Aspendos: Theater Performances

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Antalya, Aspendos, Turkey trips

Selasa, 28 Juni 2011

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Aspendos - Have you ever wanted to watch a live performance in an ancient theater like people did during the Hellenistic and Roman periods?

This weekend is the last chance you have this year to do exactly that.

The 18th Aspendos Opera and Ballet Festival has two performances left: tomorrow and Saturday. Aspendos is located about 40 km northeast of Antalya near the village of Belkis. We visited this wonderful site in May during our stay in Antalya.

Aspendos: a view of the theater from up top.

This is the "tunnel" people would have used to walk through to get to their seats.

This unique historical theater, which has survived for more than 2000 years, is the first thing you see when walk into Aspendos. We walked up to the top so we could get a good view. Sound definitely carries in here and the acoustics are amazing. The theater has a 10,000-person capacity so you can only imagine what performances were like here back in the day.

A view of the front of the theater from inside.

According to the site�s history, Aspendos became a cultural center of the Hellenistic and Roman periods and achieved its heyday in the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D. The ruins that you see here in this region date back to that age. The traces of Aspendos belonging to the age prior to the Roman period have not be uncovered yet.

I think these were part of the ruins of an ancient church.

More ruins of Aspendos

This is a view of the farmland and mountains that surround Aspendos.

Maybe next year, we�ll plan ahead so we could see a performance in the ancient theater.

Even if you can�t go this weekend, Aspendos is definitely worth a look if you are near Antalya. I think the theater here, the stadium in Aphrodisias and the Temple of Apollo in Side are some of my favorite ruins so far in Turkey.

To learn more about the history of Aspendos, please click here.

And if you're lucky, at the end of the day, you will get to ride a camel in the
parking lot just like I did. Cost: 10 TL.

For more information about ticket sales, please click here. Both  performances begin at 21:00.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Kugu G�l� (Swan Lake) (P.I. Tchaikovsky)
Four-act ballet
Ankara State Opera and Ballet Orchestra

Saturday, July 2, 2011
Tosca (G. Puccini)
Three-act opera
Tatarstan State Opera and Ballet