Antalya, Türkiye

There were a lot of factors that went into the itinerary: public holidays, cruise ship timetables, religious events, seasonal weather, balancing urban / ruins / nature activities. Also, we planned to be in a city with an Aveda salon every 4-5 weeks.

Heather had an appointment with a colourist at 11am, and we had laundry to do as well. Another admin day.

It’s been a challenge to find self-serve laundromats in Türkiye. It’s generally always full service here including ironing and folding. We prefer doing laundry ourselves to avoid any miscommunication (cold wash, no dryer, no ironing), so we were in a bind.

Heather had found a laundromat that, based on reviews, catered to foreigners with our fickle laundry requests. The plan was to drop off the laundry at 9am when they opened, have breakfast nearby, pick up the damp clothes, hang them to dry at the hotel, and then take a taxi to Heather’s colour appt. Easy peasy.

Our plan ran amok before it even began. The laundry people were stuck in traffic (we had WhatsApp’d with them). So we found a nice bakery nearby, had a simit with cream cheese and a cappuccino (both very good), with a bag of dirty laundry on an extra seat.

Back to the laundromat, which was now open. The very helpful and organized laundromat person said they could line-dry our clothes, and we could pick them up this evening, although they might still be damp. That was cool with us, so we had our plan B.

Now we had lots of time. We decided to walk over to the Aveda salon, as it was a beautiful day, and it was just a 45 minutes away.

We had our first glimpse of the ocean in a while (or at least a sea) as we walked along Konyaalti Cd. We were walking faster than Google Maps estimates, and had about ten minutes to kill before Heather’s appt. So we grabbed a Turkish tea (chai) nearby, and got to the salon at 9:59.

The folks at the salon were really friendly. Heather got whisked away for her colouring, and they showed me to the patio and offered me a drink. I had another chai, and used the time to catch up in my blog and search for a lunch restaurant.

Heather came out with her new do. We dropped into the Carrefour near the salon to stock up on some toiletries. (Carrefour has a good selection of western brands).

Then we walked down the street to a grill place I had found. Mostly we were there for the amazing view. Antalya sits on the Gulf of Antalya, with snow-capped mountains surrounding the city. We took our seats on the patio (in the shade), and enjoyed the view and had some steak and lamb.

After lunch we continued walking back towards the hotel. Stopped in at a chocolatier for a coffee and some bonbons. The hit by far was the chocolate-covered orange peel that they offered to us for free while we were ordering. We should have just ordered more of those!

I had now had a tea or coffee at five different places today, and it was only 2pm. Hopefully I’ll be able to sleep tonight.

We relaxed back at the hotel. The laundromat folks texted around 5pm that our clothes were ready. Along the way we did some sightseeing, taking some pics of Hadrian’s Gate. The only other place I wanted to visit in Antalya was its famous museum, but it’s closed for major renovations.

Our clothes were indeed still the same size, phew. We didn’t have motivation for much else today. Plus I had to read up on the two ruins we were going to visit tomorrow, so that we didn’t have a repeat of the Perge theatre incident.

Later I went for a quick bite for dinner (Heather was still full from her lamb skewers at lunch). Walked around and came across Çıtır Balık, which specialized in fish sandwiches. It’s a complicated process to eat there. First you place your order and pay. The cashier gives your name to the host. When a table opens up, the host calls your name to be seated. Then you wait until the kitchen calls your name when your food is ready. Finally, you use the bowl provided with the sandwich at the self-serve salad bar. I had an amazing battered anchovy sandwich. Yummy.

That was it for our Antalya experience. It was a bit of a shock seeing so many tourists here, but we could definitely see why folks are attracted to Antalya.