Advertisement
Published: August 14th 2014
Edit Blog Post
Alanya, Turkey
11
th August 2014
"
Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days."
Benjamin Franklin “
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I'll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass the world is too full to talk about.”
Rumi For the past 4 years, I have used this blogging platform purely as a means to an end to keep friends informed and to have some personal fun trying to develop a writing style. But since my Georgian saga in particular, I find I actually belong to a new community of fellow bloggers. Several had been very supportive during 'Georgia' and I feel a new attachment and gratitude to them. I felt particularly drawn to take up an invitation by Woolly Mammoth and his companion (Jo) to come and veg out for some days in Alanya.
(refer:
http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/traveltalesofawoollymammoth/ )
Some people you meet just take you as you are, and are easy to be with. Such was my immediate experience with Woolly and Jo. They are UK ex pats living in Turkey (Alanya accounts for 30%!o(MISSING)f all of Turkey's
foreign purchases of real estate).
Alanyais primarily a beach resort city on the southern coast of Turkey, where mainly Europeans on limited time holidays come to soak up the sun and to party. It has been a local stronghold for many Mediterranean-based empires due to its strategic and defensible location. It has a Mediterranean climate, natural attractions, and historic heritage.
It was a huge culture shock coming to this place after travelling in eastern and central Turkey. It's not necessarily the type of place I would seek to come to as a traveller if not invited here... a tad more development and tourist saturation than I feel comfortable with. As balloons are to Goreme (Kappadochia), pirate and viking tour ships are to Alanya. But for all that, the sea is the sea, and friends are friends.
During my 5 day stay (so I had to wash thoroughly after 3) I rediscovered the joy of sea-swimming, a daily routine when in Australia, and something I needed to test (do I still have it?) before meeting some Aussie swimming mates in Greece in the coming week. I was pleasantly surprised to be able to handle a 1 km swim
by the time I left. Woolly meanwhile seemed content to drink beer and to go out for meals, but we also had plenty of relaxed sitting around back at the flat catching up on writing, reading, some movies, experiencing the joys of home-cooking, napping and chatting. I even got to wash my clothes in a washing machine. And to cap it all off, there was a guitar.
Alanya is incredibly hot and humid in August, so excursions were not too inviting other than to the beach and back and a few forays along the harbour. However, on my second morning I got up early and tramped up the citadel dominated mountainside through the ruins of the old city confined within its walls, munching on carob beans found on the track along the way. That really did seem like enough exertion, other than swimming, for the duration of my stay.
Refreshed and renergised, with my clothes having been treated to a washing machine; having had decent English conversation that went beyond the mundane; been treated to chocolate ice-cream; Woolly and Jo were confirmed new friends I was sure I would see again as I hit the road again
en route to Greece.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.297s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 30; qc: 86; dbt: 0.1654s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Welcome to the Travel Blog family
Looks like Jo, excuse me Woolly...and Jo have made new friends and made you feel at home. I'll bet the home cooking was nice. Even crowded beaches can refresh the soul. You've got friends around the globe to visit.