Pipa Travels Turkey :)

First settlement at Bodrum was on little island where St Peter Castle is situated. According to father of the history Herodotus, the Dorians from Troezen named there island Zephyria and it is not sure when mainland Halicarnassus was been founded but it is talked about that in the 7th Century B.C. The Halicarnassus was the sixth cities in Dorian Confederation of the Hexapolis. Because Dorians were not first inhabitants of area that they need to defend the cities against Carians and they started to stay in peace after Greek opened tavern in Salmacis that is fountain said having relaxing properties. And according to mythological stories the Aphrodite’s son was been spending days swimming in lake of Salmacis water. Nymph of lake fell in worship with him and gods that are allowed them to stay together in single body thus they made half man and half woman figure in Hermaphrodite.

After 5th century BC the Halicarnassus became Ionian city. At 546 B.C. Persians conquered Ionian cities that includes Halicarnassus. One of most popular rulers of Persians was Artemisia in 480 B.C and her son Pysandalis have become ruler of Halicarnassus & islands around son was recognized to be very cruel ruler.

When Persia divided its region in satraps at 377 B.C. The King Mausolus have become ruler of Caria & Halicarnassus. The Mausolus was also aware of its benefits of surrounding area of a small city Halicarnassus hence then on the Mylasa became a capital that is called Milas these days and he also had very long walls that were built over Halicarnassus. He as well conquered six other cities over Halicarnassus. Antique Theatre is an only remaining of the Classical Age. It is the oldest at Anatolia that is still utilized for festivals. After death of Mausolus at 353 B.C. his sister, the Artemisia II have also come to throne just for 3 years and she continued the building of one of seven wonders of ancient world named Tomb of the King Mausolus. After earthquake it was then damaged whose remains St John in order to Knights of the St John in order to were utilized built a few parts of the castle.

Bodrum is called Turkish Saint Tropez – and city really does the name fairness! It is darling of jet set, with the international atmosphere & restaurants, hotels and amusement of highest calibre. Best thing about the Bodrum is it has got something for everybody – even visitors that are looking for calm and recreation.

In Bodrum there are lots of luxurious hotels, resorts and cozy pensions. The furnished villas are obtainable weekly and monthly. The Turkish Airlines has usual flights from all the capitals and main cities of world and fine network of the domestic flights. And having 3 Marinas that are best harbors of Turkish coasts for the yachts. Lots of experienced travel agencies give destination info, reservation as well as ticket sales, boat & car rentals. Full range of efficiently supervised escapade and incentive activities like Surfing, Scuba Diving, Boating, Trekking, Horse riding plus Jeep safaris. The well-organized tours present opportunities to visit Historical Sites and as well provide completely equipped yachts for the Blue Voyage. You may taste different famous cuisines here. You are offered best of Mexican, European, Italian, Chinese, Thai, Turkish cuisines plus sea-food from the simple meals to the gourmet feasts. Fast food, Cafes & Patisseries are obtainable over the town. The cool evenings are best time for the shopping.

The night life at Bodrum is as energetic and varied as you expect. Rock, Pop, Folk, Jazz, and Live music that will meet you all over the place till morning.

Maussollos’ mausoleum
One of seven wonders of ancient world, though there are extremely few people who understand what mausoleum actually looked like, and it is been assumed that Skopas, famous sculptor, was accountable for parts of building’s decorations and it was without any doubt extravagant. Now, visitors can just see remains of building’s walls. Ruins of old theatre are very close by.

Bodrum’s harbour is filled with Gülets, the traditional boats, which visitors utilize for short and long trips along beautiful coast. All these boats are comfy and have got big rear decks & good cabins. Trips differ from a day to quite a few days and captain is generally cook too. You can hire sailing boat and the crew for day will trip and take supposed bathing boat to beaches.

Bodrum is good beginning point for the journey all along Carian coast that gives panorama of the mythology and history, spectacular scenery that are outlined by the rocky coves, sandy beaches, and inlets. The Bodrum’s traveler season will get longer every year also it has reputation as most famous and undisputed traveler hotspot of coast and the Turkey in current years. In case you set out from the Gulluk for Bodrum, then you can see that slopes of gulf are been covered in the pine forest to water’s edge and giving out provocative, smelling odor.

Bodrum is situated at southwest list of Turkey, with peninsula, which covers the area of 649 km². Population of peninsula according to 2000 census, and is 106.168 total, 35.180 at Bodrum town.
The Bodrum has gained reputation as center of Turkish fine art community with the lively, welcoming and Bohemian ambiance and lots of small galleries. This society has encouraged the informal day time life style and night time of enthusiasm. Evenings in the Bodrum are sitting lazily in a many cafes, dining on the fresh seafood and some other Aegean fields. Afterwards the night clubs and excellent discos that will keep you going unless dawn. Lately, lots of foreigners have also bought property in & around the Bodrum for holidays and for retirement. It has also become popular area particularly for British nationals.

What to do?

One must experience nightlife in the discoteques & bars to actually feel irresistibly happy ambiance they make. However, putting nights sideways we can list what you will do at time of day. The day trips by boat are made from the Bodrum to Karaada and Black island, over Bodrum’s bay and to Bardakci, nice dirty beach. The Gumbet, 2km and from Bodrum is long sandy beach that are dotted with the motels & pensions. It is a center of the water cistem & windsurfing. Then comes Bitez, bay west of the Gumbet and the Adabogazi. You can as well take some day trips by the road to appealing nearby villages.

Karaincir, Bagla, Akyarlar are reached by the sea and Gumusluk, Turgutreis, bays by road. Remember to drop visit at Golkoy, Yalikavak, Turkbuku, Ciftlik and Mazi coasts.

Antalya is town situated on south coast of Turkey - and it lies at innermost point of Gulf of Antalya. Town itself is been built on limestone terrace that drops sharply in 75ft cliff under which is located old harbor.

Major tourist attraction at Antalya is beach of Konyaati that lies between town and high ridge of mountains to west. Adding to attraction of this broad sweeping beach is climate of this region – Antalya also enjoys sub-tropical climate and bathing season that lasts from April until end of October.

City of Antalya widens along bay bearing the name and is also built at about 39 meters height on rocky coastline. Land & sea everywhere meet beaches stretching for the miles or steep cliffs. Taurus mountains against blue backdrop of sky, precipices and particularly the caves very close to sea add other dimension to this beauty of region. Earth TV transmit camera is been installed at rooftop of Hillside SU Hotel in Antalya. Ancient and repeatedly recreated by the earthquakes, land is low lying all along coast, with high level of Anatolia and mountainous, in a few places, stripped down terrain in interior.

Plant life in Antalya is very varied. Every type of the tropical plant are found all along its coast. Visitors to the Antalya are hit by size attained by different class of cactus. When you attain foothills of Taurus, you can see they are enclosed in typical Mediterranean maquis, whereas forests are filled with thriving oaks & pine trees. Cotton and sesame farms and citrus & banana groves of plains have beauty of own.

In Antalya four seasons just appear in the calendar. Since there is not any real winter here, summers are very hot and rainless whereas other months are very warm and frequently rainy, with mean annual hotness 18.7 C On the average there is not any rain for about 309.5 days per year.

It is rare for temperature to get drop below zero. At time of last 40 years high recorded temperature was about 44.6 C In Antalya average humidity rate is of about 64%, whereas sea temperatures are around 17.6 C at January, 18.0 C April, 27.7 C August and 24.5 C September.

Antalya, Turkey’s main holiday resort in Mediterranean region, is the attractive city with the shady palm lined boulevards, prize winning marina on Mediterranean. In picturesque old quarter, the Kaleici, thin winding streets & old wooden houses are next to ancient city walls. Recently, lots of foreigners have bought property in & around Antalya for the holidays or for retirement. It has become popular area particularly for German and the Russian nationals.

City of Antalya widens along bay bearing the name, as well as is built at around 39 meters altitude on rocky coastline. And one is right away struck by Taurus Mountains that are rising to 3086 meters over this coastline, interspersed with valleys of different sizes. Land & sea everywhere meet beaches that are stretching for the miles or steep cliffs. Taurus mountains against blue backdrop of sky, precipices & especially caves close to sea add other dimension to beauty of region.

Small as well as large streams up-and-coming from west side of Taurus water plains on the journey to Mediterranean. This transparent running water, which are cascading in sea at points all along coast, is the other attractive sight.

Plant life is Antalya is very varied. Every type of tropical plant is found along its coast. The visitors to Antalya are hit by size attained by different class of cactus. While you reach foothills of Taurus, you can see they all are covered in classic Mediterranean maquis, whereas forests are filled with the thriving oaks and the pine trees. Cotton and sesame, banana and citrus groves of plains have beauty of their personal.

At Antalya four seasons just appear on calendar, since there is not any real winter here, hence much so that while in 1985 for first time at 60 years snow cut down, it was the front-page news.

Summers are very hot and rainless whereas other months are temperate and rainy, with mean yearly temperature of about 18.7 °C. On the average there is not any rain for about 309.5 days per year. It is rare for temperature to fall below zero. At last 40 years highest recorded high temperature was of 44.6 °C.

Coast of Alanya is very much famous for the natural wide beaches, some of that is awarded Blue Flag. Beaches here spread more than 60 kilometresand offer wide variety of watersports including scuba diving if you fancy discovering the underwater world of Alanya.

There are two main beaches in a city naturally separated in the eastern and the western part by 250 metre rock promontory. Western beach of the Alanya is called after the Queen Cleopatra in Egypt and eastern beach is just known as Eastern beach .

Cleopatra beach is also said as Alanya’s best and myth has that Cleopatra have bathed at a foot of cliff everyday. Sand is fine also there are not much rocks and stones, but water does get deeper more fast than that at eastern beach. About 3.5 km beach is as well known as the Damlatas beach due to cave on western side of peninsula that is discovered at 1948.

The eastern beach begins at Alanya peninsula and carries on for 40km east towards provincial town of the Gazipasa. Water does not deepen very quickly here, and making it child friendly than the Cleopatra beach.
The Incekum beach is talked about as the best beaches on south coast. And it has sand and crystal clear water that deepens extremely slowly and making it particularly recommended for the families with children.

Ulas beach is the best in area, located not far from the Ulas Park. Chairs, tables, barbeque grills as well as public toilets are given here and area is ideal for picnic when relaxing, swimming and enjoying life and this beach is frequented by locals.

Nightlife
Evenings are spent shopping until you drop, sampling local cuisine at many restaurants and dancing night away at the disco bars and nightclubs, most situated in harbour area, where some stay open unless 3-4am in morning.
Alanya is a centre of culture and art activities at any time, event can be going on where you will enjoy free. There might be film festival that are taking place at Alanya Culture Center, harp recital at Red Tower, display of paintings at Alanya Fortress or orchestral performance by harbour.

Alanya is beautiful holiday hub of the modern hotels & motels, many fish restaurants, cafes and bars. Cafes that ring harbor have now become very popular gathering location for the tourists. From town’s lovely park, road runs along coast to harbor, which is lined with the countless boutiques, which will tempt tourists with the handicrafts, clothes, leather, handbags, jewelry, and amusing painted gourds, symbol of area. At August, when Alanya will host colorful worldwide Folklore Festival atmosphere is been charged with energy and gaiety.

In case you enjoy discovering then you must visit Damlatas Cave to observe eerie misshapen rock creations. Nearby is Archaeology & Ethnography Museum, A boat may take you to three sea grottoes: the Fosforlu Magara with phosphorescent rocks, Kizlar Magarasi, where the pirates imprisoned female captives, and Asiklar Magarasi.

Antalya is city in Mediterrenean Region that is famous for the historical and the natural riches. During May and June, city is full of scent of natural perfume that is bestowed on by flora. City is an significant tourist center. On same day one may have opportunity to contribute in winter & summer sports? Since it is in different places in world, the regional products determine the Antalya cuisine.

Crops mostly grown are bananas, citrus, peanuts, sesame, cucumbers, soy beans tomatoes, zucchini, green beans, and egg plants. Also there are olive trees at Antalya. Because of hot climate, the vegetables and the fruits are leading in the Antalya cuisine.

This study on Antalya food was accomplished at 1982 by meeting ten women over age of fifty. Purpose of this research was to record food customs, traditions as well as food eaten in the ceremonies, which are about to vanish. Although majority of following findings are utilized, few of them are not been used due to changes in habits of the people, technological developments and some other related effects.

When intense sun overwhelms you, take day trip to Dim Cayi Valley, which is around 15 km east at Alanya, where you may relax in shade of the scenic valley as well as listen to stream rushing by. The Avsallar, about 25 km at Aianya to west, is holiday resort hub with sandy beaches.

Alanya is seaside resort city as well as district of the Antalya Province in Mediterranean Region of the Turkey, 120 km from city of Antalya. Municipal district that includes city center, which has 400,000 inhabitants and the population is about entirely of the Anatolian origin, however is home to 10,000 European inhabitants, with growing presence in a city and the economy. Alanya is beautiful vacation center of the modern hotels and motels, many fish restaurants, cafes and bars. Cafes that will ring harbor have become famous gathering places for the tourists. From town’s lovely park, road runs all along coast to harbor, which are lined with innumerable boutiques, which tempt tourists with the handicrafts, clothes, leather, handbags, jewelry, and amusing painted gourds, symbol of area. In August, Alanya hosts colorful Worldwide Folklore Festival atmosphere is exciting with energy and gaiety.

And modern hotels, huge selection of café and restaurants offer wide variety of cuisines from the Turkish to the International with local specialty being fish, which is fresh from sea. There are restaurants, cafes and bars with resorts energetic nightlife that are centered on harbor area where lots of bars are open unless 3 to 4 in morning! Lots of shops, supermarkets as well as weekly Friday market will give you chance to watch local life & haggle for the bargains.

Alanya is the town of two bays that are divided by rocky promontory that is been crowned by mighty Ottoman castle, just below lies delightful harbor that are guarded by 13th Century Tower. Town has grown fast over last fifteen years with the development now extending over 20km all along coast as well as has over 90,000 residents that include 9,000 foreign inhabitants, who are been attracted by hot summers, the mild winters as well as low price of living. Resort is mainly famous with Dutch, Scandinavian, German and the British tourists.

Alanya also enjoys typical hot Mediterranean climate where sun shines for over 300 days per year and temperature will not drops less than 10C in winter with the standard summer temperatures over 28C. Average temperature for year is around 19C.

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Olympos is located between holiday resort of the village of Adrasan and Kemer. We follow sign that is leading from the Ulupinar to remains of Olympos, and where we will find not just ruins of Olympos however volcanic terrain that has formed from continually fuming geysers of the natural hot gas.

Ruins of city are been set along banks of small stream, and though small, it is very attractive site, remarkable in the striking position by sea, and inquisitive for ever-burning light. Left bank of stream is totally covered with the undergrowth, also with great trouble, one will make out remains of wall, and on it door on some ruins and this is that remains of temple on that particular side of stream. What will stand now is most likely a wall separating pronaos and cella of a temple.

From dedication of this temple that we know that it was been built during reign of Roman ruler Marcus Aurelius and it had plan of antis type, was of Ionic order. Away from the temple, some other buildings standing date from Byzantine Period, on a side facing sea are found in remains of bath.

To south of stream, opposite foot of bridge crossing it is seen ruins of large Byzantine basilica, whereas remains of bath extend down to shore behind that. Between basilica and theatre of Olympos that lies building in the ruins, with some columns in middle. It is not recognized what this might have been, though it is likely that it will represent remains of gymnasium. Away from this, below necropolis is a theatre of the Olympos.

There are some large pieces of the rubble spread on the surrounding area as well as piled up in a orchestra show it to have been the theatre of classical Roman type. Away from the theatre that can be seen ramp constructed of the polygonal stone routing that will lead in the city’s cemetery. Buildings from an medieval period will be observed on an hills overlooking sea.

Saklikent is winter resort at Turkey, and 45 kilometers away from Antalya & 60 kilometers from the Antalya Airport and it is open for the skiing at November - May. Because of the proximity to Antalya, people can ski and next one hour swim in Mediterranean Sea. One more Saklikent in Antalya region is Saklikent Canyon that is a second highest canyon at Europe (14 km.) the Saklikent ski resort also has one two seater chairlift, as well as one T-bar lift.

Saklikent canyon as the location only 50 km far away from the town center of Fethiye and it is the unique heaven with about 300 meters deep & 17 Kilometers thin canyon, the Saklikent discovered when searching place for the farm by Local shepherd at 1989 than the doors of this paradise was opened to the visitors from all across the world.

Shapes that are formed on rocks by flowing water by Toros Mountains, coves and the noses worth seeing. In a boiling hot water, and you can enjoy cold waters flowing in the rocks. You may taste some delicious grills, fresh toar as well as regional meals with some regional spices of yoruk & Turkish kitchen calming on the mattresses placed on an flowing stream that are surrounded by the natural beauties. In case you like then you may enjoy cp of the herbal tea and it is privilege to take photos of this heaven

Saklikent canyon may just be visited during the Summer season due to the water levels that rises at winter months. The Saklikent is simple Access from the Fethiye an only hour drive with the Minibus that stop behind a big mosque in the city center and with every day tours.

Saklikent Ski Resort is an hour from the Antalya center on lower slopes of the Mount Bakirli that is about 2547 m at height, & it is corner of Antalya region and world whose equivalent is hardly ever to be seen with the suitability for the winter and the outdoor sports and proximity to this city. Also skiing season is about same period like that of the other ski hubs in Turkey. Season opens at an end of December & gives enthusiasts with chance to ski unless middle of April.