Antalya - a gift for Cleopatra
What do we know about the life on the Orient?! From the stories
of 1001 nights we imagine a magic country with magnificent
gardens, singing fountains, where everything is covered with
gold and diamonds. A different, out of reach world.
The contemporary Turkey is totally different. The salesmen offer
gold and diamonds to you. The natives are non-stop inviting,
offering, anticipating your desires, forecasting the intentions.
The light blue water of the Bay of Antalya is surrounded by the
great mountain chain Taurus. On average 300 days in the year are
sunny. You can go skiing in the morning and go to swim in the
sea in the afternoon even during March and April. The water
temperature doesn't go under 17oC in winter. The transparent
waves, sandy beaches long almost 200km and the romantic rocky
bays are promising rest and a wonderful skin complexion. For
water sports lovers Antalya is just heaven.
The coasts of Mala Asia are saving the traces of the past ages -
ruins of antique cities, Greek, Roman and Byzantine cultural
monuments. This wealthy land was Egyptian - Marcus Aurelius has
made a gift to his lover - Cleopatra. In the past several years
more and more young couples choose Antalya for their honeymoon
destination.
The roads are great - which Turkish doesn't like the fast trip?
The people in Turkey live in a different way. In towns they are
building small white houses near the rocks. The expectations are
that after 10-15 years the Mediterranean region will welcome 30
millions tourists annually, while at the moment they are about 8
millions. Everywhere is surprisingly clean - there are trash
bins on every step.
Antalya was and will be one of the most affordable resorts. You
can count on unbelievable comfort not only in the famous hotels,
part of well-known international chains, but also in the small
hotels and hostels. The main requirement is the availability of
air conditioner. When you choose a place for your future stay,
even from the seacoast you can determine the star category of
the hotel. As the natives like to say - if the ringing of the
cell phones on the beach is stronger than the song of the
crickets, the hotel is high-class one; if they are equal in
sound - the hotel is maximum four stars and so on. The customer
service is on very high level everywhere and you won't need to
wait for attention.
Who hasn't visited Pamukkale (Cotton Palace) hasn't seen Turkey
at all. The ancient Hierapolis, built near a warm mineral source
190 years before Christ, is famous with the biggest saved till
today necropolis in Antalya. The rich in calcium water have made
small basins in the stones. They are shining with a fantastic
white color. There are a lot of hotels around with their own
pools - the water heals skin and heart diseases. But you should
not think that just the health care is attracting so many
tourists. The spring is called Cleopatra, who was taking a bath
here and kept her beauty till the end of her life. Another
version states that the lovely queen had given her secrets to
the spring. As a result you can see many women in the water,
hoping to become younger with ten years. Every tour program in
Turkey includes shopping - gold, clothes, carpets, jewelry. Men
have no choice, but to fulfill all desires of their Cleopatras.
Everybody think that Olymp is in Greece, but apparently there
are about 20 mountain picks with this name in Antalya.
Unfortunately, all of the almost destroyed temples of ancient
gods in the surrounding mountains are not accessible for
tourists, because there are no roads built.
Antalya offers a lot of entertainment as well. Part of it can be
found in the hotels and then the quality is directly related to
the service level of the hotel - discos, show programs,
fireworks and Turkish baths, national dinners (the real Turkish
dance kyuchek is included) and many others. The travel agencies
and tour operators offer yachting, jeep safari, fishing, diving,
one-day trip to the Greek island Rhodes and visit to the
magnificent waterfalls Duden and Kursunlu.