A Day Off!

I actually got a day off work from Paul's Place yesterday March 21!  There are still some ladies here from the conference and we got together for a harbor tour.  First of all you have to get a simit, the sesame seed pastry that is sold everywhere.  It's really good and goes great with tea (cay).  They carry these trays all over town on their heads.

This is Diny and Johanna from The Netherlands and Bryony in between them.

The going price for the boat ride is around $35 per person if you are a tourist, but because we know Jim and Renata we got on board for $7!  It was a beautiful warm morning as we headed out for the 45 minute ride. 

This harbor is where the apostle Paul would have landed when he came through these parts.  To get up to what is called Kale ici (Old Town) you can climb a set of stairs that are called St. Paul's Steps.  Whether or not he walked on them that is what they are called and they are definitely ancient.  Here I am going up.

 After a respite back at Paul's Place Cafe which is in Kale ici Bryony and I headed to the Antalya Museum.  After the trip to Perge on Sunday I was told this museum is a must see and when I arrived it was quite clear why.  The two go hand in hand.  There is room after room of artifacts from Perge and room after room of marble statuary.  Here is just a small sample of what we saw.  It's really amazing how much has been uncovered.  Since the 1940's archaeologists have been painstakingly putting the pieces back together:

The centerpiece of this collection is Herakles pictured below.  For years the top half of this statue was in a museum in Boston and the bottom half here in Antalya.  In October of 2011 after years of research the two pieces were finally joined. 

Heading back to Kale ici we stop for pictures at one of the most beautiful entrances into the Old Town: Hadrian's Gate

The Old City (Kale ici) is very quaint cobblestone, narrow streets with old stone buildings.  Many are being renovated as tourism here is growing by leaps and bounds.  Antalya is like Florida in the states.  People from all over Europe come here on holiday for sunshine and warm temperatures which just arrived this week!  

Bryony is heading home tomorrow and I will miss her.  Though she lives in Germany with her husband Bernhard who is working here in Antalya at the moment, she is very British and if you begin to notice that my english is becoming quite proper you can attribute it to Bryony who I have spent a good deal of time with this last week and a half.  Uncle Bernhard and Aunt Bryony have been a great addition here.  They are very bright, entertaining and fun.

On Sunday we have a new conference group arriving.  They will be here for eight days and we have to serve them lunch and dinner every day.  It's going to be a long, hard week.

Until next time.....