From Termessos to Karain, Then On to the Düden and Kurşunlu Waterfalls

Start the day by climbing Mount Güllük on the private road that branches left at the 24th kilometre of the Antalya-Korkuteli highway. The road passes through the Mount Güllük-Termessos National Park, declared on 3 November 1970, and the ruins are woven into the park's forests. The traces of the city actually begin much lower down, with a Hellenistic wall near Yenicekahve on the highway, and they run all the way up to the summit of the mountain. You will leave the car at the upper car park and see the rest on foot. Bear in mind that this is more of a mountain walk than a city tour; the path is stony, steep in places and uneven, so allow at least three hours.

Following the path from the car park, you come on your right to the steps and monumental entrance of an Ionic temple from the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Continue up the slope past the lower walls and the water sources; on your left the gymnasium appears, its first storey still standing in places. Southwest of this building of many rooms and halls runs a colonnaded street lined with shops. As you walk, look at the drainage channels left exposed in the ground, because the city's water engineering is best read in details like these.

The climb ends when you reach the level ground, and to the left of the forest observation path begins the area where the city's official buildings were gathered. The first remains on the level belong to the agora; the Doric stoa on its west side was built, according to the Culture Portal, in the time of Attalos II, between 159 and 138 BC. The theatre set against the slope east of the agora deserves the longest break of the day. The seating of this Hellenistic theatre is divided in two by a diazoma, with eight rows of seats above and sixteen below. Wikipedia gives its capacity as four to five thousand people. Climb to the upper rows, sit down and take in the view of the Gulf of Antalya that the theatre faces.

About 100 metres southwest of the theatre stands the council building, preserved up to the level of its roof. According to Wikipedia this building dates from the 1st century BC, its roof spanned 25 metres and it seated 600 to 700 people. On the level ground east of the agora are five interconnected cisterns; the Culture Portal calls them unique for their depth and width, so take care as you approach their openings. In the southwest of the city stands a Roman-style house whose Doric facade reaches 6 metres, and it is known as the Founder's House because of the inscription to the left of its door.

Termessos has many temples and necropolises full of rock-cut tombs spreading to the south, west and north of the city. The best known of the tombs is the one dated 319 BC that belongs to Alketas, one of the leading commanders of Alexander the Great. Beside the monumental tombs, many warrior sarcophagi with shield motifs take up a large part of the cemetery area. One of the city's most curious finds, the Dog Sarcophagus, is now displayed in the Sarcophagus Hall of the Antalya Museum and carries a poetic inscription that its owner had written for a dog named Stefanos. Sources attribute the remarkable preservation of the ruins to the fact that the city was never resettled after it was abandoned.

Look around you as you walk as well; species such as fallow deer, mountain goats and eagles live in the national park. With its natural and cultural values, the Mount Güllük-Termessos National Park has been on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List since 2000. On the way back come down the path without hurrying, because stones can slip underfoot and tiredness is felt more on the descent. Check current visiting hours on the Müze Kart website and take plenty of water with you. Once back at the car park, drive down the same private road to the highway and head for Karain on the old Antalya-Burdur road side.

Source: Kültür Portalı; Kültür Varlıkları ve Müzeler Genel Müdürlüğü; Wikipedia.

After coming down from Termessos, cross to the old Antalya-Burdur road side; Karain lies within the boundaries of the Yağca neighbourhood of Döşemealtı, 5 to 6 kilometres from that road. The Culture Portal places the cave 30 kilometres northwest of Antalya. Leave the car at the visitor reception point; the cave sits 150 metres above the travertine plain in front of it and 430 to 450 metres above sea level. To reach the entrance you climb a staircase of 470 steps from the reception point. Your legs will be tired after the morning walk, so do not hurry and stop now and then to catch your breath. Turn around as you climb; the travertine plain in front of the cave opens out beneath your feet as you rise. At midday in summer these steps can feel heavy, so take your water and hat with you before you leave the reception point.

Include the Karain Museum, right beside the cave, in your plan. Part of the finds from the excavations is displayed here and part in the Antalya Museum. If you can see the museum before entering the cave, you will understand better what you are looking at inside the hollows. According to the Müze Kart page, the finds include stone and bone tools, beads and the remains of animals such as rhinoceros, elephant and hippopotamus.

When you reach the entrance, look at the brow of the cave and its outer walls before going in. There are Greek inscriptions and niches here, the most visible traces that the cave was also used in the Classical Age. Karain was formed as Cretaceous limestone was hollowed out by karstic erosion. Kılıç Kökten, who discovered the cave in 1946 and began excavating it, established that it is made up of three rock hollows joined by narrow passages. Wikipedia describes Karain as the largest cave in Turkey in which people have lived. Inside, do not enter the excavation areas and follow the conservation warnings; the cave has been protected as a first-degree archaeological site since 1997.

Excavations have continued at intervals since 1946; Wikipedia gives the main periods as 1946-1958, 1967-1973 and 1985-2008. This work revealed a thick cultural fill reaching about eleven metres inside the cave. The layers trace a settlement that begins in the Lower Palaeolithic and continues through the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic, the Neolithic, the Chalcolithic and the Early Bronze Age down to the Classical Age. According to the Culture Portal, the longest and most important occupation of the cave was in the Palaeolithic, the Old Stone Age. The General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums stresses that while most Palaeolithic caves in the world represent a single period, Karain shows the Lower, Middle and Upper Palaeolithic without a break. This continuity offers insight into the links and migration routes between Europe and the Near East. The oldest human remains known in Anatolia were also found in the cave, along with portable works of art regarded as the first examples of Anatolian art. The plant and animal remains, for their part, help us understand the ancient environment of the western Mediterranean.

Karain has been on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List since 1994. The Müze Kart website shows the site as open every day of the week, but since the hours change with the season, check the current information there. Come back down the same staircase to the car and drive towards Antalya, to Kepez on the northeastern edge of the city and the Upper Düden.

Source: Kültür Portalı; Antalya İl Kültür ve Turizm Müdürlüğü; Müze Kart; Kültür Varlıkları ve Müzeler Genel Müdürlüğü; Wikipedia.

The third stop of the day is the Upper Düden Waterfall at the Düdenbaşı locality in the Kepez district; it also appears in sources as the İskender (Alexander) Waterfall. The address given by the Culture Portal is Düdenbaşı Mahallesi, 21. Cadde, Kepez. The Lower Düden, where the same stream falls into the sea, is a separate place near Lara in Muratpaşa and is not part of this route. Do not mix the two up when you look for directions, because the two waterfalls are in different parts of the city.

According to the Antalya Cultural Assets Inventory, the Düden stream that feeds the waterfall rises from the Kırkgöz-Pınarbaşı springs. The water travels through underground hollows in the limestone and comes back to the surface at the Düdenbaşı locality. Sources give different lengths for this underground course; the Culture Portal says fourteen kilometres and the inventory record 21 kilometres. The inventory calls these underground hollows düden, and both the stream and the waterfall take their name from the word. According to the Culture Portal, at least ten cubic metres of water per second come to the surface at this point, and the average flow is fifteen to sixteen cubic metres per second.

The area was turned into a picnic and recreation ground between 1970 and 1972 by the 13th Regional Directorate of the State Hydraulic Works. After the entrance, follow the sound of the water along the footpaths to the front of the waterfall. The most striking feature of the waterfall is the natural cave directly behind it. Passing through the tunnels inside the cave, you can watch the water flowing from right behind it. The floor in this section can be wet and slippery, so watch your step and protect your phone or camera from the spray. Seeing the waterfall first from the front and then from behind, from within the curtain of falling water, is the real experience of this stop.

Legend has it that Alexander the Great, the Macedonian king who took Pamphylia in 334-333 BC, watered here the horses he had received as tribute from Aspendos as he passed through the area. Falling in the same years as the siege we recalled at Termessos in the morning, this tale ties the two ends of the day together. The surroundings of the waterfall are laid out with footpaths and resting areas. After the Karain staircase, allow half an hour to sit down in one of these areas and catch your breath. Wikipedia places the site about 1 kilometre from Varsak. According to the Culture Portal the waterfall can also be reached by city public transport, so anyone who wants to split the route in two can see Düden on a separate day by bus. Check the entry conditions and current visiting hours before you go. From here head east towards Aksu, turn north at the Soğucaksu bridge on the Antalya-Aksu road and drive to the last stop of the day, Kurşunlu.

Source: Kültür Portalı; Antalya Kültür Varlıkları Envanteri; Wikipedia.

The last stop of the day is the Kurşunlu Waterfall Nature Park in the Aksu district. The park, 22 kilometres from Antalya, is reached by turning north at the Soğucaksu bridge on the Antalya-Aksu highway and driving 7 kilometres. It is one of the nature parks of the 6th Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. The section containing the waterfall and the picnic area covers 33 hectares. The main waterfall drops from a height of 18 metres, and the water then runs through seven pools linked by small cascades in a canyon about 2 kilometres long.

Leave the car at the car park and follow the footpath; it takes you to the waterfall, the edges of the pools, the bridges and the viewing terrace. The places the Regional Directorate says you should not leave without seeing are the waterfall itself, the water lilies in the river, the historic water mill and the viewing terrace. The same list also recommends having your photograph taken in front of the waterfall. Look for the water lilies on the surface of the water as you cross the bridges. According to the Out-of-School Learning Environments record, the historic water mill along the path is about 200 years old. The ground at the edges of the pools can be wet and slippery, so take care with children near the water.

You can also read the geology of the area in the canyon walls. According to the Regional Directorate, the Kurşunlu formation can be seen here, made up of sandstone, conglomerate and mudstone in reddish-brown and grey-green colours. Above these layers lie the Antalya travertines that you will come across in many parts of Antalya. The forest is dominated by red pine; along the water grow oriental plane, bay laurel, carob and wild olive, with myrtle, hawthorn and bramble in the understorey. A total of 261 plants from 67 families have been identified in and around the park, and 14 of them are endemic.

The wildlife is rich as well; the Regional Directorate reports 88 bird, 22 mammal, 12 reptile, 3 amphibian and 3 fish species recorded in the park. Carp and terrapins live in the pools, while wild boar, foxes and squirrels live in the forest. Some of the birds are residents and some are summer or winter visitors; stop and listen along the quieter stretches of the path. Do not feed the animals and do not throw anything into the water.

The park has facilities such as toilets, children's play areas, picnic tables and a country restaurant, so after the long road of the day you can sit here and rest. Wikipedia gives April to December as the best time to visit. Check the entry conditions and current visiting hours on the Nature Conservation and National Parks pages. The route ends here, and the drive back to the centre of Antalya is about 22 kilometres.

Source: Tarım ve Orman Bakanlığı 6. Bölge Müdürlüğü; Okul Dışı Öğrenme Ortamları; Wikipedia.