Phaselis, Trying to find Kaleici (Antalya)
Trip Start
Jun 12, 2007
1
65
237
Trip End
Ongoing
Antalya, Turkey
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
I am sad to leave Cirali. Such a small, charming town. But excited to get on our way to the Antalya with a stop at Phaselis. Phaselis in an ancient ruins that is position on the beach so you can swim next to (and over) ruins. It's a charming place for a swim but nothing as beautiful as other beaches we have seen in other places so we looked at the ruins, took some pictures, ate icecream (becoming a daily activity), and moved on to Antalya. We were warned that the old city is very difficult to find and then even when you find it it's another challenge to find your hotel. We were told by very experienced Turkey travellers that it took them over 2 hours to find the old city and their hotel. So I took the initative to ask the hotel for directions (about a 1 hour drive) and here they are:
"If you come by car, come to Antalya city centre and ask some people how can you go 'kaleiçi'. When you find kaleiçi, if you ask 'where is the old oscar cinema' you will be near the our hotel...Our oll adress is: MEDITERRA ART HOTEL- Barbaros Mah.Zafer sok. No:5 KALEIÇI/ANTALYA. You can write this
adress and you can ask some taxi driver...We will wait yo, see you...
We knew we were in trouble with this one.
On our way we noticed no signs designating the old city so we decided to ask someone where it was and he told us he thought is was back the other direction. So we headed back the opposite direction about 5 minutes and stopped at the most famous restaurant in all of Turkey, McDonalds. At this fine establishment, we asked how to get to Kaleici and they pointed to a hotel and said turn there. We did that and then actually saw a sign to Kaleici and followed it to a road that was blocked and note letting cars through. So we drove all the way around and saw another sign to the city. We followed it and were amazed we found the old city so quickly. The 2nd part of our challenge was to find the hotel. We were told that it was next to a theater (which we couldnt find) so we once again asked for directions. They pointed down a narrow street (obviously designed before cars) and it turned out that the hotel was about 15 feet from where we asked directions!!! Amazing! We checked into our hotel which is 5 months new and love it. Check it out at www.mediterraarthotel.com/
For Pictures copy and paste link into web address bar:
http://www.flickr.com/gp/9114022@N06/s6e367
