We woke this morning to the sad news that Debbie's uncle (and my old neighbour) Gerry had passed away. We had visited him shortly before leaving on our trip and despite being in ill-health, he had been genuinely interested and excited about our journey. He was a lovely man and will be sorely missed.
In a slightly sombre mood, we left Kemer behind and began the journey towards Antalya. With the sun shining and the road comparatively flat we rolled along at a reasonable pace. The only thing to slow us down was a reasonably strong wind, but that was only really a problem on the few exposed sections of the coast road.
We passed the camp-site that we had considered staying at early in the day and decided to continue on to Antalya. The weather although sunny, had been made colder by the wind and camping on a beach didn't seem like the good option that it had yesterday.
For once local knowledge and our map were correct, when we passed through two tunnels along the way. Neither were very long, but despite saving us a long climb, they aren't the best things to cycle through. Especially as Debs was nearly ran off the road by a lorry that had clearly taken the no overtaking signs literally! It is worth noting that the standard of driving seems to have taken a turn for the worse in Southern Turkey. Clearly our bikes aren't wide enough with all there luggage, to be seen by the average motorist!
Riding into Antalya we passed a park with some fantastic statues, all movie based and we stopped to have a look. This nicely broke up what had been a long ride through the city.
Following what the locals did, we rode along the tram lines, which is slightly nerve racking when you have no idea when a tram is about to loom up in front of you! Fortunately they don't seem very regular and when one did appear we all just headed up onto the pavement until it passed.
For a city it had been remarkably straightforward and traffic-free to get to our destination. Arriving at the Kaleiçi (old city citadel area) we quickly located a potential guest-house and went to have a look at a room. 'Mond' guest-house had been recommended by Frank who we had met in Selçuk and turned out to be very nice. The rates are quite reasonable and we have a lovely big sunny room that I can stay in at a reduced rate while Debs goes home.
Antalya is as I remember it, from at least 10 years ago, a pleasant city. The Kaleiçi is full of narrow streets with charming old buildings and a plethora of bars, restaurants and shops. I should have no problem keeping myself amused for a few weeks.
We had a nice dinner in a restaurant, followed by a few beers talking to the very friendly owner. Then rounded the day off with a film and an early night.
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