Deepo

On the bus to Antalya, we saw this shopping centre and Jason mentioned that he would like to pay a visit on another day. So, on the day that we were supposed to go home and we were told that we wouldn't be, we decided it would time to jump on the bus and head up to Deepo. I wasn't totally up for it, but was persuaded by the promise of a Starbucks. Unlike in Glasgow, Starbucks are not on every street corner in Turkey, so if you find one, grab it! Off we went to Deepo and were greeted with an.... x-ray machine! How unnerving. The mall itself was very nice. It was lovely to visit a place with price tags and professionalism. Freedom to wander round and look at things before buying.

When we were in Perge, our guide informed us when we were walking down one of the ancient market streets, that there would have been down the centre of the street a water feature that would run down the whole street. It had a couple of uses. Firstly, asthetic. It would have been pleasing to hear the trickling of the water, especially on a hot day. Secondly, there were circular holes intermittently placed at the botom of the feature so that every so often water could be leaked out onto the pavement and shoppers could have a damp, cool street to walk down. The reason I'm explaining this is because there was a modern feature just like this in Deepo. A water feature that ran down the middle and the whole length of the centre. Obviously, now just asthetic, but funny how the ideas that the Romans had stick with us today.

I got a lovely wee top in this mall and Jason got one too. Some of the shops were quite expensive. And I was blown away by some of the chic style. I have to admit, I didn't see too many stylish Turkish women, but they sure had some lovely choices. I took a picture of this blouse and skirt combination for our inspiration board at the studio.

Lastly, the pictures of the kids and dolls. Thursday was some sort of National Day for the Turks. Something to do with their liberation. It was unclear, we only pieced this much from watching Turkish tv, but children were definitely involved. They were the crux of the celebration. That's why the kids were in the mall, practising for their show. Aww. They all wear this cute uniform regardless of what school they are at. Blue with a white collar. The colour of their uniform is dependant on age, not school.

We topped our trip off with a Starbucks and then had a trip into Antalya for some final purchases. We knew after this trip out that we would probably be captive at the hotel waiting for our flight so we got everything we needed to, fake designer bags, apple tea, etc, and headed back to the hotel. Our adventures in Antalya were over. From now on, we would be kicking about the hotel waiting for a departure time.

Waterfall

So the waterfalls at Manavgat are not really very high. I wouldn't worry if I fell in. It was very pretty so we took advantage of the time and tried out our "portrait" buttons on our cameras and got some lovely close ups. We had about 15 minutes here and beside the waterfalls were more market shops. I remember in one of my Japan blogs that I commented that you were very never more than 100 yards from a vending machine. Well the same goes in Turkey. Not vending machines, but full on shops. Selling mostly overpriced scarves and bags. Back to the bus for the next leg.

Textile Factory (the all important hard sell)

Worse than Primark.

That's the note that I made in my journal after visiting this shop. It was the middle part of the Side & Mangavat tour. You got to stop at a "Textile Factory". I knew it was the hard sell part of the tour, but I was romantically thinking that it might have old lady Turks, complete with headscarves, working a loom, running off peshtemels and maybe even some nice cotton or linen garments for sale. "Oh, I like your blouse." "Thanks, I got it in a textile factory in Turkey. I watched the lady spin the cotton that made it." Yada yada yada.

It was a shop in the middle of nowhere. It was called Dickman. Yes, Dickman. It reminded me of What Every Woman Wants, just before the receivers were called in.

It was full of terrible, terrible clothes for men, women and children. Worse than Primark. And it wasn't even cheap. That's the thing!

Obviously, the tour guide is on commission. The shop is probably half way between Side and Manvagat and serves as a useful toilet stop for the tours and that's why it's on the tour. Textile Factory. The tour guide said that it contained clothes made from the finest materials in all of Turkey.

Manavgat River Cruise

By the rivers of Manvagat, where we sat down. Etc, etc. Lunch was included in our tour price and was basic but delicious. We boarded the very large vessel and were allowed to select a seat in the sun or the shade. Thankfully, when you holiday in April, nothing is ever full as the summer season is just starting, so we got some lovely seats at the front of the boat. Lunch was served as we were setting off and was buffet-style. Whole grilled fish, meatballs, pasta (bizarrely, without a sauce), lovely mixed salad, bread and orange slices. [Antalya provides Turkey with 90% of its oranges. They are abundant here and delicious. One of our favourite things about breakfast is that the orange juice is FRESHLY SQUEEZED.]

I don't think I've ever had a whole fish before but beggars can't be choosers and it was delicious. We set off down the river and out to a place where the sea and the river are separated by only a small section of sand. It was a nice boat journey but stopping at the sea was a bit superfluous considering that everyone on the boat had their own stretch of beach that they could lie out on every day of the week. How and ever, that's where we spent the next hour. Jason and I had a fine beer and read while topping up the tan.

Hassle

Turkey just doesn't get it.

But it's so incredibly simple. I want to buy a bag. You want to sell me a bag. I want to LEISURELY look at your selection. I find a bag. I wonder if I can afford to buy it so I look for a price tag. It's £10. Great, I'll buy it. I hand over some money and I leave the shop with my bag.

No.

For the most part in Turkey I don't get to set foot in your store because you think if I'm left to my own devices then I definitely will not buy a bag. You have to follow me around because my eyes will deceive me and I will not find a bag on my own. You don't price your bags because you want to price the bag on the ridiculous notion that I have all the money in the world and if you price your bag, then there is a chance that I would have paid more for it and that stops you sleeping at night. So you base the price on how much I want the item. I don't know, Turkey, (and Lord knows I hate to generalise this way but I must) where you learned this as a selling tactic. Seriously. And the extreme leftys will tell you it's because you're so poor and desperate. But I don't think it's as simple as that. I have seen a lot of big cars in Turkey and not so many old bangers. I can't imagine your rents are too high. There are a lot of tourists come through here. You would make many many sales. If only you would LISTEN.

This post has just became a rant. I didn't really mean it to be. It was just extra prevalent in Side. There was a lot of shops there, and I did want to buy a bag. And I just was given no peace to do so, so I didn't. And neither did any of the other 30-odd folk on our bus who probably would have bought something if they were allowed to browse.

Rant over.

Clash of the Titans

How cool is this? It totally looks like the Clash of the Titans movie set. The original, I mean. It's tucked in at the end of the lovely little village of Side. As you enter Side, there is an excavation site similar to Perge, but you have to pay for it. Also, without a tour guide, it's just indiscernible rubble. So we decided to wander down into Side instead and at the end of the village is this magnificent site. We enjoyed wandering here very much. Another super spot for outdoor theatre.

The Village of Side

The last of our trips saw us on a 9am-4pm trip to Side, Manavgat, the river in Mavgat (its name escapes me) and a visit to a "textile factory". The trip had highlights (see the Clash of the Titans post) and lowlights (see the Hassle and Dickman posts below).

Side was a nice little picturesque village that was about 1km square of cobbled streets and shops. For those of you that have been, it struck me as being like a little town in the South of France. It was pretty to walk round. It's obviously quite established and has had government help in creating this little village atmosphere. After our Clash of the Titans photoshoot, we stopped for a cappuccino at a harbour restaurant. Prices in Turkey are not cheap; they are comparable to back home. 5 euros for two coffees. What a blessing all-inclusive is, otherwise a trip to Turkey would cost you a fortune! If I was to return to Turkey (and I haven't made up my mind about this yet), I would only do so on an all-inclusive basis.

Kate & Chris

Kate and Chris are our two holiday friends. We only started hanging about with them on the supposed last night of our holiday but since then we have spent most evenings chatting over a red wine or a sea breeze. We share a love of Japan, Florida theme parks, Studio Ghibli films and other types of nonsense. I haven't any photos of them yet. I want to get one of them as we land in Glasgow as this best represents our friendship. We only really started talking because we were in the same boat and we used to get the latest Volcano Gossip from each other so I want the only picture I have of them to be the big grin that we will all have at 4am as we leave the cabin at Glasgow Airport.

Antalyaspor!

When we went to Florida, Jason came up with the idea of going to a local basketball game which turned out to be a great idea. Me, J and Scott Currie all went and we all had a great time. So, when Jason did his research on Antalya, he noticed that a local football team, Antalyaspor, were playing on Sunday afternoon. So we decided to go. We knew it would be vibrant, to say the least. The Turks are known to be wild crowds, sometimes clashing with rival supporters and using flares to show their support. So there was a mixture of excitement and apprehension. We had went on a scouting mission earlier in the week so we knew where the stadium was so it was a nice stress-free journey on Sunday morning. We strolled down, bought our tickets and headed up to the museum before coming back down in time for the match at 3pm. We got to the stadium at about 2.15pm to soak up some of the atmosphere. It was such good fun. We were in a quieter part of the stadium but there was no restriction. If we wanted to walk around and switch seats, we could have.

There were lots of girls there which was one of my concerns. I didn't want to be the only female but I had no need to be worried about that.

Neither of us realised that the crowds had "conductors" who instructed their stand in what songs to sing and what movements to make. I got a snap of these conductors who were in the stand behind the goal. Each stand had their own.

The video is of one chant that involved everyone in the stadium. It started in one stand and they shouted something and all pointed to their left. Then the next stand added to the chant and all pointed to the left. So on and so on. It was a fun chant and we joined in, despite not knowing the word that our stand was to chant. It was quite easy to just shout anything and point to the left hee hee.

The game was really good. Actually, the game itself was okay. There have been better matches, but the overall experience was excellent. And Antalyaspor won by 2-1 which was good. Denizlispor only had a handful of away fans but it didn't stop the RIOT POLICE from coming out, just in case. The whole event happened without incident and was brilliant fun. We wandered up to the bus stop and came away having had a really good but exhausting day out.

Cycling Tour

On the way back from the museum, the road was all closed off and when we got closer to town we saw that the Turkey Cycling Tour was in town. It was like the Tour De France! So many cyclists but so many more cameras, photographers, TV cameramen, spare bikes. Sheesh, the entourage these guys have.

We waited around for a few minutes as it looked like the race was going to start but despite the man holding the flag up, the photographers were still there snapping away. Goodness knows if those guys ever got to start that race. It was soooo hot as well. It wouldn't have been me!

Eyjafjallajokull speweth still....

So we were supposed to be flying out tonight and we have been told that we are not leaving until at least Thursday. Which is super, I can think of worse places to be stuck. However, because we are "parents" now, it's not that easy. Not only do I miss my wee critters so much, I also know that our catsitter thought she was looking after them for a week, not indefinitely! It wouldn't bother me, I love watching cats, but it's not fair to expect someone to just keep your cats, is it?

However, the sun is shining and we're getting put up for free so it's not all bad. We're going into Antalya tomorrow to buy some knock-off bags (I have my eye on a nice Prada) and Jason wants a T-shirt.

Weather, glorious

You can probably tell from our photographs but our weather has been superb. We have had the very odd hour of cloud and we were told that it rained for about 10 minutes this morning but we missed it. Other than that, it's been easily mid 20s every day. I've worn SPF 30 to start with and have moved down to 25. It's just a perfect temperature.

Jason doing stuff

Jason just can't sit still by the pool. Well he can for an hour or so, but then he gets antsy. Here he is playing bsketball with himself (one of the entertainment team joined him and played shortly after) and playing five-a-sides. There was also a really good gym which we both took advantage of and an indoor swimming pool where I did my lengths every other day.

I've just realised that these totally look like stalking shots. I did have to use the zoom from the balcony.

Being stung, ouch!

On our first trip into Antalya last week, we wandered down a wee cobbled street and saw a Turkish man sitting outside his shop carving some stone with a scalpel, making wee statues of animals and such. Jason's eye was drawn to these wee cats which look like our wee Miho & Benki. Right, our first shot at bartering. We asked him the price and he wanted 10 euro for one. Oh no, no, no, my friend, too much, too much, 2 euro. At which point he scoffed. Several minutes of banter then happen between us. He tells us that he imports the stone from the Anatolian mountains and he carves the animals at his workshop himself. We haggle back and forth and we eventually get him to accept 10 euros for two slightly larger style cats. We think we've done not bad. We walk away glad at our first positive exchange with a Turkish shop owner.

Then we went to Perge the next day and outside Perge, in the car park, lots of traders had their wares on their blankets and what did we see......a veritable ocean of carved stone cats!!!

A bare-face liar! He must have been sitting outside his shop with a fake scalpel and fake stone carving. Ouch, we got stung!

(P.S. They were selling them there 2 for 6 euros so we only lost a couple of quid, but still, our pride was severely dented.)

Souvenirs

Before arriving, I wanted one of these wee "Blue Eyes". I forget what the traditional name for them is. The only other thing I wanted was a rug, but I think they are totally out of our budget at the minute!

While we were shopping at the stall that sold the wee Blue Eyes, the vendor was also selling these wee Turkish carpet style purses so I got one of those too.

When we went to the Hammam on the first day (that feels like a MONTH ago now), I really loved the weird wee towel that you were handed as you walked in. It wasn't technically a towel as we knew it, but it totally did the job. I came away from the Hammam knowing that I would want to take one of them home with me. I also later learned that they are called Peshtemels. I got a chance to nip into the Old Quarter after the football and go to a stall where we had previously seen them for sale and I picked one up. Jason wasn't overly keen on them. He's going to be soooo jealous of me using mine back home though.

Headless Statues

This post speaks for itself. There were so many headless statues that they dedicated a room to them. Some of them uglier than others.

Antalya Archeological Museum

When we decided that we were going to Turkey but didn't really know where, I bought a guidebook and had a swatch at all the different areas, settling of course for Antalya. The book said that the Antalya Archaeological Museum was second only to a museum in Istanbul, so I put it on the To Do List.

Then when we went to Perge and were advised that the statues that were excavated from there were in the museum, then we definitely knew that we wanted to go because we had seen the city where the statues were found, it would be brilliant to see the statues given we knew their background.

The museum was outstanding. In the reception and just outside the museum, there were several headless statues. Headless because the Christians cut them off when they eventually overthrew the pagans in the 4th century. It's such a shame. But, many of the statues do still have their head, which is good news. The museum has the statues in their own special halls and they are just stunning. It's clear to see why Perge was such a rich city. Not only was it rich, but it must have looked like a movie set! With Greek & Roman Statues everywhere. It was a cracking museum.

The big statue there is of Alexander the Great. The female is Aphrodite, Goddess of Fertility. They also had a Hall of very ornate sarcophagi (sic). When you read the plaques about them, one or two had been recovered from being stolen and sold on the black market.

Greek Mythology

When Jason and I win the lottery, we have decided that we want to build a Hammam with lots of different Greek & Roman statues in it. With proper Greek mythology to boot. We shall have a sauna, a steam room, a hammam and staff. Although the ancient mythology was pagan, it seems like quite a logical way to offer thanks for the world around you. They had a god for everything. And sometimes they doubled up. Dionysus, for example, is the god of wine, theatre and agriculture. Oh, and ritual madness.

When we win the lottery. When.

Broccoli for Breakfast

So alongside the porridge, you can have steamed broccoli for breakfast. Mmmmmmm. Those continental Europeans eat some crazy stuff in the morning. The ones behind me today were eating a goat's cheese salad. Eugh. That's not even the half of it.

Aspendos

The second part of our 1/2 day excursion to Perge & Aspendos was, obviously, Aspendos. This was an exuisitely preserved Roman classical theatre. Not an amphitheatre as it is only a half circle, not a full circle. The long straight part of the half circle was where the stage was, under the shadow of many many statues looking down on the actors and the gladitorial action. Our guide told us some terribly shocking news - if the theatre play involved someone being killed throughout the piece, they used to actually kill a slave. I found this very hard to believe but I suppose they used to bait the gladiators until there was only one left standing so it's probably true. But terribly upsetting. The theatre itself was wonderful. So complete. [Although, when they begain excavating it in the '40s, they couldn't find any of the statues: stolen they think by the conquering Christians in the 4 century].

We climbed to the top. Like in Tunisia when we visited El Jem, you are allowed to go where you can reach. No Health & Safety to worry about. The top was where the women sat. The front row at the bottom was reserved for priests and shamen. When animals were fighting each other, they used to put up a removable protective barrier to stop those in the front rows being mauled themselves.

They still hold concerts in Aspendos, although recently they took the decision to make them acoustic concerts only. Archaeologists advised that the vibration from amps and speakers was having a detrimental effect on the structure. So they mainly use the theatre for wrestling (big in Turkey, the real kind, not the Amercian soap opera kind) and ballet performances. The acoustics are amazing so large noises are not required for everyone to achieve a great experience.

The first and last photographs are of the wall where the statues would have stood in the arches there. At the top of the theatre, looking down on all of them, carved in stone, is Dionysus, God of Theatre.