Trip 2 Turkey may 2004
romantic view over the sea near Antalya waterfall, Antalya
The first day I had to be at the airport very early, because our flight was scheduled at 8 hours in the morning, so my alarm went of at 5 in the morning, and then I traveled by train to Amsterdam to get my flight, Just too find out that our plane had a delay of 3 hours. And there is really nothing to do at the airport; there are some shops, but not enough entertainment to keep me busy for 4 hours. So we decided to walk around and eat something and had some coffee, before we went to the gate to check in. There were a lot of people standing at the gate, A couple of hundreds, because our flight was delight but there were also other people standing there who had to get their normal flight. So we just sat down and waited till the sign says that it is possible to board the airplane. The stupid people of the airplane carrier never put the sign on “boarding”, so when we went to check it out we were almost too late to get in the airplane. If we went to the gate 1 minute later we would have missed it. Yes a know I’m a bit stupid.
The flight was all right, about 3 hours and 20 minutes and I was in Turkey. So went out of the airport to get 2 the bus, which was going to take us to the hotel, but because we were the first ones at the bus we decided to wait outside, after the driver put our luggage in the bus. So we were sitting at the front of the airplane and watch about 20 people boarding our bus, and then it drove of, while we were still standing outside. I managed to jump inside, and my friend tried it to but he was caught between the bus and the closing door of the bus, he was stuck and hanging halfway out of the bus, It was a funny sight.
So this was almost the second time we missed something.
Anyway back in the hotel, checking in and went to the swimming pool too have a refreshing dive. Had dinner and went to the swimming pool again. Next to the swimming pool we had a bar where we can get free drinks all day long. Seems that some Russian people really know their way with the free drinking system. A group of Russian girls started dancing and grabbing men from all over the place to dance. I think it is a bit strange that there were more Russian women then men. Maybe all ma\en have to work. Anyway after a while we went to the beach and after that we went to bed because we rented a car to travel to Thermessos. Thermessos is a old Greek city, and the only thing left are the ruins. Turkish people drive like crazy, so a took a while to get used to the Turkish way of driving. It seems, that if you see an empty place, you have to squeeze your car in that spot, and at the stoplights suddenly there is room for 4 cars next to each other while it still is a two lane road. Anyway after about 80 kilometers we were in Thermessos and started to climb the mountain, we so a lot of old buildings, but some looked more like piles of stones.
Ruins of Termessos Amphitheatre of Termessos, with Niko
Old statue in Termessos And another one
After seeing some more temples and the amphitheater we went back again, just to found ourselves in a traffic-jam. So we parked the little jeep next to the road and did a little nap in the car. After an hour we noticed that there wasn’t any movement at all, so we decided to drive to the nearest city (Antalya) and had some dinner, the lamb chops tasted very good. And after 2 hours we went back and saw that there was still that stupid traffic-jam, so we went to Antalya back again and went to the old harbor, and walked around for a while, all kind of Turkish people wanted to take us on a boat trip, but we weren’t really feeling like that. We preferred sitting at a little Turkish café.
Old Harbor in Antalya with Marc Our little rented Jeep with Niko in front of it
So about 6 hours after we first were caught up in the traffic jam, we went back one more last time, to see that it was still there and it took us another 3 hours to get back to the hotel. I was totally exhausted, but wanted to talk too some other people who we met at the hotel. So after a few drinks I almost collapse and went back to my bed.
Next day we didn’t do anything, just some breakfast, a little bit of swimming, the lunch, went to the city of Kemer, where our hotel was situated, walked around and saw that there were many hotels and shops where you can buy all kind of fake stuff. We saw that in the harbor there was a little Dolphinarium, where you can swim with the dolphins.
And a lot a small cafes and bars.
Went back to the hotel had some dinner and sat at the bar till we were drunk enough to go to the disco. Even for Dutch standards this disco was expensive, about 10 euro for entrance fee and 5 euro for a small beer. Fortunately we learned quickly, and knew that when you enter with a female you don’t have to pay the entrance fee. But this time it was a bit too late because we were already inside. The only people inside were Turkish men and Russian females. I still think it is a bit strange that there are more Russian females going to Turkey and not so many Russian males. Anyway we had a blast till we wanted to talk to some people, seems that Russian people don’t talk English at all, so it is a hard conversation. Even when I found somebody who can translate the words for me. Even the Russian I know didn’t made a good impression but that is properly the way I pronounced it.
Anyway after a few hours I went back to the hotel and missed breakfast the next day (strange), anyway this day we wanted to see the even burning flames of Chimera.
To tell you what it is exactly: There is methane gas coming from the inside of the earth and finds its way to the surface on a mountain hill near small city of Chimera. I guess somebody set light to this gas many centuries ago, because next to the flames are the remnants of an ancient Greek temple. I was told that these flames were 6 meters high about 200 years ago, but now they are really small.
We decide to go with the traditional way of public Turkish transportation, the dolmus, these are small busses which can be stopped at any place and you can get out at any pace you want. But they only ride on the main roads.
The fist try we made, we were dropped near hotel Chimera, and not near the city where we had to go to. So we had to walk back to the main road to get to Real place. Fortunately in the next dolmus were some people from Austrian, and one of them is coming to Turkey for the last 25 years, and when he heard where we wanted to go het said he knew a short cut, because the normal stop of the dolmus was still about 9 kilometers from the flames. So we stopped earlier and went with the Austrian people to a small fish restaurant before he was going to show us the right path to the flames. He already told us that it was a tourist path, but never told us we had to cross 2 rivers by swimming and hick across the mountain to the other side. Anyway after dinner he showed us a really small walking path, only used by some locals. Anyway it is more adventures then the stairways the Turkish people made on the other side of the mountain.
The road we had to climb Chimera and the flames, with a Greek temple on the background
Niko and fire Marc almost naked
Anyway after 2 hours climbing and hiking and crossing little streams and bigger ones, we came to the flames, and we were really tired. We just took the normal tourist way down, to find our self down the hill without any means of transportation, knowing that the main road is 9 kilometers from this place and we have to reach it to take the dolmus back to our hotel.
Happily for me there was a car coming with 2 girl, who wanted to climb the mountain the next day, and they were now just checking out how to get to the place, I asked if they could bring us back 2 the main road, but instead of that they brought us to hour hotel, about 70 kilometers from the flames. These girls were from Russian, Moscow and rented a car, fortunately they spoke English. And I found out that paid about 2 times the amount of money I paid. And that all girls from Russian have the same names (Nadja, Katja, Tanja, Lara)
Anyway we were in time for dinner, and did almost the same stuff as the day before, going out with some people who we met in the hotel, and went to another disco this time. But could have been the same as the day before. (Same sort of music same kind of people)
Next day again a relaxing day, sitting at the pool and went to the harbor to do a 2 hour boat trip, just to find out the boat was sailing for half an hour coming back and was staying about 200 meters out of the harbor for another hour, I think this is a sort of Turkish boat trip. Anyway gave me something to fill my afternoon.
Harbor of Kemer, the city we stayed
This night we went with a small group to the beach and hang out, before returning to the hotel because the next trip was going to Antalya, one of the bigger cities on the Turkish Riviera. Went there by mini bus, stopped at a waterfall and we ate at a small fish restaurant, before going to the city center itself.
Marc and a waterfall Waterfall in Antalyal
Walked around in the city, sitting in a park, and walking around, looking for a souvenir, but only found really stupid stuff. All kind of faked clothing and perfumes, and stupid cheap water pips. Anyway after walking around for a few hours we went back and started packing again, because we booked a cheap flight we had to fly at night. After packing we had dinner and went drinking with some people who we met, during our holiday. About a quarter pass 12 we had to check out because we were going to be picked op at 00:20, so we really had to run, just too found out we were on stand by because they had overbooked the airplane, luckily we were able to go with our flight.
And after 3 hours I was back in Amsterdam and went home to take a nap cause I was really tired. The weather overhere is not that great compared to turkey but I will assimilate it again.