Like Perge, Aspendos was founded away from the coast, in the verdant Pamphylia region alongside a gentle river (Kopru Cayi, the ancient Eurymedon). The ruins of the city are dotted around a small grassy plateau, a promontory which stands above the plain, surrounded by fields of wheat and cotton which extend as far as the bluish foothills of Mount Taurus. These beautiful rural landscapes provide a fitting backdrop for the jewel of Aspendos – its theatre, one of the best-preserved theatres of the ancient world which justifies a visit to this ancient site on its own.