Travel Guide Side

Sidé, 66 km from Alanya, has an archaeological site and a Hellenistic port. Because of the tourist boom, the archaeological site and the locality are so intertwined that one does not know where the limits are anymore. It is difficult to find a square centimeter that is not exploited. The municipal rolling platform, which shuttles between the village and the ruins, sets the tone: German and English speaking. The beaches are beautiful. The long sandy strip of 10 km to the west is overrun with hotels. The one that stretches to Alanya, to the east, is less frequented.Founded in the 7th century BC, Sidé became a flourishing port with 60 000 inhabitants in the 2nd century. Its prosperity comes from the slave trade led by pirates. In the 7th century, the Arabs invaded the region and Sidé was abandoned by its inhabitants. At the beginning of the XXth century, Greek Moslems arriving from Crete built a village near the ancient site, which became today one of the biggest tourist poles of the Mediterranean part of Turkey. Sidé is built on a peninsula which gives it a romantic air. Once the door of the city passed, a way with porticoes leads to the agora which was used as market to the slaves. Opposite, in the Roman baths, the museum presents a collection of statues, bas-reliefs and sarcophagi. Behind the agora, the 15,000 seat theater. The main street of the modern city of Sidé leads to the old port and the temples of Apollo and Athena.