Debs slept better last night and she appears to have turned the corner as far as her cold goes. Nevertheless she didn't really feel up to a long walk.
After a hearty breakfast Rob, Silvia and I got ready to go for a walk, while Debs got ready for an afternoon of rest and recovery.
Heading into the hills we quickly left the modernity of the town with its apartments and hotels behind. Before too long we were in the heart of rural Turkey where every bit of land is either used for grazing animals or to grow crops. In this area the main crop appears to be bananas. Rob informs me that they are only grown in this part of Turkey, presumably because the climate is good enough to sustain them. I hadn't thought of Turkey as a banana growing country and I certainly don't remember seeing any produce of Turkey stickers on any bananas that I have bought in England. Apparently most of them are sent to Istanbul; what happens to them after that is a mystery.
The scenery in the hills was very beautiful, aided no end by the fact that the sun was shining brightly. Hopefully there has been a change in the weather and we will have a few days of pleasant cycling conditions ahead of us.
Reaching a high point we had a terrific view of Turkey's south coast, including the nearby town of Alanya and its castle. Having reached our halfway point, we stopped for a çay and got to try a fruit which could only be described as a not particularly nice small melon.
As we walked back down towards the town, it's possible to see the scale of building that is still going on along the coast. This seems in slight contradiction to the tales of foreigners selling up and going home because of the recession that we keep hearing. Even up in the hills there seemed to be quite a few villas and holiday homes being built. A large amount of them appear to be empty or unfinished; either the builders have run out of money or they are just hoping the market will pick up. It certainly seems like the rate of growth in Turkey at least has not slowed down.
Back at the apartment I checked on Debs and she seemed a lot better for the rest. The walk would definitely have been too much for her.
Once again Silvia cooked us a lovely dinner and we had an entertaining evening hearing the story of how they met. After a tiring day for me and a restful one for Debs we headed to bed for some well needed sleep. The weather looks like it will be good for our continued trip along the coast.
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