Antalya

After a long day of traveling from Izmir, we get our first glimpse of Antalya with peaks of the  Beydağları mountains in the background.



As soon as we get our room keys we rush to the rooms and check out the scenery from the balconies.



The view from the hotel balcony, sunset over Gulf of  Antalya  with the Beydağları mountains in the background.



After a restful night's sleep, we awake to a sailing ship passing by the hotel and a view of the Beydağları mountains in the background.



View of the pool area from our balcony.



With a full day at leisure, our first order of business (after breakfast) was to check out the swimming.



The hotel has several swimming pools and access to the clear blue water of the Mediterranean. Our hotel doesn't have a sandy beach. It does have a swimming area built into the rock cliffs and it is accessed by an elevator (the squire in the right of the photo) from the pool area.



Mary and Bet enjoying the warm, clear Mediterranean water.



Several pleasure boats pass the swimming area.



Time to explore the neighborhood. A view of Antalya from the hotel. The rainbow colored bulls-eye is the roof of the hotel's entrance.



Our hotel and its tennis courts (both clay and grass).



Highrise housing in Antalya.



One of the many parks that surround the housing units.



After two nights in Antalya we are back on the motor coach heading for Cappadocia.



As we travel northward we pass several  campsites of migrant farm workers that follow the crop harvesting.



It doesn't take too much time after leaving the Mediterranean coast and we are back in the mountains.



One of the many villages clinging to the hill sides.



We are now in the highest sections of the Toros (Taurus) Mountains.



Our driver and his view of the mountain road.



Time for a lunch break at a rest area. This rest area also featured a woman preparing gözleme, traditional Turkish flat bread. The bread dough is rolled out, filled with spinach and feta cheese, sealed, then cooked over a griddle.The whole process, including baking, only took minutes and was delicious.



Video of making gözleme.

Dried fruit for sale.



All types of nuts for sale.



After our lunch break we are back on the road and enter the Anatolian Plateau. This region of the Anatolian Plateau is a major producer of sugar beets.



Homes in the city of Konya. Konya is the seventh most populous city in Turkey with a population close to 1.1 million and was a major city along the ancient "Silk Road".



We are traveling along the  "Silk Road" between Konya and Aksaray where we stop at a caravanserai (kervansaray) located in the town of Sultanhani.



The caravanserais were used by the Silk Road caravans as a fortified stopping place where the buildings provided accommodation and other amenities for the merchants and stabling for their animals.The caravanserais were located about 20 miles apart (one day's travel) along the Silk Road.









A rug shop in Sultanhani.



A small park in Sultanhani with busts of former rulers of the area.





Traveling on Silk Road.



This area of the Anatolian Plateau is very flat and with modern irrigation it has become very productive farm land.



Truckloads of sugar beets.



A sugar beet processing plant.



After a long day on the Silk Road we arrive at our hotel in Nevşehir.

Pamukkale

After spending a couple of nights in Izmir we travel up into the mountains of Turkey's Inner Aegean region and head to Pamukkale en route to Antalya.



As we travel through the interior region of Turkey we pass several large towns with newly constructed housing.



Even the modern towns of interior Turkey still have signs of the traditional lifestyle, such as a horse and wagon mixed in with car traffic.



As we near Pamukkale we travel through small rural farming towns.



The area around Pamukkale is a major cotton producing region where the trucks and tractors seem to outnumber cars.



Getting close to Pamukkale.



As we head to the north entrance of Pamukkale we get our first look of the 1.5 mile long limestone wall created by deposits of calcium carbonate from the hot springs. Pamukkale, meaning "cotton castle" in Turkish, gets its name from the white calcium deposits.



The hot springs were thought to have healing powers which lead to the building of temples and other religious buildings at Hierapolis, which means “Holy City”. Pamukkale and Hierapolis are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.



The ruins of the baths, temples and other Greek monuments can be seen at the site.



Panoramic view, click on image to enlarge.





Panoramic view, click on image to enlarge.





You never know what you'll find in the ancient ruins ...



An example of why the ancient Greeks and Romans came to this site.



The ancient Roman Baths have been replaced with a modern hot spring pool which is still enjoyed by visitors.





Warm, heavily mineralized water flowing from springs travels to the hillside terraces where the supersaturated calcium carbonate in the water is deposited and forms the limestone wall.





Panoramic view, click on image to enlarge.



Panoramic view, click on image to enlarge.



People have bathed in these terraced pools for thousands of years and visitors are allow to enter the pools, but wearing shoes in the water is prohibited to protect the deposits.



Large mass plantings of flowers are everywhere ...



and hummingbird moths are abundant (but hard to photograph).



After leaving Pamukkale we pass through the traffic circle of the city of Denizli (a very nice web site). A rooster is the symbol of the city of Denizli and is one of the three statues in the traffic circle park.



We continue through downtown Denizli on our route to Antalya.



More mountains as we travel south from the interior of Turkey to the coast.



We stop at a rest area and see an example of a traditional herder's tent made from the wool of a black goat.



Black goats grazing along the highway.



Sheep being transported by a modern herder.