Endgame in Turkey

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The days and nights in Cappadocia were getting increasingly cold so, rather than continue north as I had originally expected, we headed directly south to the city of Mercin on the Mediterranean coast.

Here we stayed in a proper hotel with a fire escape, shampoo in the shower and a porno channel on TV.

Once again away from the tourist trail things were refreshingly cheap. We shared a decent 2-course lokanta restaurant meal for £3 and I could have got a hotel room for £5.60, only we weren't that desperate. A new record for cheapest internet cafe was set at 23p per hour.

There was no sign of Ramazan affecting business at the fast food joints so we spent the day mooching around the harbour and city centre debating where to eat. We settled on a barbecued fish sandwich on a floating schooner converted to a restaurant (57p each).


Heading west along the coast we stopped in Silifke and the Anamur. At Anamur bus station we were sweet-talked into a taxi on the premise that most of the hotels were closed and the driver knew which ones were open and would suit our budget. Perhaps surprisingly, this turned out to be true.

Anamur has the facilities of a thriving beach resort but at this time of year they are nearly all closed. The hotel we landed at did the usual bed and breakfast but we thought we would try the half board option for an additional £4 each. This turned out to be one of our best decisions this year as we were treated to sumptuous 4 and 5 course meals cooked by a full time chef who only had us and the staff to cater for.

We were trying to keep one step ahead of the rotten weather that was bedevilling Turkey at that time.

Anamur is the southernmost point on the Turkish mainland (except for a bit along the Syrian border) so we figured that here we would have the best chance of staying warm and dry. We were right for the first few days, when we got in a bit of beach and swimming in the last days of November, but there were some tumultuous storms later on. The sea was turned a dirty brown as the rains washed down the silt and debris accumulated since last year from the mountains.


On one overcast day we decided to walk along the beach to the roman city of Anamurium 8km away. We soon realised that the map in the guidebook did not show the several streams and rivers draining into the sea along this stretch of coast.

We paddled across the first one and diverted to nearby bridges for a couple more. The final river was wide and there was no bridge, but we were within sight of Anamurium and reluctant to turn back.

Where the river met the sea a bank of shingle had accumulated to created a causeway about 6 feet wide and 30 feet long in an arc across the mouth of the river. Every so often the waves fell back to reveal the top of the bank under only a couple of inches of water.

Timing my run I set off across the stones only to find that there was a deep channel rushing to the sea on the far side. I turned to see that this was the moment Linda had chosen to begin her run. I watched as she ignored the curve of the route and, heading straight towards me, ran off the edge of the bank and into the river. Now I had to run back around the bank regardless of the wave sizes to pull her out. I grabbed her by the armpits and heaved her back onto the bank and then to the shore.

She was drenched and a little shaken. I was just confused as to what bit of the plan she didn't understand. We never did get to Anamurium.

Moving east along the coast we found ourselves in German package holiday territory. Although it's well out of season there were lots of Germans taking late breaks and a definite hiking of prices for everything.

Alanya has a castle on a rather spectacular rock promontory. It's a long way up so we took the bus to the top and walked down. We also visited Attaturks house. (Attaturk is credited as the founder of modern Turkey and a national hero to the extent that there is a statue of him in every town and all shops and offices have a picture of him on display). He was in fact such a hero that if he spent the night in somebody's house they felt inclined to turn the place into a museum. In this case he spent the night of 18 February 1935 in a home in Alanya that has since been preserved as it was at the time. There were also a few items of his clothing on display which he must have carelessly left behind.

Last time I was in Side I was as sick as a dog and never left the pension. My mates seemed to have had a great time and I always felt that I had missed out on something. Now I'm not so sure. When we arrived the place was bustling with tourists but I soon found that nearly all the pensions were closed.

It turned out that the town is a magnet for day-trippers, having a good mix of sights and shopping. I was starting to get panicky until a pension owner waved me over and I gratefully accepted his offering.

Venturing out that evening we found that since most of the accommodation was closed, so were the restaurants. Those we had scouted during the day had shut at around 5pm. All the shops had their shutters down and the whole place was eerily quiet. We saw three guys sitting in a restaurant and we asked if they were open. “Yes” they said and we realised that they were phoning the chef from home as we sat down.

The local internet cafe was handily placed next door to the pension so I dropped in for my regular session. Unusually I didn't check the price first, which was a big mistake as this was possibly the most expensive internet cafe in Asia at £2.65 per hour, catering to Germans. After completing my usual tasks I even wasted time looking for songs beginning with Q, to complete a 2 hour session at the price of a good dinner for two.

A Scottish woman and her Turkish boyfriend occupied the room next door to ours. We never saw her but we heard plenty from her during their frequent sexual encounters. As each session reached a climax the pension owners would run around slamming the internal doors in accompaniment.

Arriving back in Antalya we still had 2 weeks before we had to be in Istanbul. Fortunately Antalya is a really nice city and we managed to while away the time without too much trouble. On warm days we would go and sit on the beach. On cloudy days we would engage in Christmas shopping, visit one of the International Womens Guild bazaars or check out what was on at the cinema.

We then took an overnight bus to Istanbul and checked back into the pension where we had previously stayed. The main attraction in Istanbul is the Topkapi Palace, where the sultans used to live. The only wow factor was provided by the deserted cafe where even the Japanese tourists turned tail when they saw the prices. You have to pay extra to be led through the Harem, where the sultan kept his concubines. This was heavily tiled and I found it reminiscent of a Victorian swimming baths without the echoes.

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Photos

Alanya
Attaturk

Alanya
Attaturk

Alanya
Attaturk

Alanya
Attaturk

Antalya
From our window

Goreme
Topkapi Palace