Weekend in Antalya

Last weekend was a long weekend in Turkey for the Youth and Sports Day Holiday.  On Saturday morning, I flew to Antalya, Turkey for a long weekend.  I had flown into Antalya once before, when I went on the blue cruise in October.  I didn't do any exploring since we had to get on a bus right away to Olympos.  Antalya is a premiere tourist area in Turkey and I really enjoyed my time there.  I arrived and checked in to a nice hotel near Lara beach.  By 11:30 a.m., I was lounging on a private beach.  The water was a stunning shade of blue.  It was perfect beach weather, very hot and sunny.  When you started to get too hot, you could jump right into the sea to cool off.  It was an incredibly relaxing and enjoyable Saturday!

Beautiful blue seas and rocky coastline

The next morning, I went on a tour of the Antalya old city and archaeological museum.  It turned out I was the only one on the tour, and I enjoyed a nice few hours getting a private tour with Nasli, a very nice Turkish woman.  Antalya was an important port city during the Roman empire, and later during the Ottoman empire.  The old city has been very well preserved.  The streets are filled with old Ottoman houses that have been made into hotels, restaurants, or shops.  The first stop was at an Ottoman bell tower.

Ottoman bell tower

Next we walked down to the historic marina.  From here it is possible to arrange for a boat ride along the coastline in Antalya.  Many of the boats are made to look like pirate ships.  There are also fish restaurants and shops down by the marina.

Lots of theme ships in the marina.

From there, we continued on and saw more views of the beautiful Antalya coastline, as well as an old Ottoman fortress.

One really interesting part of the Old City tour was a ruins spot.  It is called the Broken Minnaret.  The ruins at one point were a Roman temple, then a Christian church, and finally a mosque.  It always astounds me how long and how many thriving civilizations have lived here in Turkey over the past few thousand(s) of years.

Roman temple/church/mosque

Broken Minnaret

We continued on to the main Roman entrance into the Old City.  The three arches are a beautiful example of Roman architecture.

A street scene in Antalya old city

Posing in front of the arches

Next we took the tram to the archaeological museum in Antalya.  Before going to the museum, I got to see beautiful views of Konyaalti beach, a famous beach in Turkey.  On my next trip to Antalya, I hope to stay in the Old City and take the tram to this beach!

Konyaalti beach

 The archaeological museum has been ranked one of the best museums in Europe.  There are many rooms filled with Roman sculptures, sarcophogi, and other artifacts.  From Antalya, it is possible to take day trips to many famous Roman ruins sites.

On Monday, I went back to the beach and relaxed before flying back to Adana.  It is only an hour flight between the two cities.  I would definitely recommend Antalya as a travel destination if you are living in Europe or travelling in Turkey.  It is a wonderful mix of beach, relaxation, history, and sightseeing.  I can't wait to go back next school year to do some of the day trips and spend more time in the Old City.

Antakya road trip

A few weeks ago, Donna, Kerry, Stacey, and I rented a co-worker's car and drove to Antakya, Turkey.  Antakya is an important historical place in the country.  We stayed at a very nice boutique hotel that used to be home to the Syrian president in the 1920s.  We first went to the Antakya bazaar where we enjoyed some shopping and the local kebap.  Antakya is known for kunefe, a Turkish dessert made with cheese and sugar water (it's kind of like a sweet mozzarella stick).  After lunch, we began the hunt for the best kunefe in Antakya.  We then made our way to the mosaic museum in the city.  Unfortunately, many of the mosaics were covered and several rooms were closed for restoration.  We did see some amazing examples of mosaics found in the area.

We then wanted to go see the cave church right outside Antakya, but were unable to due to restoration.  Donna drove us around until we could find a decent view.  The arch-holes in the rock you can see are the remnants of the cave church.

After the mosaics museum, we drove to the nearby town of  Harbiye to explore some more.  While the others were doing a waterfall hike, I explored some of the "ipek" shops on the silk road.  Harbiye is known for having the best kunefe and food in the area, so we took a recommendation from a Turkish friend and went to a restaurant to enjoy a nice meal.  I got there just in time to enjoy a beautiful sunset.

Mezze plate, with humus, eggplant dip, olive salad, yogurt, and other starters

The following day, we drove all around the area trying to find many of the historical sights.  We started off by walking around the Antakya city center in the morning to find the churches and synogogues; unfortunately, they were not open at the time we wanted to go inside.  We did see the oldest mosque in Turkey, Necci-de-Habbab mosque.

Inside the mosque

After our city center walk around, we ventured out to find St. Simeon's monastary.  Donna drove us up around and all over a mountain before we got to our destination.

Driving around some windmills.

This monastary's claim to fame is that St. Simeon sat on a big pillar for 40 years.  The reasons for him doing this are still not clear to me but hey, people did strange things a long time ago.

The famed pillar

Just want to see what all the fuss is about....

After visiting the monastary, we made our way to Vikifli, the only remaining Armenian village in Turkey that still has only Armenian people living in it.  There we visited the church, which is the only church to be built in Turkey since 1923.

After the village, our final stop was to the Titus tunnel, which is what the Romans used for transporting water from the mountains to the city on the port.  

Beautiful views on the way to the Titus tunnel

Sunset over the sea

Inside the tunnel

The group who made it to every sight in Antakya!

After a jam packed weekend of sight-seeing, we finally made it back to Tarsus.  First Turkish road trip....a success I would say!

Lake Como

From Florence, Nate and I made our way to Lake Como.  We stayed in one of the small towns around this massive lake.  I'm just going to answer this question so it's out of the way:  No, we did not see George Clooney or his house.  That would have been sweet (obviously), but unfortunately didn't happen.

Nate and I stayed in a nice hotel with amazing views of the lake.  The hotel had just opened for the season, and apparently we were his first guests.  It was a beautiful and sunny the day we arrived, just in time to enjoy the sunset.

View from our balcony

Panorama of Lake Como

Enjoying a copa di vino and a sunset

The next day, we took water taxis to different, picturesque towns on the lake.  The most famous one is Bellagio.  We enjoyed oggling at the massive mansions and walking around the little town.  

I imagine Clooney lives in something like this...

A bunch of showboats live here, presumably

Walking the streets of Bellagio

We went to two other towns on the lake, Menaggio and Verenna.    Verenna was the prettiest town, with it's colorful buildings right on the water.  

Pretty Verenna

A little bit closer

One with the watercolor filter

A nice view to enjoy (another) glass of wine

Our time in Como was very relaxing.  Taking in the spectacular views, enjoying the charming little towns, and eating some awesome food sums up the experience.

Chianti Wine Country

When planning this trip, I was content to let Nate pick out most everything we did, since it was his first trip abroad and I had already been to Italy.  I did say that we had to go on a Chianti wine tour and this was non-negotiable.  As it turns out, Nate loves Italian wine just like me so this wasn't a problem.  We booked a day trip out into Chianti wine country.  Our driver was an Italian guy who knew so much about Tuscan wines and the wine-making process.  He was really great and we both learned a lot.

The first winery we went to was called Corsini (I think...).  There are actually many different wine regions in Italy.  One of the restaurants we ate at had a map with all of the regions labeled, but I didn't keep it.  Google it if you are interested!  Chianti wines only come from the Chianti region in Italy, which is in the province of Tuscany.  Chianti wines that are made in the traditional way have a special pink sticker at the top of the bottle.  If you are looking for something authentic, pay attention for this sticker.  There are several different types of Chianti made in the traditional ways that will have this sticker.  The cost of the wine depends on the amount of time and labor required to make the wine.  Wine that hasn't aged very long would be considered a table wine.  The next step up (in expense, anyway) would be wine that has been aged in a large Italian barrel.  The most expensive wines are those that are aged in smaller French oak barrels.

Nate and I with the massive Italian wine barrels

Small French oak barrels

The winery and grounds were absolutely beautiful.  The tradition of wine-making in Italy is of course world-renowned, as well as protected.  If you want to buy a winery in Chianti, you have to keep the same recipe and adhere to strict rules (I am not sure who enforces these rules; I expect it's some kind of wine police).  While this might sound ridiculous and bad for the prospect of business growth, it makes sense when you are there in the countryside amongst all the traditional wineries.  It is a beautiful, historical, and culturally important part of Italy that they have deemed important enough to protect.

Corsini vineyard gardens

Nate and I at the winery

Some of the vines and another winery 

We did a tasting at the first winery of the three different types of wines and then went to the second place.  On the way, our driver stopped on the side of a road that provided some amazing views of the region.

FINALLY made it to Italian wine country :)

Picturesque

At the second winery, we had another tour with less technical information, followed by lunch.  At this winery, we tried some super-Tuscans (I thought the guide was joking at first, but this is an actual type of wine).  Super Tuscan wines are made with different blends of grapes.  We also had a really amazing dessert wine made from dried grapes, as well as some not so amazing grappa.  Grappa is incredibly strong and disgusting, in my opinion.  Try it if you ever have an opportunity, and you will know what I am talking about.

Mechanism used for drying the grapes for the dessert wine

Delicious and homemade Tuscan lunch

One last picture of the countryside

Even though this was the most expensive tour in Italy, anyone who knows me probably isn't surprised that I coughed up the money to be driven around Chianti countryside and hop around to all of the wineries.  It was an awesome and educational day and totally worth it!