Upper City of Aspendos

While the tourist coaches stand at the famous theatre, the hill above it is usually empty, although that is exactly where the city itself lay. On the flat summit there survive an agora with trading rows, a basilica with a wall still standing several storeys high, the council building and a nymphaeum — a fountain facade more than thirty metres long, of which two-tiered niches and arches remain. Aspendos was rich: trade in salt, horses and grain passed through it, and in antiquity the river Eurymedon was navigable right up to the city. From here there is also a view over the plain with the arcades of the aqueduct. The paths between the ruins are trodden through the dry grass, there are few signs, but you can walk freely between the walls and climb onto the masonry. The stone here is pale, and towards evening it turns almost orange, while the pines at the edge of the hill give the only shade. Walking round the upper city takes about an hour.

On the map