We will drive to Antalya after gathered in places indicated before. Antalya, since Ottoman period, is known with its trade. Also today Turkiye’s popular shopping paradise because vast in variety of spices, textiles, carpets, leather or jewellery; exotically or modern. Our first stop will be at one of the biggest jewellery centre of Turkiye, which is also promoted by the government. Here you can experience how gold turns to a beautiful jewel and you will also find the opportunity to get qualitatively high-valuable jewels with favourable prices. Then we will go to a Leather centre where we will see a fashion show with newest leather creations demonstrated.
Following lunch at a beautiful restaurant in Antalya, a city tour will be done where you may also see the pleasant corners of Antalya city. We will walk to The Old City of Antalya now called KALEICI where the 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 1880s 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. When this historical visit ends we will drive back to the hotels. |