Labour day in Antalya

1st of May on the Beach ..

You guys how amazing is Antalya ?!

For those who still didn't get a chance to read my stories currently i am doing my Internship in Elazig , which is in South Eastern Turkey . I know i have in my profile that i am in Istanbul , that's just because you cannot choose Elazig , i hope they will fix it soon.

So being in Elazig for internship for 8 months it can be quite boring sometimes , i mean Elazig is nice city and all but me as being such a traveler i always want to escape reality and just visit new places.

I booked my trip to Alanya 3 months before the actual date just because before touristic season is starting you can get super promotions in hotels and everything. So we did that , i reserved i guess in february from 1 May until 8 May.

From Elazig to Alanya you cannot find flight or something that can be simplified, i mean eighter you get the Elazig -Antalya flight with conection in Istanbul or you choose my choice , le bus, which is a hell of a ride , meaning 16hours bus drive.

16 hours it may be a challenge if you are not used to long roads in small seats. But always doing the Trabzon -Elazig road and viceversa i was used to it. So we got bus tickets from Tuncelliller Company , it was 70 tl per person /one road.

11:30 am until 4 am was the bus ride , after we arrived in Alanya . Thank God our hotel was so close to the Otogar. Just around the corner . So we did check in after we arrived , the front desk guy was cool enough to receive us , even if we had reservation the next day after 12pm.

We booked an apartment , because all the time when we go somewhere we get a double room with not enought space . So we got this amazing apartment with 1 bedroom , 2 balconies , kitchen , bathroom and living .

The hotel name is ''Belle Ocean'' in Alanya , and price for 7 nights was 100 euros , yes you heard good , so cheap because when we booked it 3 months ago they had 70% disscount , so we got a good deal.

And i'm telling you the apartment was so nice , it passed my expectations . I said from now on i will just booked apartment whenever i go somewhere. Was so comfy to have enough space to move around and be yourself.

1st Day..

After sleeping maybe 5 hours not more than that , first thing i did i went in my balcony to check out the vew. Omg !! the view was crazy , the sea was right in front of me and the colour made me so happy.

the view from our room

I did get the feeling that i am in Thailand or somewhere , i swear you guys , super impressive i was about Alanya .

Alanya as a city is situated in Antalya Province around 150km from Antalya. It's a half milion city population with economy based only at tourism. A lot of foreign people , most of them british as i saw.

So we got dressed and went outside to get some breakfast. We entered first restarurant near our hotel and got an amazing breakfast , self catering which was nice. It was 15tl per person , all you can eat .

The weather was so hot from the morning , we decided first to go to Migros supermarket so we can get food for the whole week. I mean yeah is nice in the evening to go have dinner outside but when you are on a student budget you go to Migros :)). If you know what i mean .

After quick shopping the weather was so nice and the sea was looking perfect to take a swim so we decided to take our swimmsuits and go to the beach . I mean i did came to Alanya to get some tan .

There were not so many tourists during this time so it was nice , basically the entire beach all for ourselves.

The sun was so powerfull at 4PM that after one hour i had to leave , i didn't wanted to get carbonized from the first day.

Kleopatra Beach

Quick run to Starbucks before we went back to hotel . Whoever knows me they do know i'm totally addicted tp Starbucks . So this one was right to my alee.

Dim Cave and Alanya Castle

During our 2nd day we decided to take a break from sitting all day in the beach and get to check some touristic sights.

What was super nice looking from the distance was this amazing Big Chinesse Wall lookalike on the top of the hill. I mean literally was looking like that . Alanya Castle with it's impressive long walls.

You do gotta take a 5 minutes car ride until up on the hill. Is not fun walking trust me.

To enter inside the castle is 10tl but there is no point , nothing to see inside to just admire from outside is best option. The view from there is breathtaking literally. The amazing Meditaranian sea is just wow.

The Dim Cave is super close to the Castle , entree fee was 3 tl for students. Good price i think. Inside is not big , rather small but very impressive . It was worth it.

Pirate Ship Ride

All around Alanya you will find people wanted to sell you trips , from boat rides to extreme sports, horse riding, Atv riding, Aspendos and many more.

So of course we had a lot of time so we said why not let's book some trips.

3rd day we booked a boat trip on an amazing Pirate ship . Price was 95tl for 2 persons. Very Important allways negociate the prices , because for foreigners is diferent price form turkish people. So thank God my boyfriend is turkish and he got us a good price.

The boat tour was from 10 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon. They pick us up from our hotel and also took us back. Free lunch was included in this price.

We get to visit some caves, take a closer look at Alanya Castle and Harbour and we went looking for dolphins and turtles . Nope we didn't see but the ride was just perfect.

There were a bunch of people also with us , from Lithuania , Finland etc. We also got a chance to get some sun so i totally recommend this tour.

Side, Aspendos and Green Canion

On our 5th day we booked another trip to Aspendos, Side and the Green Canion .

After as well they picked us up from hotel at 8:30 am we went on our first stop which was an hour away . Side as the city name , is a small city with some ancient sights, The temple of Apollo and an old library .

temple of Apollo

Amazing , i did get impressed by this ruins.

Next stop was Aspendos , around 40 minutes from Side .

It is the best preserved roman theater in Turkey . It is big but not enormes. Entree fee is 25 tl for person , no student disscount. Aa and for Side there is no entree fee. But if you are an erasmus student in Turkey you can eighter make at the entree or your university can make it for you the museum card for students which gives you free entrance for all museums and some other places during one year.

Price of this museum card is 20tl. So i did that card .

Aspendos was impressive , they just let us 40 minutes to spend there , because yeah we were on a time schedule. We took some pics , hang around and went to the next destination.

After the lunch which was included in the price of the tour we went to see this amazing waterfall in the so called green canyon. The tour it was 120tl for both of us . Of course we negociated like real turkish people. Usually they sell this tours about 50 euros per person.

It was from 8:45am until 5 in the afternoon.

The waterfall in the green canyon was not as tall as i taught lol, actually was not impressive in heights but in size. It was around 10 metres from one side to another , and indeed the water and surroundings were so green , super nice.

Overall our trip to Alanya was amazing , we did had a blast . We did not spend so much time catching sun just because there were 3 rainy days. But we did got a chance to travel and visit nice places.

Few tips:

Until September there is in Antalya the Expo 2016 so if you got a chance do go .

Always negociate the price , in shops , in restaurants and when booking tours.

The prices in restaurants may be a little pricy but you can always find supermarkets like Migros or Carrefour.

Is better to have a bite in the city center rather near the beach , many options and prices cheaper.

Everybody speaks english there , also russian so no need to worry.

Other places to visit in Alanya :

The Archaelogical Museum , entree fee is 5tl per person . If you have the museum card is free. Not so many impressive things inside but it can pass the time.

The Harbour , see all those amazing pirate ships.

the harbour

Kleopatra Beach is a public beach and the most long one in Alanya .

Kleopatra Beach

So long my friends, until next post

Xoxo ,

Latisha