The trip report is up on my hiking site. A great adventure.
I’m already planning a return to do a couple of weeks on the Carian Trail. Perhaps April 2019.
Category: travel
Winter Sleep (2014)
In Cappadocia I met a U.K. couple who were cycling from England to China. They took a break to visit the region inspired by this film.
Click PLAY or watch a trailer on YouTube.
Winter Sleep is a 2014 Turkish film directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, adapted from the short story, “The Wife” by Anton Chekhov and one subplot of The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
The story is set in Anatolia and examines the significant divide between the rich and poor as well as the powerful and powerless in Turkey.
At the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, the film won the Palme d’Or and the FIPRESCI Prize.
Haluk Bilginer as Aydın, a former actor who is now a writer, hotel owner, and landlord is in nearly every scene. He is excellent.
The cinematography is superb.
It’s a very long film. Over 3 hours. Long intimate dialogues reveal the characters. Slowly.
Too slowly for me. I don’t have that kind of patience.
Antalya Museum
On TripAdvisor Antalya Muzesi is #2 of 139 things to do in Antalya.
If you hate museums, you’ll still enjoy this one.
The history of the Mediterranean and Pamphylia regions in Anatolia. From the stone age to modern times.
All good. But my favourite displays were of Roman statues from the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. Most fairly recently found in excavations at Perge.
Antalya, Turkey
My favourite photo from Antalya.
Antalya is the fifth most populous city in Turkey and the capital of its eponymous province. Located on Anatolia‘s flourishing southwest coast bordered by the Taurus Mountains. …
Antalya is Turkey’s biggest international sea resort, located on the Turkish Riviera. … A record 12.5 million tourists passed through the city in 2014. …
In 2015, the population was 2.288 million but it feels small city to the tourist staying in the ancient walled city, Kaleiçi;.
Myself and the rest of the very happy tourists enter and exit most often via Hadrian’s Gate.
I stayed only two nights my first visit prepping for a week long hike along the coast.
On my return I had more time to enjoy the sights.
They love statuary.
Evening walks are lovely.
Everyone who’s been to Antalya can recommend it. It’s very tourist friendly.
Turkish flat bread – Gözleme
Gözleme is a traditional savory Turkish flatbread and pastry dish, made of hand-rolled leaves of yufka dough that are lightly brushed with butter and eggs, filled with various toppings, sealed, and cooked over a griddle. …
Ladies at a hostel in Antalya hosted some sort of family reunion. They cooked Gözleme all day offering it to one and all passing by. Including the hostel guests.
I had a savoury version with cheese, spinach and meat. And a dessert version with honey.
Antalya aquarium
I hadn’t been to an aquarium in many a year. Antalya’s in Turkey is expensive but gets great reviews.
I kind of liked the cheesy ornamentation of the tanks.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
hiking in Turkey
It’s night #3 of my hike on the Turkish Riviera. I’ll be enjoying dinner and red wine seaside in Çıralı.
Europe so smoking
Romanians ask me — as a tourist — how I like Romania.
Too much smoking, is my reply.
Romania did not ban smoking in bars, cafes and restaurants until 2016. A backwards nation.
In fact, here are a few nations with even higher rates of smoking: Montenegro, Belarus, Macedonia, Slovenia, Belgium, Luxembourg.
Europeans are the world’s biggest smokers and drinkers. I couldn’t live in Europe. Aside from second hand smoke, many addicts give me the impression that their main reason to live is to get to the next cigarette. In about 4 minutes. 😦
Africans smoke the least, overall, by the way. It’s a pleasure to travel there.
wandering Bucharest
Big European cities don’t have much attraction for me. Bucharest is not nearly the best of the bunch.
But waiting on a flight to Turkey I made the best of it.
There are some big, green parks.
Lovely religious buildings.
Vlad the Impaler is one of the attractions.
A wannabe, Bucharest has an Arc. But it’s only about one third as large as the one in Paris.
Several things I really liked about Romania:
• fast WiFi everywhere. I could even upload photos to Flickr.
• almost every Romanian I met spoke English (TV and films are in English here)
• taxi drivers were honest
• no money problems. They are proud to have their own currency, not Euro.
Bran Castle, Romania
Commonly known as “Dracula’s Castle” (although it is one among several locations linked to the Dracula legend, including Poenari Castle and Hunyad Castle), it is often erroneously referred to as the home of the title character in Bram Stoker‘s Dracula.
There is, however, no evidence that Stoker knew anything about this castle, which has only tangential associations with Vlad the Impaler. …
The castle is now a museum dedicated to displaying art and furniture collected by Queen Maria. …
We didn’t enjoy this castle as much as nearby Râșnov Citadel, but it was still worth visiting.
Rick McCharles 