Roman History In Aspendos And Köprülü

Our third and final road trip out of Side in this current hire car session takes us to the wonderful sights of Aspendos and Köprülü Kanyon and turns out to be the best of the three great trips.

Earlier on in this trip somebody said to us that the whole of Turkey is simply one massive museum with an absolute wealth of history, and the fact that you can, if you wish, buy a nationwide ticket which gains entry to over 350 such places sort of proves the point. Even we aren’t here long enough to do that!

You’d think we might have tired of these sites (can you ever tire of exploring history? Not really!) as we head off towards Aspendos today, yet once again we are blown away by what we see. The central part of what is now Antalya province was once known as Pamphilia, which roughly translates as “land of all tribes”, within which Aspendos was the largest city with as many as 20,000 inhabitants.

In accordance with its name, Aspendos was an amalgam of different peoples until, as with most of these Anatolian cities, it became absorbed into the Roman Empire as that empire expanded, and as always is the case was significantly enhanced by Roman occupation. The remains of the upper, more wealthy, part of the city sit high on a rocky hill above the fertile plains below and boast amazing ruins, the best of which are among the most spectacular we’ve seen.

According to its publicity, the huge Roman theatre at Aspendos is the best preserved of its type in the entire world, a claim borne out by how much of the frontage (the scaena) remains intact, including carvings and ornate decorations. In truth, our “friend” from Alanya, Aladdin Keykubad, poured some of his vast wealth into restoration in the 13th century, and further restoration has clearly been carried out in more recent times, but none of this detracts from its magnificence.

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The second wonderful sight at Aspendos hits us as we explore the other awesome remains on the top of the hill. Beyond the basilica, behind the agora, we turn a corner and both simply go “wow” out loud. There, stretching right across the valley below, are the unbelievably sturdy remains of what must have been a colossal Roman aqueduct, carrying essential water supplies from the mountain springs and cisterns down to the larger population below.

Spanning an incredible 19 kilometres, this aqueduct shifted 5,600 cubic metres of water per day, dropping at a gradient of 2.6%. Some of the remaining archways stand 30 metres high  – and there are plenty of them still standing, 29 in the main stretch alone. It’s a fabulous sight close up, even better from above where we get a terrific perception of just what a feat of engineering it was.

Heading north from Aspendos towards Köprülü Kanyon, still wowing over what we’ve seen, we spot a small restaurant lodged on a veranda between road and river, and our serendipitous day strikes again as we pull in and ask the guy if he has “alabalik”, Turkish for trout. He nods, heads off to the riverbank, hooks two trout from his holding net in the rushing waters, and hands them to his wife standing ready at the wood fire grill. Well, you can’t get much fresher than that! 

It is, of course, delicious, and so is every item of the accompanying salad and vegetables, all tasting as if freshly picked just this morning. As we eat, inflatable rafts race past – the Kopru River is big white water rafting country – and kingfishers and wagtails flit across the waters.

From here we complete our drive to Köprülü Kanyon, and we aren’t disappointed. “Köprülü” translates as “having a bridge”, but this is no ordinary bridge, being another relic from Roman times, crossing this incredible gorge at its narrowest point. Amazingly it is still in use, just wide enough for one car, and forms the turning point at the end of the canyon road. 

If the bridge is impressive, then the gorge itself is utterly beautiful. The river waters are both crystal clear and a shade of turquoise; the foliage a hundred shades of green; the rocky sides soar dramatically up from the river. 

And then we get lucky again as we are approached by a guy who has an inflatable dinghy way below on the river, and offers to take us upstream to the waterfall. He wants a fee – of course he does – but this is just too good a chance to miss, and so a bit of price haggling later we have clambered over the rocks and dived into his “boat”.

Improbably, he paddles us single handed, and single oared, against the mighty currents of the gushing river, through the most spectacular scenery. Foaming water spews from fissures and gaps in the rocks, moss hangs in huge clumps, the sounds and smells of mountain river fill the air. The three of us and our dinghy are dwarfed by nature here; the canyon is immense and the waters are powerful. It’s exhilarating.

It’s also exhausting for our boatman, pushing upstream against the currents. Once we are at the largest of the cascades though, he is able to turn the dinghy around, relax, breathe a sigh, and let the river carry us back, only needing occasionally to fend off the rock walls with the oar in order to maintain direction. The whole event lasts around forty minutes from beginning to end, but the experience is both timeless and priceless. 

There is still time for one more surprise on our lucky day as we stop briefly in a small village and are handed some freshly picked oranges by a smiling farmer who seems proud to share his produce with us strangers.

Driving back to Side, first alongside the river and then across densely farmed agricultural land, we glow with pleasure at how this great day has unfolded. No matter how well travelled you are, days like today only crop up now and again, but, when they do, you grab them with both hands. They are, for us, the essence of travel.