HOW WE GOT TO TURKEY ADVENTURES IN ANTALYA.

We got to Turkey by accident. Two weeks before departure, our flight to Greece was canceled and there was no suitable replacement. Until that time, we somehow avoided Turkey with our attention.

The adventure began at the airport, upon arrival. People from all over our plane could not find their luggage. They ran through the airport, then through the airport offices. We found out who speaks better English to find out the reason. An hour later, the luggage appeared on one of the belts. and finally, it was possible to leave the airport.

Having found something like the bus of our tour operator in a huge parking lot, crammed with various buses, we were greeted with a question, do we know where our hotel is located? The question caused me bewilderment, I didn’t really plan to go here, let alone the hotel.

For family reasons, I was late with self-booking, initially we planned to go to Sicily, but when all the issues were resolved, there was nothing on our budget. No accommodation, no tickets. In such cases, I pay attention to travel agencies, sometimes they have tours for the price of the flight. And this time they picked me up a good tour to Greece, but 2 weeks before departure they canceled the flight from St. Petersburg. There were three options. Departure from Moscow, but I didn’t want to connect trains and planes. Money back within 10 (! ) days (but what about the vacation?). And the replacement of the tour. Only Turkey was found for a replacement, for our budget. Well, we will be like everyone else, we decided. And so far we have never been there. And the girl is in a travel agency said that we will not regret. The hotel is new, just opened.

On the bus, soon, we were left alone and went in search of a mysterious new super hotel. We drove around Side, but nowhere was there a hint of a hotel. Does it even exist? The girl-guide began to call, find out. Then it seemed that something came out, she I asked to stop the bus and went to investigate. When I returned, I said that our hotel was renovated. I was already ready to go back to the airport, but they took us to another hotel, where they discussed something for a long time in Turkish. Then they said to take their suitcases and get back on the bus. And they drove to our hotel, which was being renovated. And left there.

In the hotel we were the only guests, there was no one at all. It was quiet and a little creepy. They settled us on the very top, on the last floor, along a spiral staircase, and a huge balcony overlooking the pool. The first day there was no buffet, but we I was already thinking about asking us to move somewhere, but I realized that there were probably no places, because. in that hotel we were not left. In the evening we went for a walk, found a beach, shops and a mosque.

In the morning, a buffet appeared and a young man who arrived a couple of days before us, when the hotel did not even have water yet. By the way, he had the same story with the search. He told us that the owner of the hotel has another hotel, just where they brought us yesterday. And that this hotel has WI-FI, and there you can use the pool and dining room. And it is also closer to the sea. And if you go from the sea , you can go there for lunch, and not drag a few more kilometers to our hotel in the backyard. As a result, we got two hotels for the price of one. The reception confirmed that we can go there and even gave out the bracelets of that hotel. And sometimes they brought us there by car, if someone from the “administration” was going there. Initially, we went there for the Internet, and then we began to use everything else. Our hotel was also gradually occupied and even began to carry out animation.

Every day it was boring to go to the beach, especially since it is far away and the sea is dirty and with waves. We had to see the country a little, since we are here. The historical center of Side with the archaeological museum, where turtles roam freely, we have visited. Postcard views.

We walked, did not use transport. Lira, rubles, euros and dollars are used. Moreover, there is no difference between the dollar and the euro. It is only for us. It is most profitable to use the lira, the rate was 1:12. I used a ruble card. But if you need to buy only ice cream for 1 lira, then the card will not work, only from 5 lira. Also, in supermarkets they did not accept metal euros, only paper ones, I don’t know why, maybe because a small amount. Without commission you can withdraw money from Denizbank, he cooperates With Sberbank. There is a WesternUnion point, where they also change money at a good rate. As it was not possible to use the ATM immediately, there was no money in it for several days, and WesternUnion helped out, the money was needed for travel.

In terms of shopping, there are very good offers, you can bargain, cheap fruits.

They decided not to take the excursions. The tour operator’s prices are cosmic. The locals are cheaper, but the program is such that it makes no sense, it is more profitable for themselves, and without time limits.

ALANYA

We decided to make the first trip to Alanya. At the nearest stop we caught dolmush to Manavgavt. The trip costs 3 lira. At the bus station of Manavgavt we were put on a bus to Alanya, the fare was 11 liras, the driver paid at the exit. To go 60 km. The bus collects everyone on the way, regardless of In Alanya, the final stop was not far from the Old City and we went to inspect the fortress walls. We walked a little along the narrow winding streets, but did not go up to the fortress itself. Five kilometers uphill in the heat is another challenge. And about the funicular with I forgot the opposite side of the mountain. Cunning ubiquitous taxi drivers are everywhere, offering a ride 5 km for 50 lira (I spent less for 60 km!).

We climbed the walls, looked at the Red Tower of Kyzyl Kule, looked at the old shipyards, walked along the amazing embankment.

We did not go to the Cleopatra beach with the sculpture of the same name. We returned to the hotel for dinner. The budget of the trip was 28 liras (336 rubles for two). We took a snack with us. But in the heat, I did not want to eat, but it took a lot of water. Shopping was not planned there. …

Then we had the imprudence to take the water park from the tour operator, and that was because I did not immediately understand how to get to it on my own. Lend of legends water park with an amusement park and evening show at the end, dinner is included in the price. , this is probably the last thing that I ever took from them, like my last appeal to a travel agency. We took not a morning, but a day trip. It was cheaper (the morning cost more than 100 euros for one, I don’t remember exactly how much), not so hot, and we were assured that we would be in time. The bus was delayed, in the end we arrived there at 5 pm, and the slides work until 6 pm, and there are still huge queues. You don’t have to go any further. We didn’t get to any slides. , my daughter was upset. For dinner they gave a burger, the amusement park was also not impressed. We rode only one, but several times. But I liked the show.But it was free for everyone, so the people were dark. Everything was decorated very nicely, the alley of shops, in the water park, a sandy beach from the Maldives. Everything is expensive and beautiful. But everything is spoiled by a huge, simply gigantic number of people. We took a place on the show in an hour. (!) before the start, but when it moved further, there was no chance to see anything.

Antalya

This city became the next purpose of our visit. And here we had big plans. First of all, the Old Town, then the waterfall, which for some reason was marked as “Sewerage” in my navigator. Oceanarium, amusement park, ethnographic museum, park “ Turkey in miniature ”, a water park. The museums were concentrated in the Old City, the entertainment part was clustered in one place, far enough from the Old City. It was decided that we would have time, we’ll figure it out on the spot.

Since we always had problems with an early rise, and even on vacation, we moved out quite late. We reached the Manavgavt bus station by dolmus (3 lira), where we took a bus to Antalya (15 lira, payment on the bus). km The bus also collects everyone along the way. On the bus we were given a small container with water. Very nice)

Guided by the navigator, we decided not to go to the bus station, but to get out earlier, closer, and walk. So we did, we had to walk about 3 km, bought ice cream along the way, found an ATM. The city has an interesting decoration with sculptures of various kinds of activities.

Coming closer to the sea, we found the “Museum of Islam”, in the courtyard of which turtles were walking calmly. Entry is free, you must take off your shoes. The museum reflects the history of the development of religion, objects of worship and interior design.

Then we went out to the square and enjoyed the views of the city below.

The entrance to the Old City, or Kaleici, is opened by Hadrian’s Gate (130 BC)

Then you find yourself in a special atmosphere of a labyrinth of narrow, winding streets. You cannot get out without a navigator) Now there are hotels and shops. The mazes lead to the embankment with a tower, in the distance you can see a waterfall-sewer.

Having wandered around these streets, my daughter said that she no longer needed anything, and it was time to go home. I suggested, since we are here, at least go to a museum. In the Old Town there is the Ethnographic Museum of Suna and Inana Kyrach. The house-museum works under under the auspices of the Institute for the Study of Mediterranean Civilizations. Quite interesting, it has an archive of old photographs reflecting life and history, and clearly presented exhibitions. There is also a department dedicated to ancient professions.

At the exit, I asked how we could get to the bus station. I was told to look at the bus stop, the route of which indicated otogar (bus station in Turkish). This word I will probably remember for the rest of my life.

We left the Old Town for the nearest stop. At each stop there is a list of at least 20 buses, indicating their route. We waited for the number, in the list of the route of which the otogar was indicated, and found out that we were in the other direction.

There was no bus stop on the other side, there were rails, obviously a tram. Having passed along them, we found a stop, the entrance to which was closed by turnstiles and duty controllers, they sent me to the machine to buy a ticket. Well, the machine is nonsense. I thought. I mastered the machine gun in Prague, in Valencia, almost mastered it in Barcelona, ​​it didn’t work out a bit in Paris, but this was my first trip, now I don’t care about the machine gun. It really turned out to be simple, the difficulty turned out to be different. He did not want to sell me a one-time trip, he wanted to sell me a travel card with several trips, and why would I need them if I was in the city for a few hours, well, I didn’t want to overpay. We decided to look for a bus and buy a ticket from the driver.

We went forward, to the main street, found a stop with a seemingly correct direction, all the bus numbers with the location of the otogar could not be remembered, we had to check every number that came up with the list. The difficulty was that there were a lot of buses and they traveled one by one, and if the stop is busy, they put in and disembark at the end of the queue, and did not stop at the stop anymore, I had to run to look at the numbers, check with the list, horror in general. At first, the desired number was not available for a long time, and I even went to the other side to see the routes , but by all indications the direction was correct. Finally, the necessary bus appeared, the driver of which … sent us to the machine, it turns out that they do not sell tickets, only in the machine.

Preparing for a new assault on this device, I asked the young man to help me deal with this hellish car, she must sell me a one-time trip. But the young man smiled sweetly and could not understand my problem. Later. I read on the Internet that first I need It was necessary to buy a travel card, and then only record trips on it. No worries about tourists, why would I need a travel pass if I don’t stay here?

My daughter suggested that we walk 4.5 km to the bus station, but I had a plan B. Return to the highway where we got out and catch the bus there. What, in fact, we did. We got to the nearest stop (by the way, the machines are not on all stops, but only in the center) and I looked at the navigator. What I saw did not really inspire me, namely that the bus had several options for the roads on which it could theoretically go. In the middle of the roadway there was a ramp, along to which the transport was leaving the bridge, the bus could go there too. We decided to clarify. There were no people on the street, only one man who spoke on the phone. When he finished, I approached him with a question. From all my speech he understood only one word -Manavgavt, but that turned out to be enough. Then he led us forward and handed us to the girl from the cafe who spoke English, but from her speech I understoodthat we could either stand here, on a small patch, for 10 minutes, or walk forward 10 minutes. Then everyone quickly disappeared, and we decided to stand. But standing in an unusual place for a bus stop was exciting and we decided to return to the bus stop, the time is already it was enough later. While walking we were caught by a taxi driver and offered to take us for 50 liras. While I was thinking of going for 50 liras or to go on foot, I saw someone stop our bus ahead. We rushed to him with joyful cries, probably I have never I was not so happy about the bus. Sitting in it and getting our water, which was very handy, we finally relaxed. And the bus, by the way, made a stop at the very place where the man left us.But standing in an unusual place for a bus stop was exciting and we decided to return to the bus stop, the time was already quite late. While walking we were caught by a taxi driver and offered to take us for 50 liras. While I was thinking to go for 50 liras or go on foot, I saw who was ahead our bus stops. We rushed to it with joyful cries, I guess I have never been so happy about the bus. Sitting in it and getting our water, which was very handy, we finally relaxed. And the bus, by the way, made a stop on that the very place where the man left us.But standing in an unusual place for a bus stop was exciting and we decided to return to the bus stop, the time was already quite late. While walking we were caught by a taxi driver and offered to take us for 50 liras. While I was thinking to go for 50 liras or go on foot, I saw who was ahead our bus stops. We rushed to it with joyful cries, I guess I have never been so happy about the bus. Sitting in it and getting our water, which was very handy, we finally relaxed. And the bus, by the way, made a stop on that the very place where the man left us.Sitting in it and getting our water, which was very handy, we finally relaxed. And the bus, by the way, made a stop at the very place where the man left us.Sitting in it and getting our water, which was very handy, we finally relaxed. And the bus, by the way, made a stop at the very place where the man left us.

Summing up all the impressions, I can say that I liked the city, especially my daughter. It is large, modern, clean. But not at all designed for tourists. There are no good beaches within the city limits and, accordingly, the tourist flow is small. In terms of travel, there is a complete disaster). But in the historical and culturally, everything is wonderful. A large number of museums, historical sites. We walked through shopping centers, prices are different, but most of them are much cheaper than ours. We liked the rest of the cities too, although Side looked more like a provincial, former fishing village, in which hotels were built. Chickens grazed opposite ours.

So, unplanned, they added another country to their tourist piggy bank. I can’t say that she impressed me with something and I would like to return, but why not ?.