Wednesday 18th – Day 5: Antalya
Well we got another sleep in this morning. Staying two nights in the same hotel is good as you have no bags to get outside the door before breakfast. It was a good breakfast and we are starting to realise bacon is going to be a rarity in a Muslim country.
We are in the bus for nine and already to go when it starts raining, our first in Turkey. Everyone is given five minutes to go back to their rooms for umbrellas. It is only twenty minutes to Perge, our next pile of old rocks. This one is renown fo having the best preserved Roman Baths. It also has a couple of round towers at the Hellenistic gates, older than the Roman Gates to the city. The baths are impressive and you can see all the water & steam systems under the floor. It has a really nice curved main street that would have been impressive in its day. It rained the whole time we were here so my coat and leggings got an airing. However it did clear up after this to be hot and sticky.
We were then off to a Leather outlet and treated to a fashion show and the opportunity to buy expensive Armani coats at one fifth of the cost. A bit like the Jewellery place, not sure why we were there until I got suckered in to buying a jacket. Not too upset as it is a nice jacket made of beautiful silk leather. Very light and thin like a shamie. I also managed to get it reduced by over 60%. I’m told I got a bargain.
It’s in the bus and off for a nice lunch at a traditional Turkish place. I had a really nice spicy kebab which made the juices flow.
We then went to the Antalya Archaeological Museum which had most of the findings from Perge and was considered one of the most important in Europe. It was impressive and well laid out. All the same old gods though. We decided to walk back from here to our hotel as the weather was now beautiful again. We were able to follow the tram line as we knew how to get from that to our hotel. We think we walked through the old city, poked around some markets where Doug brought some Sultans tea which was going to heal everything and make Ngaire happy. I heard her complaining the next day that it hadn’t worked. We made our way back to where we had had drinks the night before going back to the Divan Antalya for dinner.
Thursday 19th – Day 6: Antalya – Konya
It is a holiday here today as it is the anniversary of the beginning of the struggle for independence for Turkey in 1919. We were up and away by 8.30 although I did go and dabble my feet in the Mediterranean before we left. Almost everyone on the bus has Doug’s cough now. We have an hour to Aspendos where we see supposedly the best preserved Roman theatre in the world. It is pretty good and would have seated some 14,000 people. It also has the stage which differentiates it from the Greek theatre. There are also some interesting Roman aqua ducts here where the water was transported to the town. Ngaire got on a camel for a photo but was worried it was going to get up and she would be charged for a ride.
Back in the bus and head in land where we are going to stop at a traditional Ottoman style house and be their guest for lunch (not the main course I hope). The lunch was disappointing, the salad was sitting on the table when we arrived and we spent time chasing the fly’s away. It was yoghurt and herb soup and a hot pot type beef thing. I wouldn’t have a clue what desert was, some pudding soaked in something. It was made to look like an invite to a locals home but I think was pretty commercially run.
Back in the bus with another for another four hour drive to Konya and over another mountain pass. We were in the snow this time and really rugged country. Not a lot of vegetation. In Konya we head to the Karatay Koran school from the 1200,s where the students went to study the Koran. It was then a short drive to the Meviana Museum and Mausoleum. This was the home of a mystic sect called the Whirling Dervish. They obviously did some whirling dance in white costumes and have a high profile in Konya. It is a lot cooler here and we got thunder and rain but fortunately managed to avoid getting wet.
Our Hotel was the Rixos Konya, a 25 floor hotel that almost seemed to be out in the country. It was a very flash place that towered against anything near it. We had a set menu for dinner that was far from flash. Bodes well for breakfast tomorrow.
There was a flash bar on the 25th but when we went up there no one wanted to serve us. I don’t think they appreciated my shorts. Our room was on the 10th.
