Travels in Turkey - Antalya

Finike is a funny place in that it is not touristy at all – very few people speak English, there are no major supermarkets (like Migros, etc.) in town and it’s refreshingly Turkish.  It was difficult to find a rental car, but eventually, wandering around town I did find a gentleman who would rent us a car for four days – it turns out that his wife is a dentist in a nearby larger town, and although the car was in her name, he manages the rental.  I am not sure how ‘above board’ the whole thing was, although he had all the documentation and insurance, and the car was in good shape.  The only downside to the whole exercise was that my back was still in quite a bit of pain, but I had to drive as Tad’s Australian drivers license had expired and Patrick was not an experienced driver of manual cars.

Downtown Finike

Bisou at Finike marina

We left early the next morning headed to Antalya, via Olympia (the Turkish version) and Chimaera.  Both were equally interesting; the former, an ancient port town (now a beach!) with great ruins to walk through, and the latter, a challenging climb up the hillside to where spontaneously ignited gas seeps from the rock.  This was the mythological ‘fire-breathing beast’ the Chimaera, that was supposedly part lion, part goat and part snake and eventually slain by Bellerophon (Hercules-type character).  It was quite fascinating to watch the flames come out of the various cracks and crevices in the rocks and some of the locals were even roasting sausages in the flames. 

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Olympos is a very popular (and lovely) beach!

One of the many spectacular ruins at Olympos

Hiking up to the Chimaera

Spontaneously igniting gases which flow from the rocks!

On the way to Antalya we experienced some torrential rain which caused rather long delays on the roads due to accidents and other misfortunes but eventually arrived in the Old Town and made our way to the hotel that I had booked.  The Tuvana Hotel in Kaleiçi is a family-run establishment, which has a couple of lovely restaurants and which houses their guests in three restored old homes.  It was simply furnished and our rooms were on the top floor, but it was clean and comfortable.  Our first night there we were tired and went looking for an inexpensive kebab dinner, but unfortunately were ripped off by a local restaurateur who conned us into ordering more than we needed and never mentioning the cost of anything.  Lesson learned!

The next morning we set off with a map and GPS, first to Aspendos and then Perge (on our way back).  We were quite surprised to see no tour buses and very few visitors at either location – nice for us but not so great for the locals for whom tourism is their ‘bread and butter’.  Although the main attraction at Aspendos is the beautifully restored amphitheatre, there are plenty of ruins, including a Byzantine cathedral.  It was a relatively short drive from there to Perge where we spent quite a bit of time traipsing through the ruins. The place is fairly well marked with good descriptions of what the buildings were and what they might have looked like.  Both Aspendos and Perge were brought to light when we visited the Archaeological Museum in Antalya which was quite magnificent.

Aspendos amphitheatre

                               The amphitheatre from above showing the surrounding countryside

The ruins of Perge

Tad and Patrick in the stadium at Perge

By the time we reached the hotel later that afternoon, I was exhausted and in pain, so Tad and Patrick went for a walk down to the harbour while I went off to a local ‘hammam’ (Turkish steam bath) for a massage.  It helped my back but by  the next morning I really needed some medical intervention and the manager of the hotel was kind enough to book me an appointment at a nearby private hospital.  I took a taxi and was escorted by a translator (who was originally from the Ukraine but had arrived in Turkey about 6 years prior and spoke Turkish fluently, as well as English) to the physiotherapist.  A cursory check of what movements I was able/not able to perform and she prescribed some intra-muscular injections of pain killers and muscle-relaxants.  The translator took me to the pharmacy where I purchased the necessary items and then back to the hospital for my first of daily injections – I told her that my husband would do the rest.  Whether the effect was psychosomatic or otherwise, I was able to walk more comfortably and visit the museum at Antalya – we took the tram from the Old Town which was great fun and spent a good three hours at the museum.

Some of the exquisite statues at the Antalya Museum

A couples' sarcophagus with detail shown below

Extraordinary craftsmanship!

Sailing away from Finike Marina

It was time to head back to Finike the next day and we pretty much drove straight through – no rain and very little traffic made for an easy 2 hour trip and after stopping at a Migros outside of town to provision Bisou, we headed back to the boat.  Tad took the opportunity of plenty of fresh water to wash the boat down while I did some laundry and we were ready to head out the next morning.