Atatürk Parkı

After a terrible ferry trip, we arrive really tired in Mersin. In addition, our AirBnB is cancelled and we realize, that booking.com is blocked in Turkey. So we walk around with our backpacks and search for an accommodation. We find a small hotel with a friendly man at the reception. The entrance hall seems to be very nice, but our room is a bad surprise. It is a dirty smoking room with a bathroom inside. The only good thing is a smoothie shop around the corner. 😋

So after one night we decide to move. Luckily, we find a nicer hotel with breakfast for the same price. And now we explore the city. Because of the high humidity this is really exhausting. Every thirty minute we are entering a climatised supermarket. 😂 We walk the promenade at the sea and visit the Hz. Muğdat Mosque. Especially, I love a place with lots of hollywood swings directly at the sea. There are only very few tourists in Mersin and we are frequently mistaken to be from Russia.
On our way back to the hotel with our big backpacks a guy speaks to us in French: "Bonjour, vous parlez français ?" We are really surprised, because we didn't meet any French speaking person here yet. And so we get in touch with Hakan. He works in Turkey and in France and thought we might be French. Finally, he invites us to show us Mersin tomorrow.

The next morning he first guides us to the barber shop of his cousin, where we drink Turkish coffee and Anton gets a professional haircut as a present!! We didn't expect this!
A bustrip takes us to the beach at Kızkalesi. It is a beautiful coast with a view to Maiden's Castle, which was built on an island. Sadly, everywhere is lots of rubbish, so we are afraid of walking barfoot. Together we have lots of fun while taking a bath in the Mediterranean and enjoying the waves.
Hakan shows us a really good Turkish restaurant. The best is the dessert: Tatli! We love it!
On our way back, we watch a Turkish wedding on a beautiful place directly at the promenade. The Turkish way to dance is so different to ours!
After a break in the hotel we meet Hakan again and want to go to a bar, but everything closes at 1 or 2 am. So we stay in Hakans new big office on the nice balcony with a view over the city and start a dance lesson. He shows us how Kurdish people dance to traditional music and we show him Disco Fox, which he never saw before. Finally, he teaches us how to eat Çiğköfte. By the way, have you ever tried the Turkish popular drink Şalgam?
We had so interesting talks and such a nice time together. Thank you so much, Hakan! You are warm welcomed, whenever you come to Hamburg!Read more