Major routes
The infrastructure such as roads and drains are struggling to catch up with the increase in population and tourists.
Airports
In 2007, Antalya Airport’s number of passengers on international flights surpassed the total number at Istanbul Ataturk Airport and Sabiha Gökçen International Airport for the first time, officially earning the title of “the capital of Turkish tourism”.[8] [9]
Sister cities
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Main transportation to the city is by air and land. Sea connection lines are newly developing and the city has no railroad. Due to Antalya’s continuing development trend, the airport capacity is increased with the newly opened terminal and land and sea transportation is being developed.
* Sea: The city has a main port.
* Public transportation: Antalya Bus Station(Otogar).
o Bus: There is a city bus system.
o Dolmu?: White municipal minibuses that travel a prescribed route.
o Taxis
o Tram system: From Antalya Museum, Antalya Beach Park (at Konyaalti Beach), and the Sheraton Voyager and Falez hotels, along the main boulevard to the city center at Kalekapisi, Hadrian’s Gate, Karaalioglu Park, and ending at the deluxe Talya Oteli. It is planned to end near Lara Plaj (Beach) to the east in the future. Trams depart on the hour and half-hour from the termini (east and west), and reach Kalekapisi between 10 and 15 minutes later. The one-way fare is under $1.
Cuisine
Antalya’s most famous include Piyaz, made with tahini (crushed sesame seeds), garlic, walnuts and boiled dried beans, spicy hibe? with mixed cumin and tahini, ?i? köfte, tand?r kebap, domates civesi, ?ak?uka and various cold Mediterranean dishes with olive oil. One local speciality is tirmis, boiled seeds of the lupin, eaten as a snack.
Festivals and events
Lara district of Antalya
Lara district of Antalya
* A number of sports championships including motor rallies.
* Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival: Turkey’s largest film festival, last week of September
* Antalya Festival: September
* Mediterranean International Music Festival: October, 6 days
* Antalya Honey Festival: Gündogmus, August
* Antalya International Folk Music and Dance Festival Competition: Last week of August
* Aspendos International Opera and Ballet Festival: June and July
* Antalya Piano Festival: October
* Antalya Painting Festival: September
* Beachpark Rock Festival: October
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Antalya is one of the leading cities in Turkey in terms of educational institutions.In 2007, there were a total of 1387 schools, at the elementary and secondary level. There are a total of 12.000 teachers serving 275.00 students. Antalya has had the highest number of people winning the university exams since 2004. The literacy level in Antalya province is over 95%. Antalya is also the home of Akdeniz Üniversitesi (Mediterranean University).
The city of Antalya is managed by a governor and a city council, with one greater city and three district municipalities. Current mayor of Antalya is Menderes Türel from Ak Party.
Budget
The budget for 2005 was YTL 210 million.
The economy of Antalya depends on a mixture of tourism, agriculture, and commerce, with some light industry. Agricultural production includes citrus fruits, cotton, cut flowers and even bananas. Antalya is a leading agriculture center of Turkey due to its suitable ecology. Antalya Metropolitan Municipality’s covered wholesale food market complex meets 65% of the fresh fruit and vegetable demand of Turkey.[6]
Industry
There is a military base in the city.
Tourism
Places to visit in the city include sites with traces of Lycian,Pamphylian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman architecture and cultures. (more…)
Geography
The city of Antalya is situated by the Gulf of Antalya on the Mediterranean coast. The Taurus mountain range of southern Anatolia runs parallel to the Mediterranean in an east-west direction, resulting in the formation of narrow coastal plains, which are surrounded by mountains on three sides and open south to the Mediterranean sea. On some parts of the coast, the mountains plunge sharply into the sea, forming small natural bays and peninsulas. Antalya is situated on a plain which consists of two flat areas formed of falez rock at a height of 35 m, where the mountains recede from the shore. On the first rocky plain on the coast is the town centre and on the plain behind it, named Kepezüstü, small settlement units have been established.
Port of Antalya and the coastal town of Kemer on the Kitab-? Bahriye (Book of Navigation) of Piri Reis from 1525
Port of Antalya and the coastal town of Kemer on the Kitab-? Bahriye (Book of Navigation) of Piri Reis from 1525
Etymology (more…)
Antalya has a population of 775.157 (2007 census).Which of a men 388.133 and a women 387.024.
In 150 BC Attalos II, king of Pergamon, founded the city of Attalia (present day Antalya) to base his powerful naval fleet. Later Antalya became part of the Roman Republic in 133 BC when King Attalos III of Pergamum willed his kingdom to Rome at his death and the city grew and prospered in the Ancient Roman period. Christianity started to spread in the region after 2nd century. Antalya was visited by Paul of Tarsus, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 14:25-26), (wherein Antalya is referred to as Attalia). St. Paul and St. Barnabas went to Antalya and sailed from there to Antioch after preaching in Pisidia and Pamphylia. The city later became a naval base for the Christian Crusades against the Muslims in the Levant and in Cyprus.
It was a major city in the Byzantine Empire. At the time of the ascension of John II Comnenus (1118) it was an isolated outpost against the Turks, accessible only by sea.[3]. The following year, with the aid of his commander-in-chief John Axuch, John II drove the Turks from the land routes to Antalya and recconected the city with the rest of the empire.
The city, along with the whole region, was conquered by the Seljuk Turks in the early 13th century. The Arabic traveler Ibn Battuta who came to the city in between 1335-1340 noted:
“ From Alaya I went to Antaliya [Adalia], a most beautiful city. It covers an immense area, and though of vast bulk is one of the most attractive towns to be seen anywhere, besides being exceedingly populous and well laid out. Each section of the inhabitants lives in a separate quarter. The Christian merchants live in a quarter of the town known as the Mina [the Port], and are surrounded by a wall, the gates of which are shut upon them from without at night and during the Friday service. The Greeks, who were its former inhabitants, live by themselves in another quarter, the Jews in another, and the king and his court and Mamluks in another, each of these quarters being walled off likewise. The rest of the Muslims live in the main city. Round the whole town and all the quarters mentioned there is another great wall. The town contains orchards and produces fine fruits, including an admirable kind of apricot, called by them Qamar ad-Din, which has a sweet almond in its kernel. This fruit is dried and exported to Egypt, where it is regarded as a great luxury.[4] ”
Winding Ottoman era streets of Kaleiçi
Winding Ottoman era streets of Kaleiçi
By the second half of the 17th century Evliya Çelebi recorded a city of narrow streets containing 3,000 houses in twenty Turkish neighbourhoods and four Greek. The town had grown beyond the city walls and the port could hold up to 200 boats. (more…)