On the 13th of April this year nine cultural and one natural heritage sites from Turkey were inscribed into the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List. This way the total number of Turkish sites awaiting the inclusion onto the permanent list increased to 62. Currently, there are only 13 properties inscribed on the World Heritage List in Turkey, but Turkish authorities hope that this number will increase in the near future.
If asked, most of the tourists that visit Side would point out to the temple of Apollo as the best-recognized symbol of the city. Splendidly situated, on the tip of the peninsula where the ancient settlement had developed, this temple attracts crowds, especially at the sunset when it looks its best. However, this is not the only temple that existed in Side, and, as the matter of fact you can still see the remains of not one, but five temples here, not to mention the ruined early Christian basilica.
In the heart of Köprülü Canyon National Park (tr. Köprülü Kanyon Milli Parkı) the ruins of ancient Selge stand among the modern buildings of a small village known as Altınkaya. Not many tourists get there as the majority of them are more interested in rafting on the Köprüçay river than visiting the ancient settlements. However, in the last few years Altınkaya has been attracting more and more attention of the foreigners who are walking along the Saint Paul Trail - a long-distance trekking route from Perge to Yalvaç (the ancient Antioch of Pisidia).
The ruins of the ancient city of Syedra are located near the most popular Turkish holiday resort of Alanya. They are an excellent proof of a fact that a lot of interesting ruins remain to be discovered in Turkey, even so close to the place where millions of tourists spend their holidays every year.
A visit to the Archaeological Museum in Alanya may be a very pleasant surprise. Who would expect such an interesting and well prepared museum in the center of Turkey's chief vacation resort? There are many neglected and dusty museums in Turkey, to mention the venue in Kayseri and Ürgüp in Cappadocia as examples only. However the Archaeological Museum in Alanya is worth the highest praise as its exhibitions actually encourage the holidaymakers to undertake a more in-depth exploration of Alanya area and to learn more about its history. If you have an hour or two during your holidays in Alanya make sure you spent this time visiting this museum and you will certainly not regret a single minute.
