To Antalya and Istanbul Day 11 (Friday)

Friday, June 8, 2012
We woke to another beautiful sunny day with breakfast at 8:30.  We settled our 3 day drink bill (11 bottles of wine, 14 Efes beers, etc, etc.).  We then got our bags around for our last short boat ride with the Hasan's to Ucagiz.

Dapper Paul in hat and new shirt in front of our hotel.

Carl, Margaret, and Leslie in front of the hotel.

Belinda and Tom in front of the hotel.  We all want to remember this little gem of a place.

Time to head out.

A very small village and a wonderful choice, Mehmet.

We met the new van driver to take us to Antalya.  We drove to Demre (Myra) on our way to the airport at Antalya.  We are visiting the Russia  Orthodox church that was built in the 18th century to commemorate St. Nicholas.

The 4 AD Bishop of Myra (St. Nicholas) was famous for his generosity.  He is known as Noel Baba in Turkey or the original Santa Claus.  There were many, many Russian tourists visiting the church museum. He was born in 270AD.  He was buried at the site of the church but his bones were moved to Bari, Italy in 1087. 

Angel fresco in the church.

Floor mosaic.

Looking up at the last supper fresco on the ceiling.

Statue of St Nicholas.

Another statue of St. Nicholas.

The judgement; St John the Baptist, Jesus, and Mary.

Since it was Friday, the local farmers market was open.  It took up quite a few blocks and everything from food and clothing items were sold under canopy.  We then ate a local outdoor cafe for lunch with the usual types of Turkish foods we have already encountered.  

Belinda and Leslie bought brooms for home (Belinda's got confiscated by the officials in JFK as there were very dried seeds still visible). Oh well.

Beautiful produce.

Cheese in real goat skin.

Women in line for this vendors goods.

Beautiful garlic.

Kitten season and a happy little boy.

We then drove 2 hours to Antalya for our flight to Istanbul.  Goodbye beautiful Mediterranean.

We finally made it to our hotel by 8pm and said "see you later" to Mehmet.  We then had a drink on the rooftop terrace and said goodbye to the Jemison's who have already been on the road a week longer than the rest of the group as their trip started in Assisi, Italy where they were for a week long conference.  They have to get up very early in the morning and get a taxi by 3am for their flight back home to Memphis.  We will miss them.

The traditional kiss on each cheek turkish goodbye.