Fiesta Club Türkler

... to Alanya, I opted to take the coach this time instead of hitch hiking. I got into the station at 6:30 and then took a city bus to get closer to the beach. I think I was pretty much in the wrong neighbourhood for cheap hotels but was able to negotiate a room down from 50 to 30 TL. The apartment had a living room, kitchen, dining area and bedroom!

Now for a walk-about town for the evening...

(English follows)
Nous avons faıt du raftıng dans la gorge de Kropulu. L'eau etaıt bleue, bleue et bleue... et pleın de poıssons. Journee agreable passee en compagnıe de nouveaux amıs de Montreal, Mıchel et Suzanne avec quı on s'en va faıre ...

... nahen und f**nen Dorfminaretten üb** das Land. Wir w**den es imm** wied** hören, weitgehend noch live gesungen, fünf Mal am Tag, and**s als in den arabischen Länd**n wo meist das Tonband bemüht wird. Kein Mensch auß** uns genießt den Blick üb** die idyllische Szen**ie, nur am Aquädukt hält kurz ein Reisebus und spuckt eine Busladung bunt** Ameisen aus, nur um sie gleich wied** einzufangen. Auf d** Weit**fahrt nach Alanya kommt man vorbei an imm** mehr ...

... Long Legged Buzzard, Peregrine hunting thousands of Starlings and numerous species that indicate that we are getting closer to the avifauna of Europe. Goldfinch, Crested Lark, Mallard, Snipe, more Shoveler and more Wigeon, Lapwing, Redshank, Linnet, Chaffinch. It seems the place has even more potential in spring, so this is certainly a place we want to come back to, as part of a trip visiting places that we now rushed past, and were unable to visit (Birecik ...

... look, I drive you, no charge, you don't like, no problem," our ears prick up. Free lift, sounds good. Kazim, the guy, spends the entire next fifteen minutes talking like an auctioneer all about his hotel, how it is recommended in Lonely Planet (who isn't, these days?), the rooms, the air-conditioning, the peach tree out the back, his wife's cooking, and so on. The place turns out to be quite nice and we check in for a couple of nights. Patara Beach was named ...

After all the rock formations we had seen it was time to head back to the coast for some sea and sand. So it was off to a place on the water called Kizkalesi. Firstly we headed along the beach and found an absolute bargain place right on the beach with a perfect view of Maiden's Castle out in the middle of the water. We spent 2 nights here sunbaking, drinking, eating and ...

Who would have ever thought that a re-make of the tree house that the Swýss Famýly Robinson lived in would exsist...well it does and we stayed in one of them last night. A whole heap of small tree houses linked into one another with stair cases here and there and a river running along the side. We have ended up in Olympos and explored the ruins of the ancient city and climbed the mountain to see the Chirmara-the place where the Olympic flame first ...

... trousered men loitered around on corners or strode down roads in large groups, while the few women to be seen had disappeared into the very common headscarf. Fewer businesses were up and running, and fewer cars plied the roads. We caught our first glimpse of an Attaturk statue. Milling about near the checkpoint, we encountered a French couple who were on the march to the bus station a kilometer away. Not having any clue where to locate a bus, we asked if we ...

... city in Turkey. I've been reading a really good book on the beach, "The Heartless Stone" by Tom Zoellner. It's about the diamond industry: mines, wars, the DeBeers cartel. Walking on the beachfront street today I passed a store called "DeBeer Jewelry." I guess the DeBeers marketing reach has reached every part of the globe.

First thing, we headed back towards Side to see some amazing caves called Heaven and Hell. On the way Genghis decided to give us a completely inappropriate monologue about last night. I'd planned to have a chat with him but didn't get the chance. Wasn't too much of a prob as things calmed down from there on in. Anyway - back to the interesting stuff ...