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| View from our balcony in Pamukkale |
After breakfast, a guy from the Melrose hotel drove us to the local agency of the bus company, where we hopped on a first bus to the main otogar (bus station), 20 minutes outside of Pamukkale. There we switched buses for the one to Antalya. The short journey to the main bus station outside of Pamukkale was enlivened by talking with a friendly Canadian couple who live in an isolated town in the Rocky Mountains, 11 hours from Vancouver. Life seemed pretty quiet there and quite enviable, except for the huge amount of snow arriving in the winter time. After a 5 minute description, we were almost sold.
The bus to Antalya was comfortable, with personal TV screens and service on board (tea/coffee and biscuits). I watched some Hollywood films in Turkish - which were pleasingly easy to understand, no thanks to my very limited vocabulary - while John leaned over my shoulder to take photos of the beautiful scenery. At Antalya bus station, resisting the temptation to jump in a taxi, we found the bus company's free shuttle to the city center (about 20 minutes away). The very friendly conductor made sure that we got down at the right stop, just outside of the Old Town. We did manage to get rather confused despite the fairly impressive sign-posting, but eventually found the little "boutique" hotel tucked away in the heart of the Old Town.
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| Scenery on the drive |
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| More scenery on the drive |
By then we were pretty hungry. Following the LP's recommendation, we went to a little Turkish restaurant that we eventually managed to find in the labyrinthine streets. It was pretty late for lunch but thankfully they were still serving. Apparently, we were not the only hungry ones as some cats came to beg for food.
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| Mixed grill and mezze (John did share a bit of this meat) |
We then went for a little wander around the Old Town, walking along the old Roman harbour with its imposing stone walls and the down through the touristic streets of "the Bazaar". The stands full of lokum (Turkish delight) were very appealing, but we managed to resist this time as it was right after lunch. The renovation of the Old Town has been done very nicely, and it has a lot of character, with narrow paved streets and overhanging wooden window-frames.
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| Roman harbour in the Old Town |
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| Sitting by the harbour, where locals spent the Saturday afternoon munching on sunflower seeds |
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| An old Mosque |
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| Inside the mosque |
We worked on the blog in the late afternoon until hunger reminded us that it was time for dinner, quite late in the evening. We decided to have a little snack in the hotel (and upload some pictures in the meantime), which turned out to be a terrible idea. I am not quite sure how a Mediterranean salad can be served as a bit of chopped salad, cabbage, carrot and two pieces of tomato... At least we received a good warning for upcoming evenings, and we haven't tried their restaurant again.
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After a relaxed morning, enjoying a lie-in followed by a few exercises (although John didn't seem to be doing much), we ventured out to continue to explore the paved streets of the Old Town.
We walked along the bazaar towards the mosque and the newer part of the city, where we found the tourist office, close to the Clock Tower. We were given some useful tips on how to reach the Roman ruins of Perge by public transport, which would be a great alternative to the very expensive tours. We realised that for the ruins of Aspendos and Termessos, for which there were no decent public transport options, we might need to rent a car. We also talked to a bike rentals agency about cycling around Antalya. We discussed the program for the upcoming days over lunch in a really nice restaurant, which boasted a Chaine des Rotisseurs plaque, which at least sounded impressive.
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| The Clock Tower, which formed part of the walls of the Old City |
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| Statue of Atatürk, symbolising the modernisation of Turkey |
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| View of the Old Town |
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| Old walls of the city |
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| Minaret and the Bey mountains |
Later in the afternoon we resumed our walk in the Old Town and paid a little visit to Hadrian Gate and the Truncated Minaret.
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| A rare unrestored building |
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| Hadrian's gate, built in the beginning of 1st c. AD, and apparently well-restored |
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| Path under Hadrian's Gate, between the Old and the New City |
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| Truncated minaret (Kesik Minare), built on the ruins of a Roman temple |
We arrived at the marina a bit late for sunset, but we were at least able to enjoy the beautiful view over the bay at dusk. We sat among locals sipping on beer and eating sunflower seeds, and had a little picnic for dinner, which we greatly enjoyed. The scenery was hard to beat.
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| Dusk over the bay |
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