Where the heck are we now?: Antayla Turkey

Antayla Turkey

Antayla is a major tourist town in Turkey with about half a million residents and about 8 million visitors a year. It is a beautiful coastal city with a lovely coastline and an ideal climate, the temperature was in the mid 20s. In the background framing the city are the Bey Mountains with snow covered peaks off in the distance. The city also had lots of green public spaces, panoramic views of the ocean and great street sculpture.

Our group at the bus station

The view from the hotel

We stayed in the Old City in the nicest hotel on our trip so far. We also got the suite so that was a bonus. It was built around a courtyard a very short walk to the sea. There was also a small pool though we didn’t swim.

A great courtyard

As we walked around we could tell the shops and restaurants were very upscale a lot of British and German tourists around. We were late getting there after a very long bus ride on a first class bus with an attendant and good wi fi. We went over the mountains and then down to the sea to Antayla.

Waiting for the bus

One of the major attractions here is the Archaeological Museum since this area is endowed with a rich cultural heritage and many archaeological ruins. There were great ceramics displayed but the two main areas we enjoyed were the Gallery of the Gods which gave us a chance to walk among amazing statues of the Greek gods and goddesses that had been recovered. The other area was the Sarcophagus Gallery which was again an amazing exhibition of intricately carved tombs. Many of these items are 2 and 3 century BC.

The emperor Hadrian

Don walking among the scarophagus

Another example of the restored sculpture,the display was stunning

At night we went to a great outdoor restaurant located in a restored stable, the highlight was the folk music played throughout our meal which consisted of a buffet of cold and warm mezes. We all weren’t sure of what we were eating but the tastes were unusual but good. Sorry I forgot my camera.

There were galleries everywhere

I thought this piece was beautiful and no I didn't buy it

This morning we had a free time so we went for a walk to explore the place ourselves. It was great since there were not a lot of tourists around and the weather was perfect. I got some good pictures of the place and we stopped for a local Turkish ice cream. This ice cream is different from ours as it uses goat milk as the base and is quite stringy. The guy has it on a stick and twirls it around something like pizza dough. It looked and tasted quite good, another Turkish treat.