Turkey - Part 7 - The Last of the Sunshine Coast

There wasn't a big draw for us to stop in Antalya, but we'd read the old town was worth a look and there was a highly recommended camper parking place near a beach with washing machines! The city of modern apartment blocks seemed to sprawl for miles around the bay, but the backdrop of snow topped mountains was quite a sight.

It was a sunny Sunday afternoon when we arrived, so we jumped on the Bromtpons for a cycle up and down the busy promenade near the campsite. It was like driving on the Turkish roads having to dodge pedestrians, stray children, prams, scooters, mobility scooters and motorbikes on the cycle path.

There were quite a few British vehicles at the campsite, including a lovely couple we'd met back at the beach in Dalyan.

After doing our laundry, the following day we caught a bus into the old town. It was a pleasant place to stroll around with narrow streets and lots of boutique hotels and bars and restaurants, and there were also nice views over the harbour area and across to the bay where we were staying. We walked through the bazaar selling genuine fake clothing and accessories.

We ended up catching a tram out to a shopping centre to look for some genuine walking shoes for Colin as his current ones are falling apart, but came away empty handed and returned to the old town to have dinner.

We decided to stay on another day. A number of other vehicles had arrived and we met a German/Irish couple and a Dutch couple who were heading to Central Asia like us.

We took the Bromptons out for a spin along the promenade and into the harbour area where we got talking to a well-travelled Turkish man who had lived in Australia for many years.

The following morning we continued our journey East along the coast, with a quick stop at the Duden Falls that drop into the sea on the outskirts of Antalya.

There are lots of ancient sites on this stretch of the coast, but we decided to head straight to Side, a tourist town with an ancient city at its heart. As we approached Side we were fascinated and horrified at the never ending scene of monstrous gawdy looking hotels and resorts. The names,such as the Kremlin Palace, may elude to who their clients are, but we wondered how these places filled their rooms - there was just so many of them and they were all massive.

We parked up in the centre of Side and were a bit confused as to whether we had to pay an entrance fee to enter the old city, but decided we could see enough of it from the road. Typically, the top draw sites of the amphitheatre (the photo below is a photo from a poster) and the Temple of Apollo were being renovated and were behind screens. We had a stroll around for a couple of hours, got outraged at the price of a glass of Turkish tea on the waterfront, then decided to move on. The car park attendants then tried to take us for a ride, saying that the price that came up on their screen for parking wasn't correct as the prices had recently gone up. We told them they must be having a laugh, but they showed me what they said were the current prices on a board by the entrance and I realised they were trying to charge us for being a bus. After some more 'debate' we reluctantly paid the lesser fee for a minibus.

We had planned to park up on the coast near here, but the parking areas were all nestled between big resort hotels and didn't appeal, so we headed slightly away from the coast to Lake Manavgat, which is actually a reservoir that we planned to cycle around the following day. We parked up next to a restaurant on the water that allowed motorhomes to park for free and had toilets and showers to use. It also does food, but out of season the owner said he was closing for the evening, so we purchased a beer before he headed off.

It was a wonderful clear sunny day for our bike ride and the scenery was beautiful. The reflections on the reservoir were stunning. The roads were relatively traffic free (although we imagine in the summer will be a different story) and quite undulating. There was a spur road that climbed sharply up to another dam. We cycled through a tunnel for the view of the second reservoir and where several tour buses were parked up while their tourists did boat trips. The water is a lovely green colour from the minerals in the rocks.

We continued on cycling around the other side of the first reservoir, passing an impressive ancient Roman aqueduct. When we got back to Lolly, the restaurant had people in having lunch, so we decided to get a late lunch as a thank you for letting us park up. The other diners were tourists on an excursion who were about to take a boat trip onto the reservoir. We were asked if we wanted to join them, but as the music started thumping out of the boat we passed. We decided we'd spend another night here as it was a bit late to move on, but then we realised the sun had gone behind a hill and the only place to sit in the sun was on a steep dusty bit of road around the corner from Lolly - not the most glam sunbathing spot (yes - Colin does look like he's been shot...).

The next morning we called in at the nearby Manavgat Waterfalls. There was a lot of maintenance work going on, so many of the paths were closed, and with the tacky souvenir shops all around, we weren't overly impressed.

We'd been watching the weather forecast closely, and it looked like there was another two days of sunshine expected on the Mediterranean coast before it turned showery, so we continued on to the beach resort town of Alanya. Again there were miles and miles of huge resort hotels leading into the town and beyond. The main road through the town was completely dug up, so we had a challenging drive to reach our chosen parking spot having to squeeze Lolly through the twisty, narrow, steep streets of the castle hill. The parking spot was great though - right next to the beach and by the cable car station that whisks visitors up to the castle.

We visited the Castle first and enjoyed the views - particularly the view of Lolly from the cable car. .

There is a farmers market in town on Fridays, so we enjoyed the colours and smells of walking around this and stocked up on some fresh fruit and vegetable for the truck.

To be honest, we weren't that enamored with the rest of the town. Colin thought this may be his last chance to swim in the Med, and the water did look nice and clear so he braved it.

We tried cycling down the promenade on our Bromptons, but had to give up quite quickly as there was no cycle path and we ended up having a sundowner on the beach. When we returned to Lolly, another motorhome was parked up. It turned out to belong to an Australian family of 7 (!!) (mum, dad and 5 kids ranging from 4 to teens) who had bought it in Germany and were driving around Europe and Turkey for a year. They are a fantastic inspirational force - hearing about the experiences they were enjoying as a family and the quality time they are all getting learning together. Their Instagram page is 'thesevenwanderers' - they post some lovely reels. We gave them some recommendations such as the fire hill (with marshmallows) and the sea kayaking which we're glad to see they have done since meeting them.

We ended the day heading to a steak restaurant nearby for a tasty slap up meal and Turkish red wine.

We had originally planned to head further East in Turkey as there are many interesting sites in this region, but with the recent start to the situation in Iran (which we are horrified to see), we were concerned these areas may be seeing an influx of Iranian refugees and thought it may not be the right time to visit.

The last place we visited before leaving the coast was the Caves of Heaven and Hell. The drive to get there was on a very undulating twisty coastal highway, with the Turkish drivers impatience at getting stuck behind us and the many lorries on the road resulting in some very suicidal overtaking maneuvers.

It was pretty cold and wet by the time we reached the caves, which are actually two enormous sinkholes. The Cave of Hell could be seen from a glass-floor viewing platform, but the rain meant it wasn't very clear to see through. The larger Cave of Heaven was reached by 452 steps down which took us past a 5th Century church. There were some nice rock features at the bottom, but it was hard to get good photos. Thankfully once back up at the church level there was a lift that took us back to ground level.

We now started our journey inland heading to one of the most iconic of Turkeys attractions, Cappadocia. We had seen a window of two days good weather the following week where we hoped we'd have a chance of doing a hot-air-balloon flight, so the next leg of our trip was all planned around being there for the following Tuesday.