Last Day in Antalya :(

Seems I just arrived here, but I'm preparing to depart again to go to my site to start work... Lame. I will definitely miss this city, especially Murat and his family! They have been very hospitable and have taken me all over the city and a few neighboring areas. Just to give you an idea of some of my daily activities...

At least three of my mornings started out by going to a local swimming spot where one must climb down about 200 meters to the sea. There are stairs, but they are spaced unevenly and end up being quite curvy because they were built following the cliff face. These are called the Falez Cliffs, named after the local rock type. There is no beach at the bottom, only rocks and a short boardwalk-like structure leading to a ladder. Everyone claims a rock and leaves their stuff there while swimming. The spot is quite popular with the old local men, many of which were former administrators of the city Murat tells me. The water here is crystal clear and warm. It is possible to see the bottom of the sea quite a ways out, even though it is deep. There is little current or waves, so swimming is relaxing and enjoyable. I've noticed its helping my ankle a lot too, which is great! We swam here one night too and that was great too, although the water was pretty wavy (but that was fun too for a change and the water was even warmer).

We went to the beach two days on two of the other days. This place was called 'Nirvana Beach' and was made up of well worn pebbles instead of sand, which I have decided I prefer the former because I can stay clean after getting out of the water. Luckily, we have gone early enough in the mornings that we can leave before noon sun -- meaning I haven't burned yet! :)

After the beach or morning swim, we eat breakfast which consists of 3-5 cheeses, 3-4 types of olives, bread, several types of nuts, tomatoes and cucumber in olive oil, bread, and whatever Murat's mom, Leyla, made on the stove such as an omelet, fried cheese, etc. There is also, of course, tea with plenty of sugar. We take about an hour to eat, which certainly rocks the socks off of my usual mornings eating a breakfast of cereal or granola while standing in my kitchen. I will certainly miss these breakfasts. *Sigh*

We wait out the hot part of the day in the air conditioned room while reading or watching TV/movies. A few naps have been thrown in there as well.

Other days when I am not being a slug or a fish, we've gone out exploring. My first day, Murat and I went out in the late afternoon to walk around Old Town. There are a lot of lovely buildings around here, some which are very old. This is also primarily the tourist area and is near the harbor. We walked around here and looked at the boats. Murat decided we needed to take a boat tour, so we did that. It took us along the cliffs providing a nice view of the city.

Two days of my visit were dedicated to seeing ancient sites. Yay! The first one we went to was Termessos, which is a Greek site located in the Tarsus Mountains on the top of one of the peaks. We drove the car up part of the way and then hiked up to the top. The view was spectacular! Impossible to capture in photos or to describe, but absolutely breathtaking! The ruins are scattered throughout the peak, so we hiked around to find them. There is a lot of vegetation blocking some of the fragments and makes it seem very untouched. I liked exploring!

The next day we went to Aspendos, the site of an excellently preserved Roman theatre. There was a great view from the top of this too. The theatre, as I said, was well preserved with virtually every piece intact. Much of the original sculpture from the theatre remains intact at the Antalya Museum (which was different day's actitivity). There was a guy dressed as a Roman soldiers costume that he made himself. Murat's mom wanted a photo with him and I ended up getting one as well. After this site we went to Perge, another really old site, but with remains primarily from the Roman period. A lot of the site was overrun with vegetation, really tall vegetation. The highlight of this site, for me, was the stone canal which ran down the center of a colonnaded area leading up to a large, what used to be grand fountain with a sculpture and three arches that held additional pieces. I could imagine what a welcome scene this would be in the heat.

I think that covers the highlights. Now I'll post the link for the photos so you can see what I've been babbling on about. Enjoy!