Out and About

When we arrived at Finike for the winter, it was nice to meet up again with some of our friends from Sicily. Having discovered that Finike is very traditional and mainly dry town, it wasn’t long before we had organised a minibus to take us on a trip to the local winery near Elmali.

On the way there was a short stop at the small town of Elmali which sits on a vast plateau in the mountains and has an alpine feel. It has a large mosque in the centre and some interesting streets including ‘copper street’.

There is also a small archeological Museum. Elmali has been inhabited since the Neolithic Period, the settlements, tombs and architectural findings have been unearthed and displayed in the museum with many tombs also filling the garden.

They certainly look after their bees with this large bee hive!

After a stroll around the town including a nice cup of çay, the journey continued up the mountains to Likya winery which is located at a height of 1100m. This is apparently the perfect location for growing grapes, not too hot but plenty of sunshine, without much rain and just enough cold weather for the grapes to develop to perfection. It is the largest vineyard in the Antalya region and produces ½ million bottles annually.

The winery had laid on a full tour for our group, with a detailed explanation of the production process as we were shown around.

Following the tour we sat out on a large veranda enjoying the sun and overlooking the many vineyards. An idyllic spot to have lunch and sample some of their wines. They had selected 6 different varieties to taste which were all delicious. Afterwards, slightly tipsy, we were directed to their shop to make some ‘carefully considered’ purchases.

The next week was thanksgiving which we celebrated with our American friends. The perfect opportunity to crack open some of those bottles!

Our flights were booked to return home for Christmas leaving from Antalya and this was a great opportunity to book a hotel for a couple of nights to explore this city.

The hotel was situated on the edge of the well preserved old city district of Kaleiçi (literally means ‘within the castle’). We walked around the winding lanes with finely restored Ottoman houses, boutique hotels, historical artifacts, small stores, cafés and restaurants.

Kaleiçi is surrounded by walls in the shape of a horseshoe with the principal entrance through Hadrian’s Gate, commonly known as Üçkapılar (the ‘Three Gates’). The monumental Gate was built for the Roman emperor’s visit to Antalya in 130 AD. It is apparently one of the best-preserved historical buildings in Antalya.

As we continued around this old city we came to the large Karaalioğlu Park, full of flowers and trees overlooking the seashore, it led us to cliff top views over the old Roman harbour and a perfect place to enjoy the sunset.

The harbour was Antalya’s lifeline from the 2nd century BC until late in the 20th century. It was restored during the 1980s and is now a marina for yachts and excursion boats. There is an elevator which descends down the cliff to the harbour.

Hidirlik Kalesi, is a 14m-high tower dating to the 1st or 2nd century AD. It was built as a mausoleum and later, due to its excellent position above the bay, played an important role in the city’s defences as a watchtower and lighthouse.

Outside of the old city, we walked further along the seafront to eventually arrive at Antalya museum. Here there are exhibitions covering everything from the Stone and Bronze Ages to Byzantium. There are displays of finds from ancient cities, a Hall full of statues of Gods, many in excellent condition, and a further room with many elaborate sarcophagi, including one for a third-century dog! Upstairs are coins and other gold artefacts including the Elmalı Treasure of almost 2000 Lycian coins.

We found Hadrian amongst the statues.

After a long day walking around it was nice to take the heritage tram back to the old city.

Returning to ZigZag after a few months in the UK, it was time to start work on boat jobs, however, I still managed to sneak out for a trip with the girls to Kaş.

We got on a very hot and busy bus at Finike for a 2 hour trip. On the way, the bus was stopped by police, they wanted to check everyone’s identity documents. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to bring mine with me, I was getting a little concerned as they worked their way through the bus and everyone seemed to have the necessary documents. Images from Midnight Express were flashing through my mind, so it was a relief when they just moved onto the next person when I told them that I didn’t have anything, a rather pointless check!

On arrival at Kaş, our first stop was to an interesting little cafe for coffee and cake.

Feeling re-energised we then wandered along the pretty narrow streets with overhanging loggias, visiting some of the little tourist shops and the harbour. Many of the shops, restaurants and cafes were not yet open and there was a lot of construction work being carried out to prepare for the start of the summer season.

We found a lovely sunny square to stop for lunch before returning to the bus station for a hot 2 hour journey back. It was a long day, but luckily it was Friday and we arrived back in time to have a glass of wine at the marina happy hour.

Turkish baths or Hamam is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing, the practice dates back to the Ottoman Empire. It is a very important ritual that represents cleanliness, relaxation, purification and social sharing.

There is a large Hamam in Finike so I couldn’t leave before giving it a try. A friend was visiting who was also interested in trying it, so after checking it was ladies day, off we went. Inside there is a large steamy room with a hot stone platform, surrounded by alcoves with stone sinks and bowls, where people were sitting and tipping bowls of water over themselves. There was also a separate sauna and steam room. You had to wait your turn to be scrubbed and massaged. I was called by an elderly rounded lady who was wearing nothing but a large baggy pair of beige Bridget Jones pants, I wasn’t going to argue with her! She set to work scrubbing me to within an inch of my life, she tossed me around like a rag doll, and finished with a full, very firm, massage. As she pulled my arms out towards her, my hands were filled with her voluptuous bosom. Afterwards I felt very cleansed, not particularly relaxed and slightly sore and bruised, there was definitely plenty of social sharing!

It was certainly a unique experience, maybe I’ll brave one again sometime to see if it was normal procedure or just the special treatment they reserve for tourists!