Journey of a boring grumbler to Alanya (Turkey). NEW!
Journey of a bore - a grumbler to Alanya (Turkey). NEW!
Again the airport "Ufa". Everything is the same as in the past 2011, only in the buffet, in the store on the second floor, 50 gr. vodka already costs 150 rubles and a snack - a sandwich with caviar is no longer inspiring. In Zhuti Free, an equivalent pack of Smirnoff vodka costs 5 euros. Nightmare! The Boeing 737 was delivered. Not new. After the TU-204, the famous brand, with worn upholstery, did not impress me. They took off. An hour later, a two-hour fuss of flight attendants on feeding and drinking passengers began, they were falling asleep. Would take a nap. Well, what if they forget to wake me up, and I lose my legal rations? Well, no, I'll stay awake. Behind the porthole is darkness. Still autumn. Three and a half hours have passed since takeoff. Decreased. Coastal lights are visible. In the sea, a kilometer from the coast, my attention was attracted by two powerful searchlights - lighthouses. Soon our liner on these landmarks comes to the runway. The earth was getting closer. He started counting down to himself: 3…2…1…0…0…. Hop! Touching, braking, clapping passengers, an accordion corridor, customs, baggage claim, running out into the street, registering with a travel agency representative and here I am at the right bus. The driver helpfully dropped off the luggage. Uffff…! Well hello Turkey!
Looked around. I watch people. I compare. Turks are already perceived more habitually. And yet, looking ahead, I admit that I cannot calculate them - calculate them according to "conditioned - unconditioned" reflexes by "our" standards. Another mentality. Not ours. The mentality of people with dignity and at the same time without ambition, laconic and business without fuss. Our bus guide, a Turk named Mavlut, perfectly fits these characteristics. The comfortable bus filled up and drove east from Antalya to Alanya. It started to get light. I carefully looked out the window, trying to remember everything. Of course, it is better to record everything on video. Usually, tourists forget half of the information in a month, and what they remember later is interpreted differently, and they even argue. I remember that the roadside landscape is less well-maintained than in Kemer (West). It looks like Alanya, as a destination for tourism, is at the beginning of development. There are many new settlements on the way, trees have not yet grown there. Each village has its own unique, sometimes bizarre architecture. Although the houses are mostly rectangular in shape, two-story with long balconies - loggias and without any frills, the oriental flavor is felt here. Some have the national flag of Turkey - a golden crescent and a star on a red background. Mavlut explained: a boy was born in this house. The same flag, which also has a portrait of Ataturk, means the house of a young man drafted into the army. In Turkey, this is an honor. In! But what about girls - girls ? ! How are their signs? It was said that the carpet hanging on the loggia testifies to a marriageable girl living here. Usually this is a girl after graduation, who did not continue her studies. Carpet - information for matchmakers. The girl will be given in marriage without asking her opinion. Only a learned lady has the right to choose a husband. That's it! Mavlyut told a lot of interesting things, sometimes interrupting for stops at hotels. Passengers - tourists, all - "our" people, were decreasing. Soon the bus brought us to the village of Konakli. On the right - the sea, still gray in the morning, hotels on the left. Among them is my handsome "Blue Fish" (blue fish). Wow!
A white five-story building with semicircular balconies. Inside there are solid stone-ceramic apartments. Carpet on the floors. Impeccable finishes and cleanliness. The only thing I didn't like was the head waiter - a Turkish woman of about 40, with a cold, indifferent face, who knows in Russian only the name of the numbers. Standard room with all amenities. On TV, among others, there are already two Russian-speaking channels. From the loggia you can see the edge of the sea. Although the beginning of October included air conditioning during the day. Buffet standard with a predominance of vegetables. You can live. Two pools, one with slides. Passage to the beach through the tunnel under the highway. The first time I strained a little noise from the road, then I got used to it. The beach is sandy, the water is very clean, 24 degrees, a little stormy. Air during the day 29-30 degrees. At this time of the year, you can lie on the beach all day long without compromising your health.
Among the vacationers there are many older people, pensioners, both from Russia and from Germany. Everything is decorous, noble, and boring. I remember Slava from Kazan, when we rested together in Kemer - Kirish. Right now, they would break away. In the evening, at the disco, the animator Lola entertained the children, and the adults had fun themselves. Benefit next to a free bar with beer and gin - tonic. Bartenders - taut Turks 30-40 years old, in the same, like all waiters, men's shirts, worked tirelessly. I noticed: passing by the children, they always stroked their heads, which, of course, touched the mothers. In a word, heavenly grace. Concluding the description of the hotel, I will point out the presence of a paid service - this is a safe in the room, massage, photo shoot, ice cream, and, if you have become a victim of Mustafa's obsession, riding his camel, but this is already at the exit, outside the hotel.
About excursions.
Excursions are an important part of spending time on vacation in Turkey. They are also paid - $ 30-60 per person. You should be prepared for the fact that excursions will be actively imposed by guides and barkers of street bureaus. Even flights to Israel are offered. As mentioned earlier (about my first trip), during my vacation in Kiris, I took a one-day excursion to Demre - Mira - Kekova and did not regret it. The tour is well organized, and, as I later found out, regardless of who you buy a ticket from and which company will serve. Enough impressions. And I will briefly describe them.
So, Demre - Mira - Kekova.
Departure of the tour bus from Kiris at 9 am. The highway runs along the seashore. An impressive landscape of a wild coast, coastal cliffs opens up. The photo from the bus turns out to be of quite satisfactory quality. We pass small neat green towns. Between them is a hilly woodland. On the way there are many greenhouses, which seemed strange to me for warm Turkey. The guide, a Russian girl, splashes out a sea of information about the history of Turkey, about Mustafa Ataturk and about the object of the tour itself. Travel time passes unnoticed. And here is the settlement of Demre - Mira - Kekova. We drive to the pier, where a boat is already waiting for us. Loaded and forward to the "Sunken City". There is such an island mountain range, parallel to the coast of the mainland and forming a narrow strait. On the steep slope of the ridge from the side of the strait, pirates once hollowed out their premises and lived there separately from their families. The essence of the idea is that during a storm, when other ships were hiding in the strait, the pirates attacked them, and if they were rebuffed, they took the blow on themselves, thereby averting the danger from their relatives on the shore. Over time, the ridge partially went under water and received its current name. Now it is ruins. This is such a sad story.
The trip includes swimming in the sea. On the boat, tourists will be provided with means to keep afloat, fresh water for rinsing and changing cabins. Slowly we return by boat back, we go along the picturesque coast. The sea is calm. And here is the pier. We are waiting for a bus and half a hectare of racks with ready-made plates, on which are photos of those who wished to use this service ($5).
The next object is a medieval amphitheater. The object impressed with its monumentalism. The spectator part made of stone blocks has been well preserved, which, as it were, is built into the rock as a semicircular multi-tiered terrace. The stage was less fortunate, it was partially destroyed or dismantled. The amphitheater is very similar to the Roman Colosseum. And not smart. Before the Turks, the city belonged to both the Romans and the Greeks. Hence the name "three-story". Being here is hard. Stones heated by the sun radiate heat. Not far from the Colosseum, a hundred meters away, rectangular niches were hollowed out on a sheer cliff. These appear to be tombs. Interestingly done. But don't get there. Time to have lunch. We were taken to a canteen in the civil part of the city. Lunch - buffet - free, except for drinks.
After lunch, a planned visit to a religious shop. The store is cool, you can linger. Lots of icons. The icons depict Nicholas the miracle worker. The image is embossed, made of metal and painted. Tourists were offered to buy an icon or a candle, then to consecrate it in the church with the sarcophagus of Nicholas the Wonderworker. The guide said that it doesn't matter what faith we are, it is important to attach the purchased object or hand to the sarcophagus and soon there will be a miracle, a miracle of healing. Already called to the bus. We are at the church. Entrance through the turnstile ($8). The church has not been equipped for several hundred years: the walls and floors are not plastered, some church accessories are missing. Clearly, so more exotic. Despite this, services are held here periodically. And the tourists, meanwhile, went through the premises, listened to the information of the guide and ran to the sarcophagus, in line. The sarcophagus is a stone slab in the niche of the wall, covered with transparent plastic and only on the side there is a narrow gap where hands reach with and without attributes. I also got hooked. . . Indeed, man's faith in miracles is truly unshakable. I will disappoint the intrigued reader, as far as I know, there are no statistics of accomplished miracles. My score doesn't count. After the church, we also stopped by a large onyx souvenir shop from a stone factory. The creative ideas of the stonemasons are designed, as they say, for an amateur, and the prices seemed too high to me. They returned to their home in Kirish by the same road. It was evening. The heat of the day subsided, the contours of roadside objects became clearer, and the colors of the sea became more saturated. The towns looked very cozy. The beauty! When else will I be here? Arrived at the hotel at 18:00.
Digesting fresh impressions, I could not fail to note the good organization of the tour. After all, the boat was waiting for us "on steam" on the pier, and not we. The captain also smiled. It was our bus that was waiting in the dining room, and not the one that would arrive faster. Friendly driver drove us all day carefully. Tourists are treated with respect everywhere. Regarding the paid entrance to the church, I will say: - this is a minus. And here everyone decides for himself: is it worth paying $8 for a miracle or not? You can wait nearby in an alley in a cozy cafe - chantan with all the amenities, which some of them took advantage of. And in general, there were no dissatisfied.
I will tell you about two more excursions, which are better to go if you are relaxing in the direction of Alanya. These are "Jeep - safari" and "Eastern night". The first was "Jeep - safari" ($40). Start traditionally at 9 am. An open top jeep picked me up from the hotel. There were already six people in the back. Moved west. The ride was not tiring. Excellent highway. Not a single hole, pothole, not even a patch. On the way, another jeep joined us. We went to the gas station. Ba! VAZ "ten"! I checked: is it not "Bogdan"? No... The numbers are "theirs". How does she live here alone in a foreign land? Marvelous. Before reaching the city of Manavgat, we enter the karting track. We are waiting for the rest of the jeeps. There were those who wanted to drive on the cards. Rate: $10 for 10 minutes. Personally, it didn't suit me. On the proposal to reduce the race for me to 3 minutes ($ 3), the manager of the karting track refused without explaining the reasons. Very much like ours. I regret that I did not find out the name of the soulless person. Two more cars with people approached. The safari has begun. We drove along a dirt road over rough terrain towards the Taurus Mountains. There were small villages and individual houses. Winding serpentines gave way to steep hills. On the descent from the slides, the operator from the team filmed the emotions of the passengers on video. The youth were delighted. I also liked the extreme. A sort of rodeo rally. The driver of our Land Rover was tacitly recognized as the best ace. I asked the ace about engine power. He replied that he did not remember, and, holding out his hand, introduced himself: - Yusup! - OOO! So glad! My grandfather's name was also Yusup.
Along the way, we made stops at picturesque places. The guide, he is also the inspirer of everything, Roma (as he called himself) spoke interestingly on the topic. Gradually descended into the valley to a reservoir with winding banks. It turned out - this is a secondary reservoir from the discharge of the hydroelectric dam. Due to dissolved minerals, the water here has a special blue color. White trout are grown in special cages. There is also a cafe on the beach. Dinner is already being prepared for us. I ordered with fish. Those who wished could fish with spinning from the platform or go canoeing, just swim. The Germans who had arrived before us were about to leave. Three Mercedes buses from different eras, like in a museum, stood in a row. Someone got a place in the most modern. The rest were less fortunate.
It's time for dinner. The guide with the drivers set the tables. Lunch is delicious. Now you can continue the tour. Then there is an even steeper serpentine to the upper platform of the hydroelectric power station. A very high dam covers the gorge of the mountains. The main reservoir stretches along the gorge of the so-called Grand Canyon. The panorama that opened up was breathtaking. We took pictures and back. Along the same road. Extreme was already less. Tired. On the highway for the first time I saw the police with radar. Yusup took me to the hotel before dark. It's not too late to run to the sea.
The next day was the excursion "Eastern Night". The night started at 7pm. We drove for about 15-20 minutes. The place is called Karavan - Saray and includes a building that looks like a fortress. They said that the building is from the time of camel caravans. Now here is a restaurant for tourists. Buffet style plus bottled wine.
In the middle of the room is an elevated stage. The subsequent act is a well-staged concerto in two parts. In the first part, belly dancing in female and male performance. The image of the performer is classic. Bare shoulders and belly, narrow waist and full hips in a tiered maxi skirt. A colorful Turkish woman with burning eyes, of course, liked the public, especially men. Those wishing to make her a duet were invited. I was also on the stage… And, the performer who replaced her surprised me a bit. I expected to see a type of stripper, like Natasha's Tarzan. It turned out to be quite a slender guy without tangible biceps, triceps. In some kind of split silver cape with vertical flaps, and with quite decent, as it seemed to me, body movements, he, however, managed to turn on the female half of the audience. There was an ovation that turned into a squeal. In the surrounding ether, the fluids of erotic excitement were almost physically felt. However, I believe that wine also played a role here. After a break, in the second part, the ensemble performed Turkish and Caucasian dances. Very incendiary. The performers themselves went into a rage to the incessant applause of the audience. It was such a blast!
The "night" ended late in the evening. The impressed sightseers were taken to their hotels. I don't think they will soon forget what they saw.
Everything was interesting to me in Turkey. Other culture. Another way of life. Obvious things seem to be perceived differently here. And we must pay tribute to the Turks. Their efforts were not in vain. The Russians again and again come here to rest. For example, I am here for the second time, and now it is time to return home. Sad! Again, goodbye Turkey! No! Goodbye Turkey!
Ramilen Ikeev
October 2012
