Turkish queens of waves and selfies…

The recent autumn half-term break gave us a chance to either explore the western part of Georgia or to fly to Turkey to enjoy the remains of summer, to taste Mediterenean vibes once again. Yes, the second option we opted for and it was so relaxing…We flew to Antalya and spent a lovely week on the beaches of Olympos and around the pitoresque town of Kas. Among the highlights was truly great weather, clean and warm sea (seeing big caretta turtles as well!) with wonderfull waves, baklava deserts and turkish tea and blossming bushes in the middle of October.

For a couple of days it was a bit windy, which made the sea rough and brought the waves and fun. Me and my sister spent nearly whole days in the water, getting out for a drink or ice-cream only…Every wave was our target, jumpin´over, diving in or „surfin´on it“ until we got splashed and twisted around, sand and little stones everywhere. It was amazing to watch the number of people enjoying it the same as we did, irrespective of age, nationality, religion. The same fun for kids as well as grandmas. Love, laughter and respect when the big wave approached and relocated the senior turkish ladies, fully wrapped in burkinis, a few meters further and they were screaming of joy and their husbands were clapping and shared the moments with them and other family members as well. An interesting thing was to watch the two worlds coexisting – russian ladies in tiny bikinis (lack of  self-reflection sometimes) and traditional turkish families. One more remark from the beach and I write from perspective of mobile phone user (addicted one my parents would add). Selfie time for everyone, morning, lunch time, afternoon or the sunset. On the beach, on the cliffs, in the waves….Unbelievable what the people are willing to do for a selfie. Especially on the cliffs above the beach of Kapoutas it was about time to bet whether the world wide statistics of people dying or injuring themselves badly  when taking selfie  would increase. Maybe I would need to be a real influencer to understand the stylish „princesses“ turning around on the beach with live broadcasting to the universe….

But Turkey has much more to offer… We could not miss some of the Roman ruins, visiting the ancient town of Myra. Apart from the fact, that all neighbourhood is crowded with plastic greenhouses /polytunnels for growing vegetables which looks odd from the mountains, the old theather built by Greeks for the sake of entertaining the citizens, performing the comedies and drama is definately worth to visit. Place full of wide-eyed stone masks. They were using masks 🎭 as used in drama today, and yet original for the purpose of the actors being able to be more than one character at once, but also for projecting their voice through the mask for audience to hear better, and all of them, including men, wore high heels so the audience could see them even at the very top of the amphitheater. I tested the accoustics, and it was a masterpiece from the builders. Later on, when the Romans overtook the reign of the region, they used the place mainly for discussion with citizens, political campaigns, full propaganda! And now it stands there as witness of time, wind blowing through the rows, you could hear some of the ancient dramas if you listen carefully or you stand on the direct sunlight longer…Just use your imagination. Interesting to see how certain place can serve different purposes over the period of time. Let me know in the comments any place where one can experience different usage of a place. One example is a huge gas container in Ostrava industrial complex which has been turned into a concert hall. Visiting this place is on my bucket list😊

Another place we visited which I very much liked were the Chimaera fires. It is still a mystery to me how the nature has just created flames rising from solid rock. We went there when it was dark already, being suprised by the large numbers of people crowding these miracles, some even roasting marshmallows and playing the guitar. I later found out that these flames are caused by gas leaking from underneath the rock, and yet it was as if in a movie.

My first real visit to Turkey (apart from the yearly Istanbul airport) and definitely not the last one as this was only the sweet taste of Turkey. Not only due to baklava, fresh pomegranade juice and tea after each meal. I´m looking forward to be back sooner or later, the inland and natural wonders of Turkey awaiting.

So far Gule, gule (goodbye) Turkey.