Antalya

Antalya was our second to last city on the tour. We spend a night here before making tracks toward Capaddocia where the tour essentially ends. We arrived here after a relatively short drive and dropped our bags off before heading to lunch. The place our guide took us for lunch was one of the nicest of the whole tour and maybe my whole journey. Despite looking out over some ruins, the ocean and mountains in the background, the cost of each meal was quite reasonable. I got a Neapolitan Pasta that was actually incredible. Food quality to match the views. We then got some free time to wander before a guided tour started. Another great benefit of the tour is how informative the guides are and how interesting they can make the walks. Shafak (Shef) walked us through town and explained the history of the site and made for a great way to spend the afternoon. We explored mosques, ancient ports, markets, and much more. We then went out to a restaurant for dinner and had some cocktails before eventually heading to town as a goodbye to one of the girls who would be leaving the tour. We had our whole night planned. We would drink until 1am, go to Maccas, and go home. Safe, secure, easy strategy. This didn't go to plan, however. Firstly, Macca's was closed despite getting there well before their alleged close time. But, they wouldn't let us in. Things went from bad to worse as Sarah then managed to fall directly on top of a small cactus after two stray dogs began fighting right in front of her, causing a minor stampede of girls, knocking her over. A chaotic night that was screaming at us to just go home. In typical fashion, we grabbed a bottle of wine and used the depressing end of the night to turn it into a trauma dump. Three of the girls and myself (though I could barely contribute) began to dump all of their trauma stories while we drank cheap wine. It was interesting and depressing, but we all became closer because of it. The owner was nice enough to give us a room to drink so we could be as loud as we wanted. But as we headed to bed, the night got worse for Sarah. We heard people coming home right as we were going to bed, Sarah tried to pop her head through the window to talk to them, knocking the top of it and causing it to fall directly on her head. I tried to help but struggled under the weight of my own laughter. She was OK, but I think the night was too much for her, and we had to go to bed and end the cursed night out.Read more