We land in Antalya, with our destination Olympos...oranges, pomegrantes, quince,and bougainvillea as tall as a 6 story building!

Antalya is a resort town on the southern coast of Turkey.  It stretches pretty much as far as you can see.  We arrived late at night on July 4 and took a taxi to the White Garden Pansiyon in the old town centre (note: airports are pretty far out of town).  We were only there for the night and breakfast.  However, it was a very enjoyable experience, and I for one, want to go back and spend time in Antalya seeing the sites there. 

Breakfast was a large buffet ("bufe"), with the biggest figs I've ever seen.

The old town centre: surrounded by thick rock walls

Modern Antalya: we've entered the world of solar power.  Every building roof is covered with solar panels and satelite dishes.

From the White Garden Pansiyon, we walked to the tram station and figured out how to ride it. Every place has it's own card or token system, and in this city, the gentlemen selling the card had a bit of fun with me.  Once we got to the bus station, we caught a bus to the drop off for Olympos (an hour and 15 minutes) and then caught another bus down the hill (10 minutes).

Everything we'd read online, or pictures we'd seen, were all about the beach away from the crowds in Antalya, the rustic treehouse accomodations, and the nearby natural flames.  Oh, yeah, and in the jungle there are some ruins if you want to see them. 

Beach

The beach itself was hot, and the water surprisingly cool.  I had to get out to warm up frequently, and Hannah piled hot rocks on top of me to help.  I fell asleep at one point, and got a good giggle when I saw this picture.  I didn't realize how many rocks she'd put on!

Yep, everything they said it would be.  The beach is open 8:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m., and costs 7.50 TL for 10 visits.  Most people start showing up at about 1:00 p.m.

"Rustic Treehouses"

More like houses made out of trees, on stilts. and they have a different definition of rustic than we do.  Air conditioned, with our own bathroom - really nice.  You can, of course, rent a dorm style room to share with others, and use the shared bathrooms. It's a pretty communal area, and very low-key.

Chimera fire rocks

Imagine going camping and never taking fuel for a fire to cook on or warm by because small flames naturally come out of the ground.  Enter the Chimera fire rocks.  The phenomenon is neat to see.  The many people grilling on them...not so much.  A family offered Hannah company and a hot dog, which she loved.  (Note: it's a healthy hike to the site, including 800 slippery, worn steps, in the middle of the night.  "Lamp" (aka flashlight or headlamp) required!

Oh, and by the way, there are ruins in case you want to go into the jungle and see them...

We'd like to rewrite this. How about "Ruins galore!"  All along the path you walk to the Olympos beach.  In the jungle.  Up the mountain.  Beautiful ruins everywhere, dating back to 4 A.D..  We walked and hiked and climbed and had second breakfast in the crumbling Genovese Castle we had all to ourselves.  Heaven.  I will add more pictures to this post later.  I need to eat breakfast. We're in Cappadocia now, and woke up at 4:30 a.m. to catch a shuttle to the sunrise hot air balloon ride.  Beautiful, and all is well!

Still publishing July 3...round two...(right now we are in Ephesus and it's July 10...)

Grand Bazarre

This was our least favorite thing so far.  There were a lot of people, it was noisy, and the male shop keepers were extremely pushy.  There were beautiful things to look at, though. 

Whirling Dervis

For dinner, we attended a Whirling Dervis performance.  It was very neat!  Here is a webpage for information. 

After dinner and the performance, Hannah spent time helping a shop owner try to sell his carpets.  She drew quite a crowd, luring people in to talk with her and play with his batch of kittens.  Then she would spring the question, "Do you want to buy a carpet?!?!"  No one bought a carpet, but she sure had fun, and so did the shopkeeper. 

Now on to July 4 - Happy American Independence Day!!!!

All we planned this day was to go to the Turkish and Islamic Art Museum and experience our first Hamam (Turkish Bath).  Keeping with true Ang/Deb/Hannah fashion, we spontaneously tossed in other experiences as we discovered them!

Tomb of Sultan Ahmed family (as in the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, see previous post)

It was open.  It was free.  We went in.  It became one of Hannah's favorite places (all of Turkey is Hannah's favorite place in Turkey, though).  Out of respect, I didn't take pictures of Hannah sitting in prayer with the Muslim women.  It was awesome, and she felt very at peace. 

Hippodrome of Constantinople: Oh the games we played

This long walkway alongside the Sultan Ahmed Mosque was once the gaming and social center in the Byzantine era.  Originally built in 203 A.D., many a chariot race ran it's course around the end obelisk.  It was one of the rare occasions when the Emporer and the common people were together in the same area.

Turkish and Islamic Art Museum

We like that museums are inside of architecturally amazing buildings.  It's two for the price of one!  The Turkish and Islamic Art Museum is inside a former palace, and this by itself was spectacular.  Fill it with history and art and wah-lah!  It's magical.

 

I imagine people had a lot more muscle mass at these times.  That's a ceramic canteen on the right...

And here is an ornate, wooden door.

This seems to be the most popular mosaic in Istanbul right now.  It's printed in a lot of places.

One of the rugs from Hagia Sophia.

There was a sociology portion of the museum, focusing on how people in various regions of Turkey lived. 

And we partook of the Turkish Coffee Experience, complete with our first taste of Turkish Delight.

Modern art.  This reminded me of a ceremonial kimono.

The Whirling Dervis art is beautiful.

I was surprised to see Adam and Eve wearing clothes.  I've never seen them that way!

Next up: The Hamam

We chose to have our first Turkish Bath experience at the Aya Sophia Hamam.  This included rinsing off well, being scrubbed, getting a bubble massage (very cool!), being washed/shampooed/conditioned, and given a fancy drink while we rested.  The warm marble was amazing, and, being prepared for the roughness of Turkish women we'd heard so much about, we thought they were rather gentle.  We all felt very relaxed, and yes, even Hannah had the full experience.  And no, I wasn't supposed to take pictures.  These are of the foyer.  Maybe when I get back to Istanbul I can set up a time to take pictures of the different rooms when they are empty. 

The Spice Market

After our scrubbing, we took a tram ride and short walk to the Egyptian Spice Market.  This was a blast.  It was much more low key (and smaller) than the Grand Bazarre, and there were women shop keepers who were great to talk with.  The men were not pushy at all.  In fact, several shop owners kindly asked patrons to step aside so I could take pictures, all without hassling me.  Yea!

  

Turkish delight and other sweets...

Spices and teas

Nuts

Juicers!  (Fresh juice is everywhere and costs $.56 to $1.10 a cup at a street vendor.  Restaurants are more expensive.)

 

  Where the gardening of Istanbul begins...seeds, seeds and more seeds. 

Good-bye for now, Istanbul!

With that, we picked up our luggage from the Agora Hostel, hopped the tram to the metro, hopped the metro to the airport, and away we flew to the southern city of Antalya...