I am back from a very busy and exciting three days in Antayla, Turkey!!!
The first day we were here my friends and I just wanted to explore and do some shopping. Antayla is a very touristy town, but there is an old market where you can buy tea, turkish delights, and other fun stuff. So the four of us had a very successful shopping day. I had to hold back buying too many things because every time I walked by a new shop I saw a bag or scarf that was just gorgeous!! But I stayed strong and only bought a few things!!! The hospitality in Turkey is pretty amazing. I went to one shop and bought a postcard and turkish delights and the man kept offering me tea. At first I thought he wanted me to pay for it, but he explained it is a way of welcoming people to the country. So he made some really good apple, beery and pomegranate tea for us! It was SUPER hot but it was fantastic! After that I had a very interesting experience of going to a Turkish bath. I won't go into great detail, but basically you go into a very steamy hot room and sweat like crazy while this woman soaks you in freezing cold water. There was also the choice of getting a scrub down and massage, but since I had recently gotten some serious sunburn I decided against it. My two friends did get the whole package and they said it was wonderful, but my roommate Julia and I were pretty content with the bath.
On the second day in Antayla I went on a Field Program organized by SAS. We went to an island about 2 hours away from out ship called Kekova. It was absolutely stunning! We were able to go hiking to the ruins of an old castle and the view on top of the hill was breathtaking. I did not want to leave it was so beautiful! We then took a boat to the middle of the water and did a little swimming. Once we returned to the dock we took the bus to Derma. Derma is the home of St. Nicholas……so in other words SANTA!!!! (See Rachel I told you he was real C: ) We got a tour of the ruins of the old church and were able to walk around the town. After that we went to Myra where there were ruins of an old roman theater! We were able to go inside and look at everything it was really cool! Then finally after a very long and fun day we made it back to the ship. A pretty good 4th of July if you ask me.
Today I went white water rafting at Serik. We took a 2 hour bus ride into the mountains. I found out that Turkey does not believe in guardrails on their roads so I was having a minor panic attack every time we turned (which was every 25 seconds). But we made it!! The rapids were pretty tame, but it was still a lot of fun. Our boat guide kept on throwing us into the freezing cold river water and every time we passed another boat we would have a splash war. Everyone seemed to have a great time.
Now I am back on the ship for good. We do not leave Turkey until tomorrow night, but all students have class tomorrow. We can get off but we cannot miss a class and since my classes are all throughout the day I can't really get off. I am not too bitter thought because I can use some time to rest because on Monday we will be in Crete!!!! My parents have been telling me that everyone has been telling them how much they enjoy reading my blogposts. It means a lot to me that so many people are interested in my trip!! Thanks for the continuous love and support!!
Tea!! From left to right is my roommate Julia, and my friends Emily and Sam.
Outside of the marina on the first day!
View from the top of the castle in Kekova!
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