3 Burdur Sagalassos Insuyu caves

A good evening chatting and sharing stories , good sleep plus 5 am call to prayers

Off to the towards Burdur. We stop at the ancient city of Sagalassos.The ruins of the ancient city of Sagalassos are located at the foot of the magnificent Western Taurus Mountains.

The climb into the mountains is up a snaking road and eventually we reach green plains which are overlooked by some snow topped mountains

Sagalassos is positioned on a steep mountain slope, overlooked by a continuous chain of peaks

Sagalassos is off the beaten track and the ruined city is peaceful with only a handful of visitors among the bright marble ruins.

Excavations only began in 1990, and so after the removed earth , the re-erected marbles shine white in the sun as they did centuries ago.

There many great views and sights here.

A beautifully intact theatre built by Hadrian, a number of ornate fountains (Nymphaeum), and a Heroon, or hero’s monument, built to overlook the city.

The magnificent fountain backing the upper square.

The Heroon of Sagalassos, possibly built by Alexander the Great.

Beyond these are Roman Baths, market squares, a bouleuterion (council theatre), and colonnaded streets looking out over the valley far below.

The fountain of Sagalassos was once filled with statues, now there are a few reproductions while the originals are in the museum we are going to later .

While Sagalassos looks like a great Greco-Roman city, it’s much older at least to the time of the Hittites (1300 BC).
The original settlers chose a defensible position on the upper mountain slopes. The fact that the chosen spot faces south kept the city warm despite the elevation!
When Alexander the Great came conquering
through the region in 333BC the people of Sagalassos resisted strongly

After Alexander’s conquest of the city Sagalassos passed from ruler to ruler until, like the whole of the region, it came under Roman control. This marked the richest period of the city’s history and many of the greatest monuments of Sagalassos were built during this time.
Colossal statues were erected in honour of Roman emperors and Hadrian had the theatre constructed on the hill above the city.

Somewhere around 400AD city walls were constructed but the greatest threat to the turned out to be earthquakes and in 590 a major earthquake brought the end of the great city.

It’s a good visit !


Lunch in the n
small town of Aglasun for lunch and some pide - the traditional Turkish pizza. Lahmacun - very filling !

A brief and forgettable stop at the Insuyu Caves - very small unremarkable ! The Blue John caverns are much better !

Off the Burdur and a visit to see those statues and relics from the city !

The evening is a local music history lesson and some local performances ! Impressive !Read more