Antalya

Arriving on the bus to Antalya was a bit of a shock to us - we had been in relatively small towns and villages since Athens and before us lay a huge seaside metropolis. We missed our drop off point and suddenly were trudging with our backpacks past towering apartment buildings and over major highways to the tram that we were planning to take into the old town area.

The old town was goregeous - full of beautiful wooden Ottoman houses lovingly restored as pansions and restaurants and pearched high above the sea. The area is surrounded by a relatively intact ancient city wall and there are reminders of its ancient past as a major port everwhere you turn - from Hadrian´s gate to the Roman harbor to the old clock tower. The landscape is sprinkled with landmarks from the Persian conquest as well - mosques wıth soaring minaretes and hamams (Turkish baths) that date back nearly 1,000 years.

The city is fairly liberal, and it is not uncommon to see young people hanging out down by the harbour enjoying a few beers and playing music. Another feature of the city that we enjoyed was its plentiful parks, all of which seem to have sweeping views of the sea and shorline.

We only had one night and a one day in Antalya, but were glad we made it a stop over.