TRAVEL THE WORLD - ALANYA, TURKEY

All along Cleopatra Beach are hotels, some quite inexpensive, with each hotel claiming a slice of the beach for its umbrellas and loungers. This is the best beach we've ever seen for swimming. There are usually big waves, but no noticeable undertow. The sand is nice and very clean, and the water is beautifully warm. Hills surround the beach on all sides, adding to its scenic beauty, and there is a view of the Turkish fortress perched high on the rock overlooking the bay. The main road is just the other side of the hotels, giving easy access by minibus to restaurants and any other parts of Alanya you may wish to visit. On a former vacation in 2001, we found an outdoor fish restaurant where we had a table directly beside the sea. After a while, the full moon rose above the mountains making a lovely reflection in the water. It was a most romantic setting! On this trip in 2006, we tried to find the restaurant, but to our great disappointment it was no longer there.

TRAVEL THE WORLD - ALANYA, TURKEY

One of our favorite activities while in Turkey is to go out for a day's swimming off a gulet, one of the boats that are to be seen everywhere along the Mediterranean coast. The entertainment provided by the crew is one of the day's major pleasures. Photographed in 2001 in the last picture at Alanya are Hassan on the left with his crew. The third photo shows a very amusing dance performed by a crew member. Hassan was a very nice man. He asked me many questions about Canada, explaining that he wanted to emigrate. I remember thinking, "How very sad. Lacking the skills that Canada would recognize, he most likely would be unable to achieve his goal, and, even if he did succeed, he would find the differences in culture very difficult to adjust to, and would probably be terribly homesick for his life in Turkey." He was unhappy because he was unemployed all winter - he did not own the gulet - and had a seven-year-old son whose future he worried about.

TRAVEL THE WORLD - ALANYA, TURKEY

This photo captures perfectly the atmosphere we experienced on our visit to the south coast of Turkey in 2006. Instead of the brilliant summer sun you expect in the Mediterranean, dark clouds and heavy, heavy rain seemed an almost daily occurrence. My very favourite place to swim is at Cleopatra Beach in Alanya. There was only one opportunity to swim in our three days there, and even then, we had to run to escape a cloud burst. We had a drink in the outdoor bar of our hotel and hoped the rain would stop, but it didn't. It wasn't all bad, though. To be in the Mediterranean in stormy weather was new and different. The threatening clouds and violent rain created a feeling of adventure, particularly when having to go somewhere by boat.

TRAVEL THE WORLD - ALANYA, TURKEY

Alanya is one of our favourite places in Turkey. In this photo taken in 2006, you can see the harbour with the gulets, the boats that take you out for the day to swim in the sea. In the background are the mountains that frame the harbour and the city itself. When we first visited Alanya in 1988, the Mediterranean coast of Turkey had not yet become a major tourist destination. In 2001, we spent several days here and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Swimming at our hotel on Cleopatra Beach was wonderful, and almost every night we ate sea bream or sea bass. These were very small - one fish enough for only one person - causing us to wonder how soon the sea would be fished out.