Charming Antalya

Antalya

Tuesday, June 2.

This morning’s breakfast is on a terrace restaurant with a great view over the bay and mountain range beyond. Our landlord has arrangements with various nearby restaurants to accommodate his guests. This week there do not seem to be many visitors so the breakfasters from a few other small hotels have been ‘pooled’ into one.

With this view, breakfast could go on all day.

Item 1 to attend to is lining up a rental car for our travels onwards. Because of the slow internet here, this takes longer than I would like. However, eventually an email arrives to confirm that we will have a small car at Antalya airport, to be returned at Istanbul airport on the day of our departure.

It is the day to explore our neighbourhood of Antalya known as Keleici. It is a small area around the old Roman / Byzantine harbour of old Ottoman former residential buildings which have mostly been turned into small hotels, guest houses, restaurants and businesses serving tourists. It is typical of the environment of many older urban settings with intimate narrow informal streets, low buildings and lots of character and remnants of former times. This enclave is a special conservation area. Taxis, small service and emergency vehicles can enter but by special permit or levy at a boom gate. Staying here has been a good choice locationally, even though it was picked just by studying Google maps. The interesting parts of this city are accessible by walking.

The yellow car is a taxi. Although pedestrianised, the area is accessible to special vehicles.

Who can say where history begins. As for Antalya, it was named Attaleia, after its 2^nd century founder Attalus II of Pergamon. His nephew, Attalus III ceded the town to Rome in 133BC. When Hadrian entered the city in 130AD, a special triumphal arch was erected in his honour. After that, the city had a number of landlords and finally became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1391. Thus, just like all settlements in this part of the world, it is richly layered in Western and Eastern history and heritage.

In many parts of the world, Lantana is still valued as an ornamental plant.

A house under renovation. Lath and plaster is an age old and almost universal building technique.

On our return we are attracted by some shirts at a clothing shop. We end up buying a shirt each, after some of what we thought was tough bargaining with the lady. In the end, no doubt she still made a good sale.

This is the view from the intimate harbour sailors have seen since pre-Roman times. 

Lunch.

We have decided to make lunch out of a triple serving of ice cream. It is especially enjoyable form a delightful location overlooking the expansive bay. The second stroll, after a short respite in our room, is concluded with dinner at one of the numerous restaurants. I am almost hesitant to call them restaurants but more as cafes. So far we have found that there is a plainness, simplicity and fairly limited range of cooking in this part of Turkey. It is true that we have not been chasing upmarket places but except for a few dishes, the food is not complex – just pretty straight and honest. Obviously it must suit the visitors here generally. And if it is what the locals have, it is also authentic.

It is 8pm and still very light. We stroll to the main commercial part of town to draw some money. On our return, we decide to stick our heads inside a carpet shop near our ‘home’. We thought we might see what they have in Kilim rugs to replace the old patchwork quilt on our wall. Over the years it has lost its shine from fading. Once the men in the shop have assessed our level of interest, we are offered a glass of white wine. Just about every rug of suitable size is flung on the floor. We eliminate the number down to three or four and tell them we need to see them again in daylight. We try not to get too attached to them because we have not really started discussing prices. We will check things out again in the morning.

It is amazing how the evening has disappeared. By the time we bed down, after a shower and doing some very simple washing of undies and socks, it is 11pm.

Most of the old houses have courtyards. Today, many of them have been converted into colourful and intimate cafes, dining areas or retail spaces.