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Antalya, Turkey, November 4


“In the end we only regret the chances we didn’t take”


Well I don’t regret passing on yet another tour today, even though G says the Museum is the best he’s ever seen.  I took the shuttle to the city, about half an hour’s journey, and another lady and I walked for a few hours together, stopped for coffee and a cold drink, took in the hustle & bustle at the bazaar and side stepped many stray cats!!  A very nice place, mountainous and with beautiful secluded beaches. The name Antalya was changed from ‘Attaleia’ which in turn was named after its founder Attalos 11 king of Pergamon. This city was first settled around 220 BC by the Attalid dynasty of Pergamon but was soon subdued by the Romans.  The city has changed hands several times including to the Seljuk Sultanate in 1207 and the Ottoman Empire in 1391.  Peace reigned for the next 500 years and then was occupied by the Italians for three years (1919-1922) in the aftermath of WW1. It was then recaptured by Turkey in the War of Independence.  In the 1970’s large scale development has transformed Antalya from a pastoral town into one of Turkey’s largest metropolitan areas and much of this has been due to tourism. Antalya was the host city for the 2015 G-20 summit and Expo 2016.  It is Turkey’s biggest international sea resort located on the Turkish Riviera. 

Jenny and I decided to skip lunch and to indulge in afternoon tea on arrival back at the ship.  She and her husband are from the Gold Coast and he’s still practising law, threatening to retire.  

So I had a bottle of Gordon’s gin delivered to the room this morning and, of course, some tonic, (no lemons though) and am now enjoying a drink while waiting for G to come back from the spa-hot tub.  We can order anything but it’s also nice to sit in one of the many bars and enjoy other company.  Have a reservation for dinner at Chartreuse tonight.  Hope there won’t be a spat about the snails this time.  

After dinner, which was fantastic, I went to the show, a comedian, and stayed about 5 minutes.  How come comedians are not funny anymore? 


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