Our apartment in Antalya is in a residential block. You see thousands of these blocks in Turkish towns and cities. Shops and businesses at street level and five floors above of apartments. I have wanted to stay in one of these for ages. Ours has two double bedrooms, a large lounge/dining room, a large kitchen with a table and seating, a shower room with toilet and handbasin and a seperate traditional Turkish `hole in the floor` toilet room. Outside there is a balcony which wraps around the corner of the building with another table and chairs. It has fantastic metal blinds that you can lower to enclose the outside space if the weather is not good. They are hinged at the top so they can be left slanted open to. Washing lines hang parallel to the building over the street. Its a good space. All the shared stairwells are pristine. Cleanliness is a matter of pride here. People are continuously sweeping up leaves off the pavements. Communal bins are emptied daily. We are 5 minutes walk to the sea front, 20 minutes to the old town. There is a Migros across the street, and a BIM and a Sok just along the road. BIM and Sok are both supermarket chains. Also, we have lots of other shops, including a fantastic chocolate shop. Exquisite chocolates that you can select and have put in all manner of pretty boxes, dishes and bowls. It would seem a shame to unwrap them. 

Antalya is a big city stretching along the coast. The old town is hilly with little cobbled (Cobbles again) streets. The little harbour has fishing boats and day trip boats!. Its very picturesque. I bet it is heaving with people in high seasons. But now the bazaar is very quiet. We are offered all sorts of `genuine fake` goods, all with lots of good humour. There are some bargains to be had but we really need nothing. The views are lovely from the many cliffside cafes and restaurants. To the west the land is flatter with a long wide beach (Konyaalti beach) stretching for 7k. The backdrop of the Baygarlari mountains is stunning. The beach is gravel and sand. There are free public showers and changing booths all the way along. A wide pedestrian boulevard with lots of nice cafes, bars, restaurants and icecream parlours cater to everyones tastes. And its all so clean!

The Antalya aquarium is one of the largest in the world. Set in a lovely contemporary building it houses the largest tunnel viewing tank in the world. I bet in high season it is heaving and noisy, but we virtually had the place to ourselves. We saw only a handful of people all the while we were there. To see the sharks being fed you need to be there at 12, sadly we were a little late. But we wandered and spent a very good few hours there. Well worth a visit.

The public transport system in Antalya is very good. There are two tram systems and buses. All very efficient and cheap. We travelled to the Otogar (bus station) to arrange onward travel to our next desination only to be told `don't worry, just arrive. The bus goes every 20 minutes, pay the driver`. So we got on the very modern blue tram to the old town. Sleek, smooth running and commentary in several languages including English. During a cup of tea (cay) we discussed plans for the rest of the day. A visit to Lara along the coast to see the sand sculpture museum and the Duden waterfall. The KL08 bus rattles long for about 45 minutes to Lara. This bus runs from one side of Antalya to the other, so its a good one to know. Lara is the end of the line on the Eastern side.

The bus terminates in a huge carpark by the beach in Lara. The beach is very long, wide and sandy. Backing the beach is a promenade with cycle lanes. And backing that is a park with lots of brick or stone BBQ fire chimneys and picnic tables and benches. Brilliant idea. Take your own BBQ food and picnic under the trees. Very civilised. No sandy sandwiches here. Again showers etc in abundance.

The sand sculpture museum was very good, located at the end of the car park behind a high wall. I imagine it would be very busy in high season, but in total there were five people and a black cat whos job seemed to be `welcoming committee official`. He shared his time evenly between us all as we strolled around the exhibits. The sculptures are made by people from all around the world. It is not ordinary sand, but some special mix that will withstand the weather for longer. The exhibits are very detailed and the information is shown in several languages. Lots of mythical beasts, wonders of the world and, my favourite, Noahs arc. Well worth a visit on a glorious  sunny day.

We got back on the bus after a stroll along the beach, virtually deserted except for sleeping street dogs and fishermen. Our friendly bus driver told us which stop to get off at and where to go to see the Duden waterfalls. This dramatic waterfall is 40metres high. It is crystal clear recycled station water which has been channelled to end in a fantastic cascade down the cliffs in to the sea. Rainbows form in the spray, very pretty. Further back up the channel there are white water rafting and kayaking adventures on offer. 

The temperature has dropped and the skies are heavy with rain clouds. Sadly this scuppers our plan to take the Olympos cable car up mount Tahtali. The views are said to be fantastic. But draped in clouds we would get no view at all. So, what to do on our last day in Antalya? We opt for the museum. Sadly forgot the camera - sorry. It is a fabulous museum housing artifacts from the many archeological sights around the area. The information boards were the most informative we have seen recently. Lots of detail and well written. Greek myths and stories told well, which goes a long way to explaining the carvings on the many sarcophagus on display. The best story was the twelve tasks of Hurcules, which features often in the carvings. We ended up spending most of the day in the museum, its a top attraction making history interesting. The childrens section was great, with displays showing how everyday life has changed since pre - Neolithic times. We both commented that if history had been presented in such a way when we were at school, we would have learned so much more. All we were ever taught was about Henry the Eighth! Miss Tunny was not that engaging at Scrase Bridge Secondary Modern!

So, my view of Antalya. There is more than just the beach. Yes, there are all the tourist attractions that thousands of people flock here for every summer. But there is a wealth of varied and fascinating things to do and see. In fact, I would like to come back to see what we missed on this trip.