Turkey on the Blue Mediterranean

Beautiful weather, ancient sites, friendly people, great food, snow-capped peaks visible across the blue blue water… oh, and excellent inexpensive restaurants. How can we do better than this stay in Antalya?

View of the coast from above the harbor

At one of our favorite restaurants

The old harbor, seen from our favorite restaurant!

The first time we ever visited Turkey was last Spring, when we explored the fantastic landscapes of Cappadocia, the whirling Sufis and tomb of Rumi in Konya (click here), toured Troy and Pergamum and the battle fields of Gallipoli (click here and/or here), and finally finished with a week in Istanbul. Oh, and our time in Selçuk, and the fabulous concert in the ancient theater at Ephesus (and if you’ve forgotten that, you absolutely must click here). Turkey was quite a surprise—quite a pleasant surprise! So we had to come back. But why Antalya?

Re-read the first sentence!

Attalus Philadelphos overlooks what's become of his city.

We’ve been here for over a week, taking our time and exploring slowly, and constantly uncovering new delights. We are staying in the old town, known as the Kaleiҫi (the “-ҫ-“is a sort of hard c, pronounced “che.” (Sorry, GoT fans, this isn’t the origin of “Khaleesi.”) The town, rising steeply above the ancient harbor, was originally established around 188 BCE, and was named by Attalus Philadelphos II, an early king (after himself, of course!*). Lest we forget, there is a nice statue of him in a town square. Also, lest we forget that the Roman Emperor Hadrian passed this way in 130 CE, the triumphal arch built for his entrance is still preserved. (He doesn’t get a statue, though).

* (Hum, just think, the town might have been named Philadelphia!)

Hadrian's Gate

The Kaleiҫi is a wonderful place to wander; small, and full of cutesy buildings. There’s something about the texture of the stone buildings, the warm tones of the walls and the walkways (smooth paving stones, easier to walk on than the rounded cobbles popular in Europe.).  Somehow I find that a very satisfying combination. And, these refurbished buildings house pubs and restaurants, inns and hotels, shops and stores. Everything the tourist might want! The restaurants vary, but some are decidedly upscale with excellent food, beautiful views over the harbor, and yet quite affordable. Many of them have live music in the evening.

  

Scenes of the old town, Kaleici

Us, on the street where we live.

The rest of Antalya is all modern city (with a total population of around two million), high-rise apartments with an incredible variety of shops and stores at ground level. Lots and lots of restaurants, at least four on every block! Plenty of “casual dining” (fast food)—hamburgers, dӧner (meat roasted on a vertical spit, also known as kebab, or kabap here), pizza both of the Italian variety and pide, the Turkish version. The roads are wide, amenable to cars (of which there are a great many), and the broad sidewalks are constantly crowded. I don’t know where all those people are coming from or going to, but I imagine it gets pretty packed in the summer!

There's a LOT going on in greater Antalya!

We’re in the off-season now (March), and the streets of the Kaleiҫi are thinly populated. The shops are open for business, selling all manner of goods: beautiful carpets and rugs (this is Turkey, after all), weavings, pottery. Clothing. Plus all the usual tourist kitsch, oftentimes in the same shop. The shop keepers are respectful, and not overly insistent, but always requesting your attention. (We’re learning to politely decline…) Overall, though, there is a feeling of anticipation, an expectation, almost impatience, for the season to start; for the streets of the Kaleiҫi to be filled with the summer crowds. All that shop space, all those empty tables in the pubs and restaurants; all those sales people sitting in front of their shops: Ready to burst into action! But not yet, not quite yet…

Ancient Roman citizens right at home in Antalya.

A series of statues devoted to music and musicians

A Sunday Stroll in Antalya

Antalya is tucked into a protected corner of the south coast of turkey, with coastline stretching away to both the east and south. For our first Sunday in Antalya we took a stroll along the south coast, cliffs falling to the ocean on our left and the high-rises and busy road of the city to our right.  The cliffs widened out and formed into a long narrow—and very busy—parking lot. Where were all these people going? We weaved our way through the cars and came to a series of cafes and restaurants set in parkland along the cliff edge. Families with kids running around, couples, friends drinking tea (ҫay, in Turkish) or eating, or playing cards or board games (backgammon is very popular!).  

This, we found out, is Ataturk Park, running about a mile along the cliff front away from the harbor, where the good folk of Antalya gather to relax and play. We encountered some hang gliders taking advantage of the updrafts along the cliffs, which provided a real thrill. The landscape changed as we moved further along, with the cliffs giving way to a long, flat beach. We wound down the switchbacks to the ocean walk.

View overlooking Konyaalti Beach

By now we are really ready for some lunch, and I feared that we’d left the best behind, up there on the cliffs. Instead, we came to what seems to be the latest beach hot spot, a long string of identical, modern but not unattractive, glass and concrete boxes housing all manner of places to eat and drink. Well, soon, anyway: most of them aren’t open yet! The signs are promising: Gastro bar! Coffee and pastries! Ice cream! Some seem ready to open, with nicely laid-out tables and décor, chains on the doors. Others are still construction sites. I begin to despair of having lunch today.

Families and friends gather along Konyaalti Beach

Ah, lunch outside.

Oh, but it seems we started at the newer end. We continue for maybe a kilometer (1/2-mile), the grass on our left filled with kids and families and young adults enjoying the day, much as they were at the more-established Ataturk Park we’d passed earlier. On our right, creative and entertaining signs announcing the delights of eating places yet to open. Finally, right at the end, we come to a fine, casual restaurant. We ate very well, washing it all down with good Effes beer, and then strolled across the park to the water.

 

A view back towards the old harbor and Kaleici from Konyaalti Beach

A very modern coffee shop (ready to open Real Soon Now!)

It’s not sand, but tiny pebbles. Not uncomfortable to lie on; full and content, we snooze in the sun. Eventually it’s time to head back. We return the way we came, eventually reaching the main road at the top of the cliffs, where we ride the tram back to the Kaleiҫi (about $1USD for both of us). A very satisfying day!

Coffee Culture in Antalya

All those modern coffee shops along the beach got me thinking: are they Western imports? Is coffee a new thing here? Some quick research and a visit to the Ethnological Museum at the end of our street showed that coffee has been part of Turkish culture for a very long time. Coffee shops were popular in Constantinople (former name of Istanbul) before Europeans arrived in the New World. Coffee apparently was first discovered / developed on the Arabian Peninsula in what’s now Yemen—although Ethiopia, across the Gulf of Aden, also has claims on the origin—and spread widely throughout the Arab world, including the Ottoman Empire. Coffee houses were where people gathered to meet and discuss the issues of the day. (In fact, due to the information passed around while imbibing in this popular drink, coffee houses came to be known as “School for the Wise”). Coffee didn’t make it to Europe until the 16^th Century. So no, coffee here is not an import from the West! What’s new in Turkey is the espresso machine, those large fancy Italian contraptions that are the mainstay of European coffee shops.

From the museum, coffee roasting spoons (lower right) and wooden cooling dishes (upper left), coffee cups and holders. Plus, in a modern coffee shop, this great graphic, coffee with the suggestion of a tulip, symbol (and product!) of Turkey.

Traditional Turkish coffee, served in all the cafes and restaurants here, involves boiling water, removing it from the heat and adding finely-ground coffee, then letting it steep and settle. The result: hot, strong, a bit grainy towards the end, and sweet. Always sweet! The question when ordering coffee is how much sugar, three lumps, or just two? If, after you have finished, you invert the cup on the saucer it’s said your future can be read in the coffee grounds. There’s even an app for that: you send a photo of the dregs and get your fortune told by Internet. Ah, the modern world!

Paula, with my coffee cup and her glass of cay.

More common, and more widely drunk in cafes and restaurants (and cheaper!), is ҫay, Turkish tea. While there are specialty pots to make it, it’s the same infusion of black tea leaves that’s found around the world (even if the Turkish word is pronounced “chai”). What makes it special are the little glasses and saucers that are used to serve it.  Entranced early on, we bought a set in Selҫuk last fall; I guess we could have waited ‘till we got here, and not have dragged them across Europe with us for five months!

            

Incredible mountains across the water...

            Ancient Sites

We’ve been to two so far: the partial-excavated and well-manicured Perge, and the wild and mountainous Termessos. We will be getting over to Aspendos, with its incredibly well-preserved theater. 

Driftwood sculpture of chamois in a park in Kaleici.

 

But all that’s for a future blog. We’ve said enough for this post already!