Chapter 64: Turkeys to the VIP

nerd blog post #69

It's been awhile, dear readers, but I am stuffinged with Turkey and happy to blog.. This will be a longy and a goodie. A Christmas goodie.

Manchesthaır was great. Doctor and I booked ınto our hostel around 3pm, dropped our stuff, and hıt the cıty. It was decked out for Chrıstmas, but not obnoxıously. We went ınto Prımark - lıke Wınners but way better - and I bought a hat and new boots. Then we wandered around the cıty centre, saw the gay dıstrıct and Chınatown and the canal. We walked through a beautıful Chrıstmas market and had stew for dındıns there. Manchesthair ıs the best cıty I've vısıted ın England so far. At nıght, we sıpped some brewskıes at the hostel and then went to a bar called Churchıll's. It was an amazıng nıght - lıke old tımes. The hıghlıght was sıngıng Twıst and Shout for karaoke. I've decıded that I want karaoke at my weddıng. I shared that idea with Doctor, who wasn't as excited as I'd hoped..

The next mornıng, we left very early and took a traın to the aıport. From there, we had a 4 hour plane rıde. Unlıke flyıng across the Atlantıc, we crossed over many countrıes and even saw the Alps, whıch was neat. I was glad to be headıng away from that snow. When we landed ın Antalya, we had a 2 hour bus rıde to the resort.

I don't know how I'll tell all about the week in Turkey.. It was pretty amazing, and many stories to share. I'll do my best..

Doctor found this amazing deal through Thomas Cook where flight and accomodation at a five-star all-inclusive resort was at a very low, low price.. It really was a steal. I have never stayed in such a nice hotel room before, and I don't know if I ever will again! I couldn't believe how fancy everything was.. It was very exciting, especially after budget flights and hostels and picnics for so long.. I felt like a king. From the balcony, we could see the Mediteranean Sea on one side, and mountains on the other. Very beautiful.

The food was unreal. Delicious cheeses and olives and breads.. It seemed to be influenced by its many bordering countries. The best food I've eaten in a long time. Food of unbloggable deliciousness. At mealtimes, the resort cats would chill near the table. We named most of them after friends from back home. My fave was obvi named after me.

Doctor and I learned some important phrases in Turkish:
-hello
-thank you
-2 beers please

When we arrived, we realized that we were the youngest there. Besides some small children. It seemed overrun by old peeps. We called them the geris until we learned that there was an old folks home on vacay there.. Not just our imaginations at all.... Most of the guests were Turkish or German, with some Dutch and a few Brits. No one else. Flying out of Antalya today, I saw that all flights went to England or Germany. Everyone seemed surprised to meet Canadians there. I loved practicing my German. Some of the resort workers spoke way better German than English, so I would praccy with them, too. In the summer, 1200 people can stay where we were. It's one of the biggest resorts in the region. But being the off-season, there were only about 150. Which was just fine.

The trip, for me, will be split in two - the dry season and the rainy season. The first three days were wonderful. We spent two of them on the beach for hours.. We swam in the sea and basked in the sun. The other sunny day was spent in Alanya, a city ten minutes away or so. It's the capital city of the province, and was really cool to visit. There, we ignored the locals advice to take a bus to the top of the mountain, and instead walked up the winding road to the castle at the top. From there, we saw the ruins of a huge castle dating back to the 13th century, and had a beautiful view of the city. In the city, local shopkeepers try every tactic possible to get you into their store. "Hello nice couple!" We managed to escape by having a Turkish coffee (the bottom is like mud!) and sharing a hookah with the owner of the cafe.

And then the rains came. It rained continually for three days. Somehow, though, the days went by very quickly. Doctor and I played ping-pong, read and wrote, sipped coffee, ate well, and discovered the Turkish Bath. This is what that is: In a large room with marble everywhere, and sinks around the outside, you go in and pour water onto yourself from the sink with a bowl. That sounds dumb now that I write it, but the hot water and marble make it sauna-like, and it is very relaxing.. We had a Turkish Bath every day. There was also a sauna that we went into every day. In Germany it is forbidden to wear a bathing suit in a sauna, so I saw many geris in the buff.
I wish I had blogged all the way through the week.. I feel as though I can hardly scrape the surface. It was neat to be so far East.. A European country that feels so unlike any Europe I have visited before.. As I've written about every country, the people I came across were warm and friendly. Eager to help and happy to talk about their country and ask questions about my own. It made me want to abandon plans to visit "mainstream" Europe, and take the road less traveled (shout out RF).

It is now 215am in Liverpool, 415am in Turkey, 915pm in Torono, and 315am in Paris. In the past 17 hours, Doctor and I have been on two buses, two trains, one airplane, and in three airports. In five hours we fly to Paris. We will be tired after staying awake most of the night here at the airport in Liverpool... But we are very excited for the next part of our holidays..

We will spend two nights in Paris, spending Christmas with Raffi and maybe Doctor's friend from his program. On the 26th, Steve arrives, and after a day in Paris, we'll go back to Rennes for two nights. Then, Doctor will return to the UK, and Steve and I will continue to travel.. More about that latron.

I guess it's Christmas Eve.. After being in a 98% Muslim country with temperatures in the 20s for a week, it doesn't feel like Christmas at all. I think the lights in Paris will help. I'll be thinking of you all over the next couple of days especially..

Love always,
Hincks.