After seeing news reports of flooding along the Turkish
Mediterranean coast on TV and online, we were a bit concerned about washed out
bridges in some of the towns we planned to pass through en route to Antalya
today. Before leaving our hotel in
Konya, we asked the concierge to call our destination hotel in Antalya to
inquire about road conditions. The
all-clear report we received was a reassurance for us as we began our trip to
the coast.
Once in Antalya, we attempted to reach our hotel in the
Kaleici, or Old Town using our GPS to guide us.
Unfortunately, because there were one-way streets that the GPS wasn’t
aware of, and a very limited number of ways to enter the Kaleici, we found ourselves
frustrated and going around in circles.
We decided to park the car in a lot and walk into the Old Town and ask at
the hotel how to bring the car in. The
host’s very limited English, along with our nonexistent Turkish made that
almost as frustrating as our thwarted automotive arrival, but he produced a map
and we eventually figured things out.
We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the
Kaleici, with Hadrian’s Gate, a Roman triumphal arch, and the marina, built on
the site of an ancient Roman Harbor. For
the second night in a row, there was a downpour while we were in our room enjoying
our cocktail hour. When we did go out,
we never felt a drop and we were able to enjoy a delicious dinner outside in
the shadow of the town’s signature minaret and clocktower. After dinner, we walked through the bazaar
and around the Kaleici, enjoying the mild night and the full moon.
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