I've been to Alanya before, a long time ago. I'm not sure when but it has to be around 15 yrs since the last time. A beautiful country, but back then I found the din and noise and some very pestering "Don Juans" a bit too much for to ladies travelling alone - my MIL and I.

But many people have later told me how much they love Turkey, so I was really curious if I would think any different this time around. I'm not sure if it was because we went a bit outside the "tourist season", or we went as couples, or the general attitude towards visitors have changed, but it was a totally different experience - a good one. Alanya, which is a very typical holiday resort, was so much more, if you took the time to look a bit closer.


We did not stay at a hotel, but in an apartment our friends recently had bought in Mamuthlar, a little town next to Alanya. Still a sleepy, little place, but not for long, I think. Unfortunately new apartment buildings are shooting up faster than you can spell Mamuthlar, and they are building them so close together that you almost can touch the next one. They told us that right now there were 25 000 newly built aprtments for sale in Alanya/Mamuthlar - mostly built for the tourist market.


The Bazaar (market place)may well be crowded with tourist in the high season, but it was definitely a place where the locals went to buy fruits and vegetables, eggs and cheese, buckets and nickers - and other necessities. Of course there were also stands where ingratiating insisting salesmen tried to get tourist to buy overpriced "Gucci" and "Prada" bags, "Nike" or "Puma" shoes or "Dolce & Gabbana" t-shirts - all the real deal, of course. But mostly, at least this time of year, there were firm and reliable peasants, men and women who tried to sell some of their crop. But they weren't more reliable than they of course tried to cheat some extra liras from a gullible, girl from the north countries. My four apples could soon cost me around 20 $ if I didn't watch out for the change.

But I loved so much to pad around and peek at these wonderful, exotic people, that a couple of liras extra hadn't been a too big of a loss.


She didn't have a tooth in her mouth, but her smile was wonderful.

And if no one buys, why not find a bucket to sit on and sample the goods.


This guy looked mighty fine there he strolled along with his wonderful white hair and an impressive mustache.


Most of the days we took a cab to Alanya - only 15 minutes away. In summer this is the big sunandfun city, but now it was quiet in the streets (everything is relative, cause nothing is quiet in Turkey ) so everybody had time for a chat and a cup of apple tea. I had feared they had only clothes in extra petite size, but I was wrong. They had jeans in my size too...



One day we had a totally absurd experience. We were hold hostages on the first floor at a real estate developers office, while the mafia had a brutal fight downstairs...... We were nicely treated, and after a endless stream of crystal glasses with ice water, tiny cups of Turkish apple tea and strong, strong coffee, we're finally escorted downstairs and out by a smiling interpreter with a big gash over his left eye, and blood running down his jaws......


Okidoki - that sounds bad, but actually it was really entertaining Our friends were going to sign some papers regarding their new apartment, and while there we stumbled upon a movie shoot. It was a movie about some American mafia guys doing their business in Turkey, and they were using this stunning office as one of the sets. They were also going to use one of the big villas the developer owned as the mafia boss' residence, so this was serious matters for him. The name of the firm was going to be used in the film.

We were shown upstairs where the big man himself had office, but couldn't leave before the shoot was done. He was siting behind his enormous desk and didn't know a word of English. The interpreter was also one of the actors, so there we sat, in deep, soft, leather chairs sipping one cup after another, feeling like tiny mice besides (below) the supersized, mirror polished office desk.

The whole office was overluxuriously, shiny and with hand painted gold decorations all over. Obviously if you have money in Turkey, you also show it off. Servants were quietly in the background, and with a little wink of the big boss' important hand, new cups and glasses were filled and put in front of us. A bit awkward since the guy didn't say a word the whole time, and after what seemed like an eternity the interpreter finally came upstairs and did his interpretation. Finally thhe movie shoot was over and we were allowed to leave.

Here's the MAN, himself and (half) his office desk.




A little harbour moment




Most of old Alanya is perched on a cliff that juts out into the sea. On top is the castle that is surrounded by 4 miles of walls and 140 watch towers. A stunning construction dated back to around year 1220, and someone says the oldest parts dates back as far as 2000 years.


The weather was as unpredictable as the weather in my city, Bergen. But when a salesman in the harbour promised a whole day with sun and great weather, we took him up on his word, and booked a whole day at sea on a tourist boat. We were promised the best placing on board and he would make them build a "bed" of two thick mattresses so yours truly could lie down comfortably the whole trip. He kept all his promises. The only thing was that the trip was cut a bit short due to big swells. But the crew did their best to give us a great day so we enjoyed it very much


We never got to visit the castle. It was only open at daytime, but we had a great taxi driver guiding us around the cliff one early evening.




It was early spring in Turkey too and the blooming hadn't really started yet, but at the top of the cliff I found this little idyll. I've never seen those flowers before, but they were amazing


And the sunset........ Without the shifting weather conditions we wouldn't have seen a sunset like this.




For the first time in my life I've got a surprise birthday party. My friends had organized it all from Norway. I have to be the easiest target for a thing like this. All day I had no suspicion, but deep inside I thought hubby and my friends were a bit unaffected by the fact that March 28th is a special day for me. I don't usually celebrate my birthday at home - at least not in a big way. But after they all had wished me happy birthday in the morning, I thought it would be nice to at least have coffee and cakes in the afternoon. I asked hubby to buy one at the pastry when he went out to do some errands. When he came home without, I was a bit disappointed. But I thought a trip to Turky and being with good frinds could be a great way to spend the day anyway, so I didn't make more of it.

In the evening we were going to Alanya. My friends were irritatingly slow in getting out the door. We were supposed to go to a "norwegian" restaurant for dinner, because my friends had some pictures of the apartment to deliver to the staff there so they could get help to rent it out in the summer. (yeah, right!! ) First they had some errands to do, and it took forever to finish. In the end I was tired and hungry so I decided enough was enough and told them I would like to get a taxi and go to the restaurant.

We got there half an hour earlier than my friends had planned, but everything was ready. I was surprised with a wonderful decorated table, sprinkled with petals. Balloons with my name on, a delicious Turkish dish for main course and cake with name, candles and the works. All the waiters stood around me and sang the birthday song for me and everything. Everytwhere it said Happy Birthday, Alice 40 year. I love them for making me a few years younger than I am.


As many of you know, I'm overlyoccupied with the weather sometimes. But still....sometimes you just don't take a hint.

The halo around the sun is a sure sign that precipitation is ahead....




Still we went on a walk... No coat or umbrella...of course.

It sounded like a duck, but was some small ones with perfect camouflage..



Frogs (three of them) When they are croaking loud, rain is coming. But did we take the hint???? Nope!!



Now - we're starting to get suspicious. Even the sign told us to STOP (dur=stop)
We just managed to get under roof at a restaurant when torrential rain was over us.




Well -as we in Norway always say, there's nothing like bad weather, just bad clothing. If I'm going to Turkey in March next time, I'll make sure my suitcase contains more than light summer clothes. But at least I ended up with a wonderful, new "genuine" Burberry jacket that kept me warm for the rest of the trip. We had a few "bikinimoments", but when the sun was gone it was rather chilly.