Beautiful Antalya.

We arrived in Antalya by bus and the buses in Turkey are certainly something to write home about. Riding on the Turkish buses is not dissimilar from being on an international flight. The biggest difference is, for one, you’re in the air and, for the other, you’re on the ground. Buses are the main form of transport around Turkey and we found them to be surprisingly comfortable. They have reclining seats, individual television screens and controls, Wifi and …………………… a cabin attendant with a trolley full of free snacks and drinks. Amazing.

We were met at the bus station by a driver who took us to our hotel. It was fantastic – a restored Ottoman house in the old city (Kaleici). Our room creaked and groaned and overlooked an ancient narrow lane which is now part of the bazaar and it was air conditioned. Antalya was hot and humid. It’s situated on the Gulf of Antalya and the Mediterranean and is a very beautiful part of the world. We decided to give all tours a miss and just chill out and our hotel was just the place to do it.

We had our private verandah, a swimming pool for Caitlin, a relaxed outdoor restaurant for long, lazy breakfasts with numerous refills of good coffee and tea, a peaceful Tai Chi studio, a bazaar just outside the door and just around the corner from the ancient harbor.

Our little verandah.

Restuarant.

Tai Chi studio

But what caught my eye were the surrounding Bey Mountains.



Click on this to see the Bey Mts.



Today, Antalya is one of the gateways to Turkish resorts in the area. The cliffs are high, the water is clear and blue, the weather is warm, there is plenty of history and museums, plenty of old city walls to explore and, of course, there are the ever present bazaars. It is now a fast growing city that has expanded far beyond the old city. In the past, it was an important port for the Roman and Byzantine Empires as well as other conquerors but was included in the new country when it was formed after World War 1. 

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