Antalya Day 4 (Day ten of the trip)

June 15, 2011 - Wednesday

After careful deliberation, we have decided that we really need this to be a down day.  People gather slowly and in stages for breakfast.  We move up to the terrace that overlooks the pool and dining area because it has become too bright downstairs for reading or blogging.  We around doing our thing for a while and Nick appears with some of his kilo (!) of bakklava!

The guys are all going to hang out for a while.  Andy is reading Japanese, brushing up before Tae arrives on the 21st.  Ben has his Kindle.  Ginger and I are planning to go poking around to see what we can see.  We're out several hours and meet lots of nice people.  One man gives us little good luck charms for being the first people in his store.  Another man tells us that he is pleased about the election because he is a Kurd and they won 36 seats in the Parliament.  He is hoping that we can all just have peace.  He also says that his prices are lower because he doesn't like to bargain!  We met an Armenian, too, and he was as charming as everyone else.

At one point we stopped to look at rugs.  Oh dear.  It is so hard to get out of the shop!  I thought I might want a little one foot square persian rug - but I just can't justify the expense and I don't have any wall space for it anyway.

Not to ignore the cultural part of our trip, we stop at the tourist-info place and get a map with everything on it (sounds like a hot dog!)  Ben had suggested that we visit Hadrian's Gate and we are glad that we listened. 

Later we find another shop that is selling silk embroidered pillow covers.  We didn't get out of that one so cleanly!  One cover each and two pashminas for Ginger!  But they're all gifts, so it's okay! The manager has a very clever technique.  We look at his covers while his assistant gives us cold fruity tea.  He shows us cover after cover after cover and eventually we start choosing some that we might be interested in.  He had mentioned a price initially and although we had said that was too much, the subject wasn't revisited. When it looked like we might have made our decisions, the manager had vanished leaving his helpful minion to close the sale.  When he gave us a total, Ginger countered - as is expected.  The minion said he didn't have the authority to change his boss's price.  We started to walk out.  He phoned his boss and came back with a counter offer.  It was pretty good, so the deal was struck!

Not the one either of us bought;  but it is a classic Ottoman style.

Walking the streets we see lots of fascinating sights.  There is a man playing a flute, wearing a fez.  There are young girls in denim skirts and head scarves.  In a little patio area there are lots of marigolds and EIGHT cats all in their appointed places!  There is a water fountain there, too, for dogs;  but their owners have to turn it on for them!

 

 

 

We also find one of the stalls that sells earrings and help their economy, too.

We decide it might be good to check in at the hotel and see all three of the guys!  We drop off our goodies and Ben comes with us to lunch, even though Nick and the guys have just returned from eating.  We find a little place just inside the old city and have wonderful Kabobs.  Mine has yogurt and rice with it and the pita bread looks like a balloon when it first arrives, it is so puffy!  Ben just has a Fanta and the manager teases him.  He says that we should return for dinner and have the lamb shank for all of us!

And check out the size of that Efes bottle!

We wander back and I begin blogging while Ginger goes to find Nick.  They are gone a long time and I learn that they went shopping and for a boat ride!  She said it was a wonderful trip.  The color of the Mediterranean was unbelievable and the white hotels and colorful boats in the harbor were beautiful.  They even saw a waterfall!

The guys have been drifting in and out of our room as we blog and chat.  We will need to pack tonight and we want to visit a hookah bar as well as have dinner, so some plans need to be made.

So we're off to a place Nick found on Trip Advisor, the Hasanaga Restaurant

It is an old mansion that has been converted to a restaurant and most of the dining area is outdoors, with grapevines forming the roof.

As we are awaiting our entrees, we watch two of the staff hang a screen and listen to the three-piece band tuning up.  Soon groups of people begin streaming in!  There must be fifty or so taking seats at a "U" shaped table and one dapper older gentleman is in a suitcoat.  He looks like a mafia don!

Our entrees make their appearance the the band starts up.

It seems that this must be an anniversary celebration and there will be a slide show later in the evening.  A few of the people get up to dance and there are lots of cameras and laughter and raki all around!  I feel very conspicuous trying to get photos without the flash and without attracting attention!

The lady at the end of the table notices that Ginger and I are clapping in time to the music and she smiles and claps with us.  We have a moment!  When the band takes a break, we make our exit and go down the street to the nargile that the guys found last night.  We order tea and beer and a strawberry flavored nargile.  Everyone gets his own mouthpiece and the guys show us the ropes.  The tobacco is mixed with a lot of water and strawberry flavoring which is supposed to be noticeable when you draw in the smoke.  Yea, I guess, a little.  It is interesting and I can see where it would be a very social experience.  It takes about half a hour for the smoke to lose its flavor and become too harsh to be enjoyable.  I'm afraid I drop out several rounds before the end!

There are four young men in the next room playing Rummikube which seems to be very popular in Turkey!  They are quite serious about their game!

On our way home we find the charming Kurd who told us this morning that he doesn't like to bargain.  Ginger and I each buy some souvenirs and when she and Nick look at some of the tulip shaped glasses that are used everywhere for tea, he tells them not to buy his.  They are garbage and he shows them how the gold will flake off!  He got them from his brother-in-law when he went out of business and when the supply is gone he will never sell them again!

When we get home Ginger dips her feet in the pool and then it is off to bed.  We've had a lovely dara dara day!  (Japanese fun language for lazy day!)