Sunday, May 11, 2008

Before you start to judge me...


...remember that I have been roughing it for almost a year now! I was lucky enough to be able to make a fabulous trip to Antalya in Turkey this past week. It was a much needed diversion and one of the most relaxing vacations that I have ever been on. Liza, Andrea and I flew to Antalya to start on our adventure. We stayed in a great little pension in the old town area of Antalya. We had just enough time for a morning walk around the old town and the harbor before we headed for the boat.




Relaxing breakfast at the pension Sabiyah in old town Antalya.




Interesting statue in the harbor park. You know how I love hands!!!!!




Some pre-Roman ruins in old town Antalya.



The amazing harbor of Antalya.




Look, in our defense, it was after 12:00 in Turkey before we broke out the wine. This is what most of our days on the boat looked like. Sun, cool breezes, wine and beautiful scenery. Just what I needed! There were about 10 passengers on the boat, (all but one of which spoke German!), so I had a lot of fun practicing my increasingly rusty German!!!!!




When we told Liza "down the hatch!" she took it a bit literally!




One of the amazing views of the coastline of western Turkey.







Liza showing off her amazing card-playing skills.







We did get off the boat one day to explore the ruins of a pre Roman ampitheater. It was a beautiful day and definitely time to get off the boat and walk around a bit.







In conjunction with the ampitheater were these Lycean rock tombs. They were tombs that were carved into the volcanic rock on the hillsides. It was really beautiful and very interesting!



Some of the friezes from the tombs just laying out in the gravel in front of the ampitheater. It was interesting that they were just out on the ground and people could touch them, sit on them, etc.





Last day of the boat trip was a side trip into Demre (conveniently the town where our Villa was located!) The statue is the statue of St. Nickolaus, the real priest that the modern day Santa Claus was patterned after. He was the bishop of Myra and well known for his good deeds in the area (especially in caring for the children). This is the church where he was buried. It is a very popular tourist attraction for many people in the Orthodox faith.





The tomb of St. Nicholaus. Many visitors were buying icons and then pressing them to the outside of his tomb to bless them.





Back on the boat for our last evening, it was nap time for the girls! Close quarters, but very comfortable.



Our illustrious captain and his first mate. They were awesome! They did everything in the world to make us happy and comfortable while we were on the boat.

The whole American gang and the crew. What an amazing time we had!

After we left the boat, we were brought to Fezay's restaurant to wait for our car to the villa. We lounged on the pillows and rugs like a bunch of harem girls while they brought us wine and food. Not a bad life at all...

This is villa we rented for the last few days we were in Turkey. We cooked, drank wine and layed out in the sun some more!

The rock beach and access to the see a few hundred meters from our front door....

Our last day in Antalya trying to soak up our last rays and drink in a little more ocean air. It was a fabulous vacation, and I came back refreshed and ready to finish out my school year (just a little over one more week to go!) I hope everyone is doing well and that plans are underway for an amazing summer of your own!