Nov 5 - Check out of the hotel and down to the metro stop. Antalya has a great public transport system, with several tram/metro lines that converge in downtown. Payment is either by ‘antalyakart’, a disposable card that you can load up, or simply by passing your credit card over the reader at the gate. This is even more simple than the system in Istanbul.
When I bought our bus tickets for today (upon arrival in the city), the vendor’s printer didn’t work and he took photos of his computer screen to give me a record of our bus and seat numbers. I go back to that office at the otogar now, just to confirm that I can actually use the photos on my phone to board. All good, so we get on the bus. It is a minibus so there isn’t a lot of space. The route takes us along the coast, with numerous stops on exit ramps to pick up passengers.
Into Alanya otogar after 2.5 hours. Take care of our next tickets now (for Nov. 8), just to get the job out of the way. The station is much smaller than all the previous ones we’ve passed through. Alanya looks extensive on the map, but it feels like a small holiday town when we walk down the main street to our hotel. Unlike Antalya, the mountains rise straight up to the north of the city.
To Odette’s delight, the hotel has a small swimming pool. The reception says “yes, but its very cold.” It is well past summer season and the streets are quiet. There are still plenty of families on holiday, walking along the paths that follow the beach, pushing strollers. Many of them, it seems over 80%, are speaking Russian.
The wifi is good, so do some work. Also have a washing machine, so take care of that as well.
Türkiye III