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!