Turkey post Nummer sechs (on the beach): Antalya!
Antalya is a beautiful beach resort town on the southern coast of Turkey, along the Mediterranean Sea. According to Levent, it caters mainly to Russian, German, and Arabic tourists. After driving down the entire length of central Turkey and seeing so many sites, chilling out here was a welcome respite! And we were lucky enough to get TWO nights here, which was sweet.
A shot of Antalya's old harbor town, with the Mediterranean and some mountains in the background.
More pics under the cut.
Lucky us, we got to Antalya just as they were having their first annual Flower Fest, which involved a parade of flower-covered floats in downtown Antalya just north of the old harbor town, and guys throwing bouquets of flowers out of a truck to excited townspeople. Mandra and I each caught a bouquet, and I ended up sprucing up my hotel room with some creative use of the hotel-supplied bathroom cups and some holes cut into shelves right near the windowsills. I ended up leaving those bouquets in my room--I hope the staff liked them, ha.
Here are some shots of the flower fest stuff:
And some shots of the ultra-modern, almost comically trendy hotel room that was my home for two nights:
My bouquets in the windows.
My view of the pool from my room--and yep, we spent a few hours just laying by that pool.
The hotel common areas were pretty interesting as well. The restaurant level had some of the weirdest stuff...a swingset, a canopy bed with a lute propped up against it, etc. And there was a round, rotating portion of the hotel (separate from the big tower) where some members of our tour stayed.
Here are some shots of the culinary offerings, the decor, and the grounds of the hotel:
Once, while eating outside, we were greeted by this cat which looks *just* like Strider.
This was in the same huge room as the restaurant/buffet, as are the pics below.
A view of the rotating portion of the hotel, from the restaurant.
The grounds behind the pool were lovely as well. A walkway back here led to a small structure which had an elevator inside it; the elevator went down a floor or two to a dark tunnel, which led to another part of the hotel's property--a rocky beach where you could swim right in the Mediterranean (no gradual walk through sand into the water; there were rocks and then there was the sea, so if you wanted to swim you pretty much had to jump in):
Just chilling here, contemplating going for a swim.
Just a little ways out was a rock equipped with a diving board, which Mandra and I made use of a few times. Actually, I dove in once with my sunglasses still on my head without realizing it, but they held up! I was impressed.
When we weren't just laying around poolside or seaside, we were wandering around the old harbor town, which is at a lower elevation than the more modern downtown area, or we were checking out the cafes and nightclubs in the area. Jon and Mandra and I went to a nightclub one night called Extrablatt, which is German slang for "extra pleasure," roughly. They had decent-priced drinks and played songs we were familiar with, like stuff by Rihanna, etc. It was fun to go there and people watch. We also had lunch one day across the street at a ridiculously overpriced cafe called Chocolate. Jon and I each tried an ayran there for the first time (which, as you recall if you've read the earlier entries, is the yogurt + water + salt drink that is well-known in Turkey for being fairly refreshing). Mine had some mint flavoring in it as well. Jon and I both found the taste a little off-putting at first, especially with the salt, but we were glad to try something new and authentically Turkish. I think you also gradually get used to the taste.
In the old harbor town, we happened upon what looked like some kind of tourism television show filming a segment about Turkish street vendor ice cream. Many brands of ice cream that you can buy on the street in Turkey feature a really gummy texture, which I first encountered in Istanbul--it turns out they actually add gum to the ice cream to give it a unique consistency. The female host of the show was trying out her ice cream churning skills in front of the camera while some of us looked on.
Personally, I prefer the creamier, less gummy ice cream, and you can find that too. Here is my caramel and pistachio ice cream cone, which REALLY hit the spot!
More shots of the old harbor area:
Well, I think that's about it for Antalya...coming up is another strange landscape, this time at Pamukkale (where we also got to check out more ruins), then it was on to Ephesus. Hope you're enjoying the on-line travel journal so far.
A shot of Antalya's old harbor town, with the Mediterranean and some mountains in the background.
More pics under the cut.
Lucky us, we got to Antalya just as they were having their first annual Flower Fest, which involved a parade of flower-covered floats in downtown Antalya just north of the old harbor town, and guys throwing bouquets of flowers out of a truck to excited townspeople. Mandra and I each caught a bouquet, and I ended up sprucing up my hotel room with some creative use of the hotel-supplied bathroom cups and some holes cut into shelves right near the windowsills. I ended up leaving those bouquets in my room--I hope the staff liked them, ha.
Here are some shots of the flower fest stuff:
And some shots of the ultra-modern, almost comically trendy hotel room that was my home for two nights:
My bouquets in the windows.
My view of the pool from my room--and yep, we spent a few hours just laying by that pool.
The hotel common areas were pretty interesting as well. The restaurant level had some of the weirdest stuff...a swingset, a canopy bed with a lute propped up against it, etc. And there was a round, rotating portion of the hotel (separate from the big tower) where some members of our tour stayed.
Here are some shots of the culinary offerings, the decor, and the grounds of the hotel:
Once, while eating outside, we were greeted by this cat which looks *just* like Strider.
This was in the same huge room as the restaurant/buffet, as are the pics below.
A view of the rotating portion of the hotel, from the restaurant.
The grounds behind the pool were lovely as well. A walkway back here led to a small structure which had an elevator inside it; the elevator went down a floor or two to a dark tunnel, which led to another part of the hotel's property--a rocky beach where you could swim right in the Mediterranean (no gradual walk through sand into the water; there were rocks and then there was the sea, so if you wanted to swim you pretty much had to jump in):
Just chilling here, contemplating going for a swim.
Just a little ways out was a rock equipped with a diving board, which Mandra and I made use of a few times. Actually, I dove in once with my sunglasses still on my head without realizing it, but they held up! I was impressed.
When we weren't just laying around poolside or seaside, we were wandering around the old harbor town, which is at a lower elevation than the more modern downtown area, or we were checking out the cafes and nightclubs in the area. Jon and Mandra and I went to a nightclub one night called Extrablatt, which is German slang for "extra pleasure," roughly. They had decent-priced drinks and played songs we were familiar with, like stuff by Rihanna, etc. It was fun to go there and people watch. We also had lunch one day across the street at a ridiculously overpriced cafe called Chocolate. Jon and I each tried an ayran there for the first time (which, as you recall if you've read the earlier entries, is the yogurt + water + salt drink that is well-known in Turkey for being fairly refreshing). Mine had some mint flavoring in it as well. Jon and I both found the taste a little off-putting at first, especially with the salt, but we were glad to try something new and authentically Turkish. I think you also gradually get used to the taste.
In the old harbor town, we happened upon what looked like some kind of tourism television show filming a segment about Turkish street vendor ice cream. Many brands of ice cream that you can buy on the street in Turkey feature a really gummy texture, which I first encountered in Istanbul--it turns out they actually add gum to the ice cream to give it a unique consistency. The female host of the show was trying out her ice cream churning skills in front of the camera while some of us looked on.
Personally, I prefer the creamier, less gummy ice cream, and you can find that too. Here is my caramel and pistachio ice cream cone, which REALLY hit the spot!
More shots of the old harbor area:
Well, I think that's about it for Antalya...coming up is another strange landscape, this time at Pamukkale (where we also got to check out more ruins), then it was on to Ephesus. Hope you're enjoying the on-line travel journal so far.