TURKEY THROUGH MY EYES #6 - SLIDE-SHOW

The morning dawned warm and crystal clear. I didn't feel like staying at the resort, sunbathing by the poolside or on the beach. I didn't feel like joining an organized tour to visit Antalya city (30 miles away), either. I don't like to be guided to places that are not interesting to me. I don't like to listen to the information given by tour guides. Neither a tour guide nor a guide book makes me feel the pulse of the local life and.... I like feeling it.

On the day before, I had seen a bus stop not far from the hotel, which made me believe that there might be a frequent bus service to the city or somewhere else. Ok, I decided to walk up to that stop and wait for a bus coming, having assumed that the bus might drive me to the city. Approximately half an hour later, a bus without any passenger stopped. The driver didn't speak a word of a common language. I said 'Antalya' and he did an up-and-down head nod   as saying 'yes'.  I boarded the bus, he picked up some coins from my hand but I did not get any ticket. I took one of the front seats as I wanted to enjoy the landscape and if possible, take some photos. Assuming the bus would drive me to the city it would take up to one hour or so, I thought.

The bus interior was something I had never seen before. So many ornaments!!! The bus went through the rural area and I did not see bus stops anymore. Local people waved down the bus wherever they happened to be. Half an hour later or so, the bus was crowded and I started to wonder whether I was being driven towards Antalya. Perhaps, the bus terminal would be somewhere else in a rural area. I did not care. It would be interesting to get off at an unscheduled destination.

Actually, the bus terminal was not in the city but somewhere else named Serik. If I wanted to go to Antalya I should board another bus. I did it, thinking that on the following day I would come back to that rural town. After all, I already knew the way to!

One hour more of driving and I was in Antalya city, one of the most important tourist centers in Turkey. Following the suggestion of a Turkish lady who had immigrated to Switzerland and was revisiting her homeplace, I dropped off at a certain place in the city, in the belief that I would be not far from the city center. She had misinformed me... I walked and tried to get information from local people but once again nobody spoke a foreign language... I even got into a hotel - thinking that the front desk staff might help me - but nobody did. They had no city plan, either. In the meantime, I took photos of the places and street names that might guide me in the evening to walk back and take a bus to return to the hotel.

I knew the city center was not far from the city port. I often asked people for the direction by just mentioning 'port' but even though I was not understood. Later, at a coffee-shop, I realized that instead of port I should have mentioned 'marina'!!!

After a two-hour walk, I saw a little bit of blue colour on the horizon. Good, I was walking on the right direction...

I relaxed at an open-air café overlooking the scenic Mediterranean Gulf of Antalya. I visited the Ethnography Museum and I strolled through the picturesque old quarter with its narrow, winding cobbled streets of historic Turkish and Greek houses. This quarter is enclosed in ancient city walls, which now protect the peaceful quarter from the the noise of the concrete metropolies of a million people.

I passed by The Clock Tower that  has survived through the present day among the towers of the citadel surrounding the city of Antalya. In the past the total number of these towers was 80.

The Bazaar 'perspired' all the charm and hospitality that Antalaya had to offer, brought together in a single place. I got into a Turkish carpet store and bought three carpets after bargaining for more than one hour. Obviously, the seller was fluent in English and taking advantage of his knowledge, I asked him the best way to return back to the hotel. He wrote the bus direction name on a slip of paper and passed it to me. At that moment I felt confident how smooth the return way would be. Silly of me!!!

I walked for a mile or so and many buses were running ones after the others. Buses displayed a board on the windscreen indicating the route and number. For locals they must be easily recognizable from a distance, but for me it was difficult to decipher the route description quickly enough to wave down the right bus. Luckily, I saw a long queue of people and realized there might be the 'bus stop'. I showed the slip of paper to one of them and she nodded her head. Great... that would be the first stage of my adventure back to the hotel.

When the bus stopped, I showed the slip of paper to the driver and he made me a sign to hop on. I stayed all the time by the driver as the bus was crowded and I thought it would be easier for me to know where I should get off and take first bus to the rural village and from there another one to the hotel. As the bus was running slowly and getting more crowded and crowded, my eyes were telling me how that scenery was totally unknown to me. So different from what I had seen in the morning.... the bus was running not through the city but outside ... I was sure of it... industrial plants, no housing! Suddenly the driver made a sign to me to drop off. I did it without hesitation but all I saw was a gas station. OMG, where was I? I walked to the gas station and was told by hand-signs that I should go to the roadside and wait for the bus. Again, no bus stop at all... half a dozen of Turkish people were sitting by the roadside and I joined them... I had got the feeling they might be waiting for a bus... One hour later I was boarding the right bus via the back door... Interesting, this time the door to board was not the frontside one. The bus was crowded, no vacant seats, and I was so tired after walking with the three carpets in a big nylon sack (I've no idea of their weight but carrying that sack was very uncomfortable, indeed). I sat on one of the steps next to a big cardboard box. I felt like a sardine in a tin...

After a very unpleasurable driving, I reached that rural town (Serik) I had been for a while in the morning and from there I took another bus to the hotel. I had though I would be dropped not far from it but again, something adverse happened...

Two French ladies were on the bus and I asked them whether they were staying at the same hotel. They clearly confirmed it. But when they stood up to get off and told me to join them, I followed. They had told me before they were used to taking that bus. Once again, I shouldn't have trusted the information. As we were walking together I could not see any sign of my hotel, though I saw many others. They stopped in front of one and said to me: 'Here you are'. At that moment, I realized why I had been misguided. Their hotel was named Crystal like mine but it was not the Crystal Paradise Resort where I was staying. Mine was 5 miles away... I thought it would be better to take a taxi but I was already so much suspicious of drivers and people's information that even feeling weary I made an appeal to my legs and they accepted it. One hour later I was at my hotel... My adventure on that day was over!