Konya to Antalya

When we left Konya on Saturday morning September 10 , we traveled through the Taurus Mountains to the sub-tropical coastal town of Antalya.  We stopped at a cave site in the morning, and a few people went in.  A few of those came right back out while the others finished.  The admission cost was not included in our tour and I chose not to go in.  I’m glad I did, as those who came out first said the railings, etc., were a bit rickety and those that came out later, said there were definitely more stairs than they had thought there would be!  I sat among the pine trees with other tour members visiting and adding captions to my pictures.  Rafet and Alexa got in another game of backgammon before we had lunch and then continued on our way. 

Antalya is the region that Ayşegül is from, so she definitely had additional insight into the area.  We stayed in the old city, within the old city walls, which is typical on a Rick Steves tour.  On our arrival, we had a nice orientation walk, which included Hadrian’s Gate – a three arch structure leading into the city  (it seems he traveled a bit in his life, as I believe there is a wall in northern England or in Scotland also named after him.)  The old town had narrow winding streets and at the end, a great view of the yacht harbor and the cliffs falling into the sea.  Ayşegül explained how much had fallen into the sea in the last 20-30 years and how buildings were having to be abandoned due to this. 

Ayşegül  had then arranged for those who wanted, to visit a Hamam, a Turkish Bath.  The cost of this was not included in the tour, but, with the transport, bath, a luffa scrub, a bubble massage, an additional oil massage, face mask and pedicure, I paid 85 lira: about $60 US dollars!  Not only was it a deal in terms of what it cost, it was so cleansing and felt wonderful.  Also, the cost was much less than what one of the tour members paid in the tourist area of Istanbul.  Having a group of women together who had not experienced this before was also fun as we were all in awe of the process and joked and laughed our way through.  I hope to do this every other week while I am here!  This bath was one outside of the old city, and outside of the tourist area, so the rest of the women who were there were local.  Sorry, no photos as everyone was half naked and there was too much steam.  

Had a nice dinner out that night not far from the hotel with a few of the other tour members.  I had one of my favorites: tomato, mozzarella, with a basil pesto.