Holiday in Turkey - Antalya

Antalya is the main hub at the southern coast of Turkey, and within three decades it grew from a little fishermen village to a big city with more than 2 million inhabitants. 500.000 of these are "new citizens" (as the Turkish people call them very politely) - mostly Germans, Dutch and Russians, having decided to forget about their sometimes cold, foggy and simply unpleasant home countries (especially in Winter), moving to their home away from home at the Turkish Riviera. Hmmm, makes me wonder. Surely one more Swiss and one more Austrian wouldn´t be a big deal, right? Right??

Antalya is great! It simply got everything. A lovely old town (as you can see on the photo), an endless beach, all kinds of Western stores, and also lots of oriental ones. (But why they insisted on having the Swiss Migros chain here is off my mental limits. But as I say, they got everything. And if you decided to stay here for longer, you would not miss a thing!)

The last time we had been to Antalya (except at the airport) was like 10 years ago, and our mouths fell open when we saw the huge growth of the city. But still it has lost nothing of its charme, and the people still are nice and friendly.

These waterfalls are now within city limits, situated in a very modern and expensive living area with a LOT of seaview. But you need a LOT of money to live there as well! And still many tourists come to enjoy the spot. If you look closely on the right hand side on the right edge of the photo you see a fisherman sitting on the rock, lazying away, enjoying the sun, not being bothered by the tourists gawping down on him. This is typical Turkey, isn´t it cool?

Of course when you go to Antalya for the first time - or again after a longer time - you do not want to miss the Old Town. This is the Main Mosque of the City. Years ago we made our way down to the Mosque and made a photo right in front of it, but they built so much meanwhile, that we did not find the proper way again.

In ancient times Antalya was a major port of the region, and also a center of Christianity in Byzanthene times. In these times they built the huge fort and the city walls that are still protecting the city.

The Old Town is beautifully renovated, but still Turkish everyday-life goes on. Btb, it is not true that the Turkish do not like cats and dogs, I have seen many of them around, all well-fed and not in the least afraid of people. And I saw more than one Turkish fellow feed them and pet them. I love this country!

It is flowers and blossoms everywhere. It smells like heaven and you feel like sitting down and staying there forever. Wouldn´t it be wonderful if the door on the right hand side would be mine? *sigh*

This is one of the many coffeehouses and restaurants in the Old Town. I did not see a single one where I did NOT want to go in and have a drink or something to eat.

When in Antalya you also want to go down to the Old Port and catch a boat for a little ride out of the town. It is a wonderful opportunity to catch a view of the whole city and enjoy the sea at the same time. We went together with a second boat, the waves were quite heavy (at least for as landrats), and going up and down in the swell was so cool!



Next stop was a view of the great and endless beaches of Antalya. It was a weekday, and the touristic high season yet to come, but one could tell, that the inhabitants of Antalya love their beach and use it as often as they can. We sure as hell would do the same!

On the main square you find a monument of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. He was the founder of the modern Republic of Turkey and the first president of the new-built nation. The Turkish people still admire him very much. "Our prince!" like our travel guide said enthusiastically.

Coming back to "they got everything": Of course there is a bazaar in the City Center as well, but this is rather a touristic one. We have been told that other markets exist where the inhabitants go. But if you want to get "real-fake bags" (as one show owner said) from Gucci or Louis Vuitton a.s.o I would hang out here. Not that I would advice it. If they catch you at the airport with it, boy, you are in trouble. I made sure and did not buy anything, sneaking by customs is not my cup of tea anymore. And if you want to buy the real stuff: Of course they got stores here in Antalya as well.

Trams are quite new here, we simply could not believe it that they were running here like they do in downtown Vienna.

A great day had ended much to soon and it was time to go back to Kemer again. Can I stay, please? Can I? Pretty please with cherries on top??

Antalya is brilliant, and it is getting better every time!! We definately will be coming again. And maybe, maybe settle down here one day....

Holiday in Turkey - hotel and beach

Hosgeldiniz!

Willkommen! We love Turkey, and we always keep coming back!

The Turkish Riviera (this is how the area on the Southern coast of Turkey from Side down to Alanya is called) is just two hours and a bit flighttime from Vienna away, and arriving here we could not recall if it was the 6th or the 7th time we were returning. We just love it here: The people are extremely hospitable, the food is excellent, the weather is wonderful and there is lots do see and do.

Turkey is a country with more than 71 million inhabitants, 99% being muslims. But it is also a country with two completely different layers. One is the old-fashioned Turkey with people living in the traditional way, far away from the big cities, most of them being farmers. And the second one is modern Turkey, most prominently in the city and touristic areas, and here men around thirty have "girlfriends", which are university educated, wear modern-style outfits and postpone having kids until "later", because career comes first. (Big sigh from our young male tourist guide here, who is living with such a girlfriend.) We were told that around 80% of the population live their religion like we live ours in Europe - it says "muslim" in their passport but they don´t practice it. 20%, mostly in the mountain regions really practice Islam. The others mostly care about if they will ever be able to buy a BMW or when the new Eyephone comes out...

In fact we found Turkey very modern, and they underline the fact that they are no islamic country, with their laws passed in Parliament, being a democracy. And I have to say that whereever I went there so far, I was never looked upon strange for my European outfit and behavour, everybody was nice and almost charming in their anxiety to help me. Honestly, if you decide to spend your time here, say after you retired, buy a little flat at the sea and live the easy life there is nothing here that you will miss. It couldn´t not be more Western but with just this special Turkish flair...

We had such a good time, did wonderful day trips, so many nice photos again - I definately have to share our travelling memories in chapters. Today I will start with our hotel and the beach.

Our hotel was the Limrak Lima, a huge resort in Kemer. We had been to Kemer the first time ever that we had been to Turkey, so we thought to drop by again. Kemer still is lovely, with huge pine tree forests and the Taurus mountains on one side, and an endless beach at the other. Kemer (and most of Turkey) is pebble beach, but in most hotels they have put sand on their beach so walking is soft. Gee, we got so spoiled....

The Limrak Lima is one hotel of the Limrak chain, Limrak actually being a huge building company that also invested a lot of money into tourism. Really, the hotel could not have been designed any better.

This was our room. Super-clean, with a very caring maid (thank you so much, Birsen!), we of course had a flat-screen T.V., mini-bar that was stocked with soft drinks and beer each day, and our neighbours were decent too.

And the view that came with our room. Of course we sat there very often and gazed at what was happening around. We especially appreciated the sea-view on the left and the Taurus mountains on the right.

Dropping down with the elevator you couldn´t help but notice the indoor pool, they got there! We even used it on our first day, because the weather had not been the usual good the past week, and it actually got cool in the afternoon. So we were hiding in the pool area until it was time for dinner and really enjoyed it. But the weather got back to normal the next day, and so we decided to reside on the beach for the rest of our leisure time. Of course!

The hotel had so many places to sit in the shade and spend your time with a nice drink or some nice food - the first two days it was almost confusing, it took us a while to get oriented. This is the main outdoor bar with the sitting area - so good to sit there on a hot day! (Which is what we did.)

The pool area is huge, there is no chance to put it on one photo. Here you see just a bit of it.

Just another impression from another side of the pool area. Those little corners came up almost surprisingly, and they were always so peaceful and almost remote.

And yet another place on the lawn in the shade where you could sit down and pass your time daydreaming....

On our way to the beach little bars (very important!), palm trees and flowers everywhere. I have tagetes on my terrace as well, but they do not even come close to being so huge and well-fed!

Then of course the beach! Our preferred day-time hideaway. You could chose your location in the shade or the sun, people from the hotel helped you to put your deck chairs here or there, there was a watersports-animation-center very much to the left (so you just saw the fun on the sea but where not bothered by noise or by people) and there was enough space to let you be yourself. I tried to study a bit, but I have to confess that I was always distracted by the beautiful view of the waves rolling in....

The sea and the shore are always beautiful. During the day.....

... and when the night comes in. The wind picks up in the evening, and you feel as free as a bird, sailing along with the breeze.

When the night had fallen it was time for some nice dinner and some evening show, that we enjoyed every evening at the amphitheatre, followed by a drink and another at one of the bars. But of course it was time to go to bed soon to be well rested for the wonders of the next days! Good night, Turkey, sleep well and sweet dreams!

Modellflugtag

At the Kulm, where in Winter usually the skijumpers have a go at trying to fly like a bird, now a Modellflugtag was organized. I am not a big fan of these model aircrafts, too much technique, too much aircrafts, but the setting here is absolutely lovely, and some of the planes are very pretty indeed. "Pretty" - that is in fact all I can tell you about them, I do not have a clue about horsepower and all the other things which might be important for these RC planes. The ones of you who are interested in these issues - please contact Stefan! He knows all about them.

See what I mean? With the still snowy mountains behind the view of such a plane - Red Bull painting on it, mind! - is definately ... well, very pretty.

In fact they are huge! And people invest a lot of time and money into them. Here I especially liked the brilliant painting on the wings and the tail. See the little guy sitting inside the cockpit? Reminds me to "Team America: World Police" - in case you know the movie.

Here is another cool one. Strange, usually I have so many words for so many things - but with model aircrafts I am rather speechless. Still it is nice!

Here I simply liked the colour, probably a typical female thing. Well, okay, if I do not have a clue about things I can at least like the colour, right? And of course when it sweeps up into the air and flies. A miracle to me, and I always ponder about this when I sit in an airplane myself. Just how.....

The kiddos have been so good. Their face expression means, "Where is Mama?" And then, when Mama is there: home quick, quick, and food and sleep.

And before sleeping some more beauty of nature. I cannot help it, I am a country girl. And yes, I love the modern commodities like Internet and all. But to me techique can be pretty sometimes - Nature is always awesome!

Andreas Gabalier in concert

Even serious doctors and comparatists have a crazy spot. Sitting together over dinner and listening to the CD "Herzwerk" and singing along to "I sing a Liad füa di..." Elisabeth and myself came up with the foggy idea, "Wouldn´t it be nice to see Andi in concert? And hey, what coincidence, he will be in Vienna in two months!" Unfortunately the concert was completely sold out at that time, which immediately set Stefan in motion to pull a string or two...

For those of you who do not know "Andi": Our favorite "Bua" from Styria is 24 years old, actually a law student, singer and song writer whose carreer suddenly took off with an enormous blast three years ago. Since then he is enjoying enormous success in Austria and Germany, his music being a mix of Austrian country music (Volksmusik) and good old heavy Rock´n´Roll, which is why he calls himself "der VolksRock´n´Roller". Before I actually knew some of his songs he was someone I associated with Austrian country music and the typical "Umtata", but believe me, it has NOTHING at all to do with that. Fascinating! And it is also fascinating how many people like him and his music. Whereever you whisper his name, there are suddenly dozens of people popping up cheering "Oh, I LIKE him!!" enthusiastically. Even lawyers, business people, grandmas and granddads, kids and teens, well, yes, and doctors and comparatists. He is a phenomenon indeed.

This time was the end of his first-ever tour, working his way from Innsbruck to Vienna. His very first concert in Vienna was taking place in the Stadthalle, and as he said himself, he could not believe it that his fans filled the whole place up easily. 12.000 people! And all came to meet their Volksrock´n´roller!

Waiting for Andi.....

Here you see from right to left Ali (already enjoying himself, or maybe not fully believing that such a concert is happening to him?), Martin (not on the picture, probably hiding because of all the excitement), Michi (eager not to miss anything), Elisabeth and me (having a break from shouting "Andi! Andi! Andi!") and Stefan (photographing with his cell phone).

And there he was, our favorite "Steirerbua"! With cool sunglasses, leatherjacket and Styrian Lederhose! It was fabulous and believe me - so cool! (Just the day before, I would not have thought this possible!) Andi and band rocked, the basses vibrated the whole Stadthalle and the audience was in the best possible mood, rocking and singing and cheering along.

The atmosphere was phantastic, even though he is a new-comer I clearly have to say that only at the Shania Twain- and the Bon Jovi-concert I experienced something similar.

This is Andi performing his very first song he ever was successful with - don´t ask me which song it was, I just know a very few, and these from the CD "Herzwerk". But for him and his hard-core fans it was obviously a very moving moment. He asked the Stadthalle to be absolutely quiet (because "I tat me so gfrein" meaning "I would be so dearly happy about it") and not to applaud afterwards. Some of course did but were immediately silenced by the others ("whack!") and so we all shared this special moment with Andi.

Saying good-bye after "The Rehlein" and "I sing a Liad füa di", his top-top-top sellers.

What I liked most: He has not been a star very long, and it was his first concert ever in Vienna. He obviously seemed to enjoy every minute, looking around with this astounding look that you could interpret as "Wow, I did this?? All these people came to see me??" He was so likeable and nice, you really had the feeling that it WAS something special for him. I guess when he comes again in a couple years or so all this will have changed. It was absolutely refreshing to see a musician at the beginning of a very promising career, who has not been famous long and clearly wondering how all this could have happened to him, enjoying his concert and enjoying his fans. And telling them and meaning it. Some might say this is a little bit naive, but I say, if you are so lucky then why can´t you be openly grateful for it?

I even got my own "Schneiztiachl" - yippie!!! Conclusio: We all loved it, we had a great evening and a wonderfully relaxing time. And we already plan to see "our" Andi at the beginning of August at the big open air at the Grundlsee in Styria.

And since Dessa got her new Volksrock´n´roller-sunglasses she is a fan of Andi´s too....

Vorderer Gosausee

Okay, of course you can go there anytime and see it for yourself. But don´t tell me, that I did not warn you....
The three Gosaulakes (Vorderer and Hinterer Gosausee and Gosaulacke) are three lakes in the Salzkammergut in Upper Austria. Strangely so everybody we told we would be going there went "Aah!!" and "Oh!!" and "How wonderful!" When we got to the Vorderer Gosausee there was almost no lake, gatings were open, so the water had drained and obviously nobody had cared to fill the lake up again. (We heard later that there had not been a lot of snow melt this year, so maybe this is why, but there still was snow when we were there, so it is hard to believe.) Anyway, the banks looked like the surface of the moon, dirty snowfields everywhere (even so with warm 24°C), the signposts old or pointing in wrong directions (if I had not checked the web I would not have had a clue where to go), aso.
Still Stefan made a couple of excellent photos - a true photographer being someone making good photos even though the "raw material" is not nice - and of course I want to show them to you.

This is the "Vorderer Gosausee" and it looks like up in the High Alps, which it is not. It just looks like it. Or like the surface of the moon with a little bit of green and white on here and there. They say you have a glorious few of the Dachstein from here - I either failed to recognize the Dachstein, or the view can only be seen from somewhere complete different (which adds a little more to the feeling that the signs are just crap).

We forced one of the other irritated tourists to a halt and take a photo from the whole family. So another one of the very few photos of the gang. And sorry, innocent traveller from the Czech Republic, for giving you the scare of your life! Not enough to be lost in a completely hostile area, but also having to take photos of huge glaring White Shepherds and their strangely grinning pack!

Flowers here and flowers there... Which again shows: nature finds its way!

The kiddos of course had fun. But when don´t they?

Sometimes one of the kiddos is grabbed and then has to pose like in "America´s top model" or the like - but I guess you have to pay for your living some way or the other....

And then there was this huge St. Bernhard´s dog Indy hated instantly - and he was hated back. Honestly, I know my dog is brave and thinks he is the greatest - but when an 80 kilo dog is glaring and snarling I prefer to take the long tour, no matter what my brave Shepherd is saying.

And always when I see a St. Bernhard I have to think of one day in Switzerland when we went up the Kleine Scheidegg with a "Bähnli", and there was a St. Bernhard with us, and also a group of Japanese with their cameras. Don´t ask. Please. It was cruel.....

And this is one last look of the area. I had to ask Stefan how and when he made the picture, because I could not recall any of this view. He said it was here and there... and you need a good telephoto lense... In case you ever go there and it is nice: Please let me know!

We might give it another try in Summer. All the tourists cannot be wrong? Right???