Escape to Antalya

It took me almost three months to travel out of Istanbul.

I didn’t mean for it to take so long. I moved here fully intending to travel all over the country. Maybe visit a different city every other weekend. Maybe a few trips out of the country every once in a while to shake things up.

But life got in the way. I made friends and we spent weekends going on small adventures, from nearly getting shot in Moda to exploring the ruins of Rumeli Feneri. I started working, and weekends became celebrated rest times. I partied in Taksim and danced to Balkan bands and stayed up far too late.

And then it was April and I hadn’t been out of the city at all.

Whoops.

Luckily, my family was coming to Turkey, which provided the perfect excuse to get the heck out of Istanbul… and go to warm, sparkling, heavenly Antalya.

Perhaps you’ve heard of it. Antalya is the most popular beach destination in Turkey; probably the most popular destination in the country, period, outside of Istanbul. Every summer, visitors from Germany, England, Israel, Russia, and beyond fly in for a perfect beach vacation on the Mediterranean. Most of these visitors are transported directly from the airport to their seaside hotel or resort, and spend their vacation in beachy bliss.

We do things a little differently in my family. While our Antalya weekend was certainly planned to be the restful part of my family’s trip, we aren’t really beach-loungers. “Restful,” for us, means spending only half the day walking, instead of the whole day.

We decided to stay in a sweet little place called La Paloma Hotel in Antalya’s old city. It had a pool—a tiny, freezing pool, but still! A pool! With the Antalya air like pure summer, that neon chlorine blue was a welcome sight. The old city was a perfect place for us to stay– romantically reminiscent of Sevilla, quaint, and quiet. We were there in late April, right before the first tourist crush of the season, which meant that our neighborhood within the old city walls was nearly empty.

Nearly.

Antalya is right on the Mediterranean, and the city is surrounded by massive, snow-capped blue mountains. We knew it would be beautiful, but I don’t think we were quite prepared for how breathtaking that natural beauty would be.

After three months of wandering in Istanbul’s nearly park-free and crazy crowded side streets, the comparative peacefulness and gorgeous nature left me elated.

Of course, we still went to the beach—we spent a day lounging on Lara Beach, a sandy stretch of sunshine.

We explored nature, too—we elected to take a half-day trip to the Duden Waterfalls, half-hour bus ride from our hotel. Though Duden was not Plitvice (and really, nothing is quite like Plitvice), it was still an invigorating change of scenery.

The waterfalls were beautiful, the air was fresh, and the park was small but not overly touristed.

And then we spent the rest of the day swimming in the pool.

I mean, I was on VACATION, after all!