Accidentally, Antalya

Antalya ended up being one of our favourite places we visited in Turkey, and definitely seems like a city that’s worth a second stop.

It’s not so much that we didn’t mean to go to Antalya, just that our purpose for being there was:

a) as a kind of midpoint between our airport in (Istanbul) + trip to Goreme, and airport out (Dalaman);

b) an hub to take a day trip to Pamukkale from.

So the fact that we enjoyed our short time there came as a pretty pleasant suprise.

^ Hadrian’s gate, founded 150 or so BC!

I think the main difference was that, unlike where we were staying in the Old City in Istanbul, and the other cities we visited (Goreme, Oludeniz), Antalya didn’t seem like it was mostly tourists.

The flight to Antalya began poorly, with Sameer once again attempting to order an egg based breakfast, and instead ending up with something more in the fondue family.

But then we flew, and landed, and drove a bit, and settled at our hotel, and finally we made our way out into the city as the day turned into evening, and nosed our way into a fancy fish restaurant.

Concern were raised about whether we had ordered the right amount of (enough) food.

Those concerns were very very wrong.

We washed it all down with some Salgam- a fermented turnip brine drink that Sameer remembers from the homeland, and some cream-drunk dried figs.

And then we went home, and slept deeply, waiting for our 5am wakeup and trip to the Cotton Castles.

Which took the whole day.

So join us again on Day Three:

We woke, and headed into the city, and once again ate.

This time, at an incredibly affordable place in the central mall, where then man helped grab us a selection of foods, which somehow tasted like the stuff my granddad used to cook.

^ Please do note our mix of rice, pasta, and various bread options.

There was also sun, and there was also (after a very short walk) Helvasi. Our favourite of all the things:

Plus this time, a foray into some of the fancy turkish delights: some of these came with a kind of cream-cheese icing inside!

We didn’t really have any plans for the day, but instead just spent some time walking around near the coastline.

Sameer made a friend:

.. who I tried to steal:

And we spent some time looking out at the water..

And there was some time for coffee, and some window shopping, and some art.

And then, after a bit of puttering, it because time to head back home, and give our hotel cat one final cuddle, before moving on to out next destination…