Matthew at the old harbour in Antalya
Aude at the old harbour in Antalya
The view from our hotel room at the Sheraton Voyager Antalya
Aude ponders the world from atop a bridge at the hotel
It’s a beautiful, bright morning in Antalya, Turkey, where we’ve spent the first few days of our honeymoon. After a few hair-raising moments in the rental car, I managed to find the hotel and dodge the worst of the Turkish drivers. The hotel, pool, beaches, and weather (30 degrees and sunny) are all perfect. We were met with champagne, flowers and the general honeymoon treatment.
The only thing raining on the parade is that I’ve managed to pick up a throat infection and have spent the morning at the doctor’s (for those of you who have never visited a doctor’s surgery in Turkey, it’s best to imagine something circa 1950s out of M*A*S*H – lot’s of hand-labelled glass bottles of disinfectant – it’s all a little scary, to be honest).
Aude has developed a pathological fear of the bees out here, which are the size of small birds, and has quickly abandoned her perfume.
Our biggest excitement seems to be the fact that no one believes that either of us live in England. Most assume we’re Turkish (helped, no doubt, by having spent a few weeks in the Mediterranean sun before we arrived), and those who don’t assume we’re Turkish guess Italian, Spanish, or German.
We had a nice meal last night overlooking the old harbour in Antalya – and had our first raki overlooking the port. No doubt we’ll be tired of kebabs by the end of two weeks here. The food has been universally excellent, but there’s a sameness to the cuisine here… We’ll see how we fare now that Ramadan has started – our dining choices may become more limited still.
We’ll be here for the next few days, then we’re off to the Aegean coast for five days there.
