Antalya a gift for Cleopatra

What do we know about the life on the Orient?! From the stories of 1001 nights we imagine a magic country with magnificent gardens, singing fountains, where everything is covered with gold and diamonds. A different, out of reach world. The contemporary Turkey is totally different. The salesmen offer gold and diamonds to you. The natives are non-stop inviting, offering, anticipating your desires, forecasting the intentions. The light blue water of the Bay of Antalya is surrounded by the great mountain chain Taurus.

On average 300 days in the year are sunny. You can go skiing in the morning and go to swim in the sea in the afternoon even during March and April. The water temperature doesn't go under 17oC in winter.

The transparent waves, sandy beaches long almost 200km and the romantic rocky bays are promising rest and a wonderful skin complexion. For water sports lovers Antalya is just heaven. The coasts of Mala Asia are saving the traces of the past ages - ruins of antique cities, Greek, Roman and Byzantine cultural monuments. This wealthy land was Egyptian - Marcus Aurelius has made a gift to his lover - Cleopatra.

In the past several years more and more young couples choose Antalya for their honeymoon destination. The roads are great - which Turkish doesn't like the fast trip? The people in Turkey live in a different way. In towns they are building small white houses near the rocks. The expectations are that after 10-15 years the Mediterranean region will welcome 30 millions tourists annually, while at the moment they are about 8 millions. Everywhere is surprisingly clean - there are trash bins on every step. Antalya was and will be one of the most affordable resorts.

You can count on unbelievable comfort not only in the famous hotels, part of well-known international chains, but also in the small hotels and hostels. The main requirement is the availability of air conditioner. When you choose a place for your future stay, even from the seacoast you can determine the star category of the hotel. As the natives like to say - if the ringing of the cell phones on the beach is stronger than the song of the crickets, the hotel is high-class one; if they are equal in sound - the hotel is maximum four stars and so on. The customer service is on very high level everywhere and you won't need to wait for attention.

Who hasn't visited Pamukkale (Cotton Palace) hasn't seen Turkey at all. The ancient Hierapolis, built near a warm mineral source 190 years before Christ, is famous with the biggest saved till today necropolis in Antalya. The rich in calcium water have made small basins in the stones.

They are shining with a fantastic white color. There are a lot of hotels around with their own pools - the water heals skin and heart diseases. But you should not think that just the health care is attracting so many tourists.

The spring is called Cleopatra, who was taking a bath here and kept her beauty till the end of her life. Another version states that the lovely queen had given her secrets to the spring. As a result you can see many women in the water, hoping to become younger with ten years. Every tour program in Turkey includes shopping - gold, clothes, carpets, jewelry.

Men have no choice, but to fulfill all desires of their Cleopatras. Everybody think that Olymp is in Greece, but apparently there are about 20 mountain picks with this name in Antalya. Unfortunately, all of the almost destroyed temples of ancient gods in the surrounding mountains are not accessible for tourists, because there are no roads built. Antalya offers a lot of entertainment as well.

Part of it can be found in the hotels and then the quality is directly related to the service level of the hotel - discos, show programs, fireworks and Turkish baths, national dinners (the real Turkish dance kyuchek is included) and many others. The travel agencies and tour operators offer yachting, jeep safari, fishing, diving, one-day trip to the Greek island Rhodes and visit to the magnificent waterfalls Duden and Kursunlu. .

By: Maggie Wallace