No early morning balloon activities today. A leisurely start with a departure time of 09:30, destination Konya.
Almost as soon as we’d left Cappadocia the landscape changed. The rock formations were replaced with flat farmland or low rolling hills for as far as the eye could see.
Our guide Elif kept us occupied with information about Konya and music. Konya is the home of Safism and the Whirling Dervishes, and is also very conservative part of Türkiye.
Five hours later we’d had lunch, a local specialty Etliekmek, a topped bread, similar to pizza, that is about 3 inches wide and 3 feet long!
From the restaurant we walked to our hotel and settled into our room. We decided to take a walk around the local bazaar that was just over the road. This bazaar is where people come to buy wedding outfits and gold jewellery. There were some statement outfits on display!
We popped back to our room for a pit stop before heading to the Mevlana türbesi, a museum about the history and lifestyle of the Mevlevi Order, an Islamic religious order that practices Sufism, founded by the Iranian philosopher Rumi.
One of the methods of devotion and prayer of Mevlevs is “whirling”, they are the Whirling Dervishes. Konya is the main centre of this philosophy.
In the museum we saw a range of historic Qur’an, one was from the 9th century, written on gazelle skin, and another created almost as an accordian in a small box. Amazing works of art.
After having dinner we walked to the cultural centre to attend a Sufi “Sema” ceremony.
It was fascinating. They did provide English language text explaining what was happening and why, however we both thought we might benefit from having someone explain it all to us play-by-play. In a nutshell there were four parts or sema, each had men spinning, each serves a slightly different purpose. It finished with some verses from the Qur’an. The music and voice accompaniments were almost hypnotic as well. A REALLY interesting thing to watch.
We walked back to the hotel, escorting our tour guide to hers which was a couple of blocks away from ours tonight. We browsed some shops on our way home.
Today we had a change of location and scenery. We left Konya and headed to Antalya on the Mediterranean coast. We were warned to expect more heat but with humidity added as an extra bonus. After many days of dry heat it may or may not be a welcome change.
We passed lakes, sunflower fields, wild boar warning signs and vineyards.
After a few stops we arrived at Antalya on the Mediterranean coast. It was hot and humidity was high. The temperature was 33° but had a “feels like” of 44°.
Because our hotel is in the old town we had to abandon the bus and walk.
Hadrian’s Gate (same guy the wall is named after) was our entry point into the old town; it’s almost 2000 years old.
Lunch was scenic and tasty but fans just weren’t helping anyone to stay cool.
We headed to the hotel, made use of the pool, read, relaxed and stayed away from the heat. Yummy pizza for dinner, Koş awaits tomorrow.
This morning we drove to Kaş, arriving in time for lunch. After checking in to our hotel we walked into town and went to a beach club.
These things get seriously expensive, like $40+ to access the beach. You do get a beach lounger for the price usually. The one we went to was free, as long as we had a drink. That was no hardship at all.
We can see a Greek Island from Kaş. It’s a long way from Greece. Apparently when the Ottoman Empire was broken up post WW1, Greece got the islands and Türkiye didn’t.
We changed and went for a swim in the turquoise water. It was lovely after several hot weeks with no pool or beach options! We jumped out, had a beer, and snack and then got back in.
When our loungers no longer had shade, we dressed and took a slow walk through town, back to our hotel, stopping for an icecream on the way.
After a shower and a beer in our room, we met the group and walked to dinner.
After dinner we wandered the shops on our way back up the hill to our hotel.
What an amazing day.
We left the hotel in Kaş and drove to Kekova to board a traditional Turkish Gulet.
Our boat took us past the sunken city of Kekova where you can see walls and steps under the water.
The city sunk as a result of an earthquake several thousand years ago.
We were looking at the city parts in turquoise water, dying to jump in, but swimming is prohibited in that area.
Our boat moved on and anchored in a cove not long later.
We did not need to be told, we jumped into that crystal clear, turquoise water. The salt levels were quite high so we could sit in the water without paddling or treading, with no effort at all. It was lovely.
After a swim and some time sitting in the water chatting with the group we headed back to the boat for a turkish coffee, a coke and a beer. In that order.
As we were enjoying our beverages several other boats arrived, and stopped near the edge of the cove.
Then it was time for another swim.
Whilst we were swimming this time, lunch was being barbecued and cooked on the boat. It was ready when we climbed aboard.
It was so fresh and delicious.
After we’d finished eating, our skipper moved the boat to another cove.
This one had tall cliffs either side and had areas of much cooler water. It also felt less salty/buoyant. Our skipper told us the cove is fed by a spring, which explains what we’d noticed. We were the only boat in the cove for almost the whole time we were there.
Then it was time for siesta,
followed a cup of apple tea, then by another swim a little later. The water now was about 50% warm water and 50% cold water. You just kept moving from one temp to the other. It was the strangest thing. At times one arm was in warm water and the other was in cold!
Finally it was time to head back to shore and we joined the line of boats heading to the marina.
It was a beautiful salty, sunny day. We’ll remember the turquoise waters for a long time.
An Unplanned Year 
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