ANTALYA EXPEDITION
11.15.2013
The week went by very quickly. After a day in Foca and another in Kusadasi where our family summer houses are, I head to Antalya, the tourism capital of the country. I like going to Antalya to visit its smaller towns like Kemer, Side during the low season. Even these small towns turn into commercial, tremendously crowded places in the high season that leaves no room for breathing to one like me, who enjoys spending time with locals, chatting with them to learn their life stories, and truly learning a place. These people, who are too busy to make the most off of tourists, become more mellow, more friendly and open to outsiders to really connect with them late in the fall and winter.
Fisherman displaying his fish along the promenada in Foca (Phokai)
In the summer, on the other hand, the 5-star hotels and holiday villages that form an ugly wall (to me) between the city and the sea employ all the locals either as owners or paid-hands, who are all too busy with chores, groups of visitors in a fully commercial world. Then, it is impossible to connect with anybody, it is not possible to see the hospitable face of Turkish people. To tell you the truth, if I end up going to Antalya in the summer, I feel like a chicken, with every store, hotel, enterprise waiting to pluck my feathers one by one.
Each small hotel in Foca has as small a "pier" allowing access to the beautiful Aegean
Every time I happen to be in one of the hotels lining the entire Antalya downtown coastal line, I crave to be back on the Aegean, where these hotels are a rarity (still ugly, perhaps uglier than in Antalya), moderated by many many small boutique hotels and guest houses, that are much more personable, no doubt. And part of this perception is related to who visits these 5-star monstrosities in Antalya versus the numerous small villages along the Aegean coasts. These hotels offer three meals and a variety of entertainment packages and try to lock you in as if you are on a cruise ship (another thing, I highly doubt I would ever consider). I like colorful people full of curiosity, intellect, sense of adventure, who are able to think out of the box. I must say most of the people I bump into at these hotels when I am assigned, occasionally, when I have to lecture at a conference, are very very pale in color....
On the city boat to Karsiyaka in Izmir
That is why, I probably will never get on a cruise ship, a tour to visit India, stay at a 5-star hotel on my own accord, but will plan my own travel in a way to reach out to locals as much as possible, will stay in places close to the real people, eat at places where locals frequent, make my own plans on what to see, what to experience, what to buy what to take back with me (and most will be memories and friendships) and what not from the lands I visit. That is why you will come across me along the Aegean much more frequently than around Antalya.
However, I have a dear friend from Iowa City visiting Antalya during a conference he has to attend. Although, I am not a native of Antalya, either, and Antalya has clearly changed tremendously since the last time I have been here some 10 years ago with its sprawling legs and arms in all directions, I still am a bit more knowledgeable about what has been unique in this city at least historically. I am looking forward to exploring the city with him to discover what has changed and what has continued anchoring this some 3000 plus year old city. We were scheduled to rent a car at the airport and drive ourselves to our hotel since we arranged to arrive in Antalya pretty much around the same time. I have printed out all the details of the route since our hotel is in the old town, Kaleici (meaning inside the fortress), which consists of a maze of very narrow alley-like cobble stoned streets (the latter we will discover once we get there). Alas, my flight is 3 hours delayed and he decides to take a taxi cab to the hotel and I will follow him the same way when I get to the airport. When, I get to the hotel I will take a deep breath that we didn't have to drive into this maze the very first night, it would have been close to impossible to find the place, really.
Hotel Tuvana is just behind the fortress walls
As I walk through our hotel, Tuvana, I am amazed, just as I will find out my friend to be in a little bit. It sprawls into a full block in this lovely, well-cared for maze. It consists of several small buildings some 300 years old built during the Ottoman Empire that were used as the mansions of the elite. They are irregularly situated around a courtyard, which is used as the open-air restaurant adjacent to the very elegant restaurant "Serazer", one of the best restaurants in town, we will learn later specializing in French cuisine (not my thing in Turkey, really!). My dear friend Ali from high school arranged this hotel for us. Its charming manager Nermin, who is a family friend of Ali has not left knowing that my flight was delayed (how sweet). As my luggage is being wheeled through the courtyard into the building where our room will be, Nermin appears with a very personable and warm smile and gives me a hug as if I am her friend also: That’s how things go in Turkey; if one of your friend tells you their friend needs help, their friend becomes your friend instantaneously and, you are expected to take care of them as if this stranger has been your friend all along! When it is your turn needing help, you get the same treatment of course. Along these lines, Nermin and I will become friends over the next few days of our stay at Tuvana. Right behind Nermin, towers my friend and surely, he is well taken care of by Nermin, who also personally met him a while ago. I join him to share his salad along with a glass of wonderful Turkish wine around an outdoors fireplace.
Part of the maze in Kaleici leading to Hotel Tuvana
Nowadays Turkish wine producers are producing very good quality wine, some of which are Okuzgozu, Karecik karasi, etc. My friend makes arrangements so that the rental car is brought to our hotel the next day, rather than taking a taxi back to the airport to pick up our car. It turns out to be a very good plan, I would have never thought of, his extensive travel experience turns out to be quite a problem solver for both of us. The next morning, we have a leisurely breakfast in a different outdoors setting beneath the courtyard furnished in Ottoman style. We are now ready to begin our expedition. Before we head toward Termessos, dear Nermin prepares a map of directions for us with her own hand, color-coded, one way roads, overpasses and underpasses all marked, clearly a fool-proof guide. How sweet, I think, one more time. You can never get this at a 5-star hotel despite all the civility and politeness. This warmth and care can never be replaced with any commercial caretaking. That is why, I prefer staying at places like Tuvana, rather than a 5-star hotel, wherever I go and I think it will stay that way for quite some time if not forever.
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| Street boy selling gevrek (Turkish bagel with sesame seeds) off of a wooden tray |
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