Day 7: Antalya

We set our alarm for 7 and joined some of the rest of the group for an early morning walk along the water. We figured we’d missed enough of the optional activities and it was time to take advantage of the fact we had someone showing us around such lovely places. We walked out to the island where we’d eaten dinner, and got to go inside an old Greek Orthodox church that had been gutted. It was sad to see lots of graffiti, but there were some signs it was being restored. Toby and I started to dream of buying a house there (or even a church). It would be a great place to write one’s novel.

We got back to the hotel around 9 and sat down for breakfast with one of the Australian girls who told us she’d tripped on the stairs coming down from her room and hurt her ankle. She said it seemed okay and I told her not to tell Jen, who was now a bit paranoid about our group when it came to stairs. I wanted to go rose product shopping since the area was famous for its roses, so I left her and Toby to finish their packing and went out. The shop I wanted to visit was shut so I went to the bazaar, which was really just a tiny courtyard with some shops in it. I went to a shop recommended by another couple in the group and bought some hand cream, although the two kids minding the shop absolutely stared at me the whole time and really invaded my personal space. I wasn’t sure if I was meant to be chatty or nervous or turned off shoplifting.

Back at the hotel I ran into Di, who said the girl’s ankle was swollen up and looked like her friend’s when she had broken hers in Mexico. Great. Jen decided to err on the side of caution and took her off to the hospital, which she had jokingly pointed out when we drove into town the previous afternoon. They were back in just less than an hour, with a partially broken ankle, a plaster cast and crutches that had all cost her around 70 lira which seemed a bargain. She was very wobbly on the crutches so Toby helped carry her to the bathroom and then into the van. She was a very small woman so if it had to happen to anyone I suppose it was good it was her. No one could believe we had two broken bones in less than a week. Jen was incredulous, having never had an injury like that during her time in Turkey, but she coped well and never lost her sense of humour (in front of us, anyway).

After the morning’s drama, we had a three hour drive through some spectacular mountain scenery and arrived in Antalya in the afternoon. I got my first glimpse of the Mediterranean but driving into the city, it felt like any other affluent, concrete-clad place at first. Luckily our hotel was in Kaleici, the old town by the Roman harbour. We had an interesting time navigating the tiny cobbled streets in the mini bus but eventually made it to the hotel where we fell in love with it immediately, perched as it was with views of the harbour and ocean. There was a pool in a gorgeous courtyard and then to get to our room we walked through another terrace full of shady trees and fountains. The room was lovely too, with a really clean bathroom and a window seat looking out onto the terrace and across the town.

Di and the Scottish lady went off to play an expensive round of golf and our injured one went off to rest, so Jen took the rest of us down to the harbour where we saw them making sticky Turkish ice cream and said no to all the men who wanted us to take cruises on their boats, and then up the cliff to find food. After lunch everyone else went off to the museum but Toby and I decided we would rather spend our money and a beautiful afternoon just exploring the town, which felt very Surfers Paradise in places. I bought a sun dress (didn’t haggle) and we went to a chemist as Toby had a sore throat and bought some cheap Strepsils and gargle. We had time before dinner to make use of the quaint gym in the hotel where half the equipment didn’t work and the other half was broken in some way. For dinner we walked down the hill (with Toby carrying our injured friend) to a restaurant on the water where the food was okay and the view more than made up for it. The water really was the most amazing shade of blue, especially close to the water where it is definitely turquoise.

This was the day we started really feeling like we were on holidays, with such a nice hotel and fantastic weather and a relaxed, coasty vibe about the place. We were sorry to only be staying one night, although Jen promised us we wouldn’t mind so much once we got to Kas, our next stop.