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Middle East » Turkey » Mediterranean » Antalya
August 1st 2007
Published: September 14th 2007
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The Mediterranean SeaThe Mediterranean SeaThe Mediterranean Sea

Off the shore from Antalya
They say: „Never say never!“ After my last trip to the Middle East back in 1999, one of my first backpacking trips ever, to Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and Israel, I returned home and said to myself: "Islamic countries?! Never ever again!" So it took me four more years before I finally dared to venture into an Islamic country (Morocco) again. But deep inside, I always felt like that the chapter "Middle East" was still open and my travel bug kept nagging me to close it. In fact, there were still some countries which I really wanted to see: Syria and Lebanon...

So I’ve just booked a flight to Turkey… finally ready for chasing down another nasty nagging travel bug called "The Middle-East".

The Middle East is, without a doubt one of the most impressive parts of this world. Wide expanses of desert dotted with lush green oases, colourful underwater seascapes, and hidden cities carved in stone inspire exploration in the grand tradition of Lawrence of Arabia and Indiana Jones. The Middle East’s long-standing and dynamic socio-political canvas is just as colourful as its landscape: ancient civilizations have left rich archaeological records of human struggle and achievement that are no
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and the men
less compelling than the contemporary drama of the Middle East struggle for peace.

Five of the seven wonders of the ancient world, numerous relics from three major faiths, and the first written alphabet are only pieces of the historical puzzle. But despite the vast diversity of political views, religious beliefs, and economic status in the region, all of its inhabitants adhere to one very strong belief: the profound importance of hospitality.

As a traveller in the Middle East, you will encounter different kinds of difficulties, some of them are tremendously annoying, funny or plain stupid, some are tiring and some might even be frightening, but at the end of the journey, you will return with a bag full of striking memories and stories to tell... so these are my stories...

- Antalya: The Great Wall of Turkey or "Help, I am an Alien!" -

I started my journey in Turkey, because I used my Star Alliance mileage to get a cheap return flight (70USD) from Hamburg to Antalya, otherwise a regular flight would had cost me around 350USD+ as it was high season and direct flights to either Beirut or Damascus would had cost me 600-700USD.
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in Antalya
Therefore, my plan was to get a bus from Antalya to the Syrian border and then to venture deeper into the Middle East.

Turkey is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Mediterranean for Europeans and Antalya one of the major cities on Turkeys Mediterranean coast with a population close to a million. Antalya has seen a huge influx of tourists over the last decade and is now the most popular tourist destination in Turkey with almost 10 million visitors annually. Most of these are German and Russian package tourists.

So, instead of a wild crowd of friendly touts and even friendlier taxdrivers, the first thing I bumped into when I got out of the International Airport Antalya, was an endless line of almost one hundred information-desks of mostly German and Russian Package-tour agencies. I am not sure what is scarier, to be approached by a hord of touts and taxidrivers or to stand in front of a "Great Turkish Wall" of information desks with "toothpaste-commercial" smiling hostesses?! But I think that the latter one is not as bad as it might look like on first sight!

I decided to approach an help desk with one of the smiling hostesses standing behind it. I can assure you that the hostess was prettier than any taxidriver or tout that I have ever talked to on one of my journeys. And as she smiled and handed me an information flyer, I was in love and from this point on pretty sure that I definitely prefer a wall of information desks with pretty hostesses over a crowd of grim looking taxidrivers!

As my plan was to take a public bus (0,70 USD) from the airport to the Central Bus station, I asked the smiling, pretty hostess - my new love - in her even prettier yellow/white uniform and matching scarf, where I have to go to catch that public bus?!

"Bus?!" she answered "You can take our shuttle bus to your hotel!" - No, I don't want to go to an hotel, I need to get to the bus station and then to Syria! ; "Siiiraaa? Sorry Sir, but I don't know the hotel Siiidaa?!" - No, Syria is no hotel. I have no hotel, I wanna go to Syria by bus! ; "Maybe you should take a taxi!" the pretty hostess replied - No, Syria
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at Antalya International Aiport
is like 800km and 14hours away from Antalya! ; "800km? Wait, I will ask my colleague about Siiiraada hotel!".

So within 5 minutes there were suddenly not one but two pretty hostesses standing in front of me with their even prettier yellow/white uniforms and matching scarfs and within 5 minutes, I fell in love twice. "Sir, can I help you!?" - I repeated my question and the new hostess answered "Syyyriaa? You mean the country?!" - Yeeesss, exactly! I answered relieved! and she said "Syria?! Hmmm... I have never met someone here who wants to go to Syria?! What can you do in Syria? they have nice beaches?" - No, I answered, no nice beaches in Syria. ; "Ohh, no beaches?! Then why do you wanna go there? Are you sure?!"... "Yes, I am pretty sure!" I answered, but for some reason I felt a bit like an "Alien", standing in front of a wall of information desks with pretty hostesses and among half a million Russian and German package tourists with funky sunglasses and even funkier bermuda shorts!

When I finally got on the bus and asked my Turkish neighbour how long the ride to the busstation
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Antalya International Airport
gonna take, it turned out that he was from Germany and just on holiday. "Berlin, Kreuzberg!" he said! and when we started to talk German half a dozen other passengers turned around and looked at us - what made me feel like an "Alien" again. It's probably just curiosity I said to myself, but then later when I got off the bus I was surrounded by half a dozen Turkish people asking me in German "Are you really going to Syria?! Do you know which bus to take?", "Are you sure you wanna go there?!" or "Do you need any help!?"! Hmmm, I thought to myself, 3,5hrs flight and I am still in Germany!

But seriously, Turkish people are the biggest minority in Germany as many came a few decades ago to work as Germany had lack of labour back then. Most of them actually planned to work for a few years, make some money and then return to their homecountry Turkey. But then things sometimes turn out to be different than expected. After years many decided to stay, and now the 2nd and 3rd generation of Turkish immigrants are still living in Germany, many of them as German
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Antalya
citizens - in numbers: more than 2Million. And most of them visit Turkey regularly for holiday and their families. Therefore, German is probably after Turkish and next to English, the most useful language at some coastal regions in Turkey.

The weather in Antalya was extremely hot (42°C) and even more humid. I was in Africa 6 weeks before but even there I didn't sweat as much as I did in Antalya, so that I felt like melting with every step - like an ice cream in the sun, just that I am definitely 1.) by far not as sweet as ice cream 2.) nor is it possible to purchase me for as cheap as 40Cents - and 3.) just for the record: not that anyone can buy me with money at all! :-)

I wasn't sure what I should think of Antalya. It was my second time there but I still have no real image of this city! The first thing that I noticed was the fact that Turkey became much more expensive since my last visit 7 years ago. And I felt like that Turkey neither really belongs to the "Middle East" nor to "Europe", it's a
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Man at the harbour, Antalya
bit like standing inbetween two chairs. But then, this is maybe the charming thing about this country that it's neither nor... and therefore, able to offer you a wide range of impressions from both, especially if you find the time and energy to look for them by getting away from the coast with its crowded (and in my eyes not really impressive) beaches and venture into the country and off the beaten tracks. But that wasn't my goal on this trip, so I had to move on anyway.

At the busstation I booked my ticket to Antakya (18EUR), a city close to the Syrian border, for the nightbus and called the parents of a friend of mine that I am in Antalya and gonna visit them for a few hours as they were having holidays in their new purchased house. After dinner I left for my bus and started my 30hours journey towards east.

The busride took 14hours until I arrived in Antakya very early in the morning. From there I took another bus (8EUR) for taking me to Aleppo in Syria... and another bus to Damascus (3USD) and then with a private shared taxi (10USD each) to
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Antalya
Lebanon... far far away from "the Great Wall of Turkey"... away from the pretty hostesses with their pretty dresses and away from all the millions of German and Russian package tourists... right into Beirut, the so called "Paris of the Middle East."

To be continued… next: Lebanon - The Paris of the Middle East...


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Antalya Airport for the Busstation
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Antalya
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Syria
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Aleppo to Damascus


20th September 2007

Purchase Chi
Haahaa... so what about 1Mio Dollar?!?!!!?!! Can I buy you for that?!??! :-D

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