Sunday, May 25, 2008

Turkey - Part 2

From Ankara, Derek and I travelled by overnight coach to the seaside city of Antalya. It was beautiful - completely Mediterranean - and our hostel was very friendly and picturesque. We ate dinner there during our 3-night stay and got along very well with the Turkish owner and several fabulous German tourists who were the only other guests. While in Antalya, I visited the Archaeological Museum (much larger and more relevant than the one in Ankara) as well as Termessos (an ancient city high up in the mountains with an utterly breathtaking theatre and several temples dedicated to the goddess Artemis) and also Perge (another ancient city site with very well-preserved Roman baths and a long colonnaded roadway).

From Antalya, Derek and I caught a 'dolmuş' aka mini-bus to another coastal town, Kaş. It is west and a bit south of Antalya, and from here (it's currently our first day here) we can visit several sites containing Lycian rock-cut house tombs (the subject of Derek's research) before going northwest along the coast to Fethiye, a larger city close to several important sites as well as a 'Butterfly Valley'. spiffy. Well, as our hotel in Kaş has a pool, I'm off for a dip and some text-reading in the sun before the storm clouds that are hanging menacingly over the mountains behind me decide to descend into the town.

And don't worry, those of you who do, I'm not badly sunburned yet... just a lot more freckled with pretty pink shoulders and knees. :)

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