. Not meant for defensive purposes, this monumental marble gate has three gateways and can be precisely dated to after AD 129. It once had an inscription with gilded bronze letters, saluting the emperor.

At the southwest end of the fortifications is a round tower-like monumental tomb, locally known as Hidirlik Tower, rising 14 m. It dates to the Roman period and the reliefs flanking its doorway probably points to a tomb-owner at the level of a consul.

On the axis joining this tower with the Hadrian’s Gate, in the southern half of the city is a five-aisled basilica, in ruins today. It was built with reused materials as a church dedicated to the Virgin in the fifth century AD. This church was converted to a mosque in the Seljuk period. The Fluted Minaret rising grandly in Kaleici is the symbol of the city today. The minaret was partly built with glazed bricks and dates to the Seljuk period.

After visiting the old city we will go to Karpuzkaldiran where Duden river is ending to Mediterraean sea. After we saw this natural beauty, our last stop is  one of the biggest shoping centers in Antalya where you can buy some gifts at good prices.

We will drive our guests back to the hotel and program ends.