The temperatures have now settled into the low, to mid twenties, which makes getting out to the great restaurants and local sights a lot more fun. We’ve also been trying to dip more into the local culture, the only downside with all this increased social interaction is the increased Covid threat, which I inevitably came down with when we got back from Termessos early on Saturday evening, thankfully it’s just me, as Rach and our driver both seem fine. We’d decided on Termessos during the week, as it offered both the remains of another ancient city and the beauty of the mountains. Two interesting points to note about the place; it was founded by the Solims, who were themselves mention by Homer in the Iliad, And in 333 BC it became one of only a handful of strongholds that Alexander the Great was unable to conquer “It was like an eagles nest” he said after. It took us about an hour to get there as we took advantage of stopping off along the way, to look out across the gorge that runs through the Gulliuk Dagi mountain, the landscape is covered with different shades of green cypress trees, against an interesting rocky backdrop. It was late morning by the time we arrived at Termessos mid point, we’d be hiking up the remaining 1600 M peak to look down on the city, that sits just below. After setting off, It wasn’t long before we encountered the lower city walls, about 3M thick and the only gateway into the city. We continued to wind up the mountain through the pine canopy for about another hour or so until we reached an opening that revealed firstly the old gym, before moving up to what would have been the Main Square (mostly rubble now), a market place and several other interesting buildings dotted around this rustic site. Out of all of the antiquities that we’ve seen here in Antalya so far, we’ve enjoyed the Termessos experience the most. I think it’s because it sits within a beautiful unadopted landscape and you have to work a little to get there. Sitting at the top and centre of the city is a 1000 seat theatre, perfectly placed to look out across the mountain range vista and down the valley….stunning! We were encouraged to traverse the mountain and take a less trodden route back down, which was a little more challenging but gave us a glimpse of the surreal burial chambers that had been carved into the limestone cliffs and also several interestingly placed tombs, which looked out across the mountains and down the valley, to supposedly keep watch from the afterlife. We spent about 4hrs here and if it wasn’t for the fact that I was fading fast, we would have stayed longer. We headed back to Kaleici and had lunch overlooking the old harbour, which was more for Rach than me.

The local sights and sounds still have us under their spell and haven’t yet failed to raise a smile as we immerse ourselves in this cultural city. It’s also finally begun to warm up. After visiting the museum last week, we couldn’t not go to Perga, especially after discovering the majority of the artefacts within the museum had been unearthed there. So on Saturday we left the apartment at around 10am and headed to the taxi stand on the edge of the old city, where I secured the services of a driver for most of the day. It was about a 30 minute drive along the highway to Perga. We parked beside an impressive 15K seat Greco-Roman amphitheater (The romans put their stamp on it by adding a 3rd tier and frescoes to the existing structure during AD 1-3) it was allegedly used for gladiatorial & wild animal fights and remains pretty well intact. To the right of the amphitheater is the ancient city, which must be spread out across a good 4 hectares (circa 10 football fields) The dig started in the late 1940’s and given it’s huge size, only 30% of it has been uncovered. A short walk in and you find yourself between the two Hellenistic towers, which are not only the oldest part of the city 300 BC, they also act as the gateway into the intriguing columned avenue, which has an interesting water channel running through the middle of the avenue, which sits above the sewers. There are generous walkways on either side and small alleyways with some larger buildings set back on one side and what would have been small shops on the other. As I meander down one side of this well worn road, I can’t help but imagine how impressive this place would have been at the height of its popularity and it is for this reason I chose not to use a guide….I’d rather see it through my eyes and draw on my imagination, rather than someone else’s, specific detail I can find online. We ended up spending almost 3 enjoyable hours wondering around this incredible site. From here we made another 30 minute drive to see the Kursunla falls. As you enter the protected forest, you walk along canopied pathways that wind down into an enchanting little grotto. There you meet waterfalls that cascade down the rock-face before falling into an emerald green pool below, which wouldn’t have looked out of place in a serene movie scene. There were also several smaller falls and little pools dotted across the area. After an hour or so of enjoying this tranquil place, we decided to head back into Kaleici for a debrief over another delicious lunch.

We’ve had another enjoyable week and although temperatures have been in the single digits (not helped by the strong northerly winds), the cobalt skies have been bathed in bright sunshine and we’ve actually started to get used to wrapping up, apparently it’s the coldest it’s been here for this time of year for over 20 years! We’re still continuing with a long walk every morning, meandering through the old town, before entering the hustle and bustle of the main city. There are over 2M people living in Antalya and I am sure that we seem to bump into quite a few of them when we walk though, that said it really just adds to the pleasure of the walk. On Saturday we had planned to go to Konyaalti, which has a 7km beach, but with chilly temperatures and 40mph winds, we resolved to wait for a more agreeable day to visit. Instead we decided to take in the highly recommended Antalya museum, which by coincidence isn’t far from Konyaalti beach. The museum itself is about an hours enjoyable walk along the coastline, from where we’re staying. Upon arriving at the museum, which is focused exclusively on archeological discoveries, we purchased tickets and what turned out to be an excellent audio guide. Once instead it was like a passage through time, Neanderthal times right through to the Ottoman period. It was all very interesting, it the standout highlights for me were the rooms dedicated to Greek and Roman gods and emperors, all awe inspiring and surprisingly well preserved. The other standout for me was the incredible “Sarcophagi Hall” filled with ornately decorated sarcophagus’s, one of which belonging to the son of Zeus, Heracles (Hercules being the Roman equivalent). These artefacts, most of which are from the Roman period of occupation (1-2AD), were exclusively recovered from an excavation in Perga, about 10km east from Antalya. After 3 enjoyable hours walking around the exhibits, we took a short walk for a quick look at the beach, which surprisingly enough was deserted. We then caught the little red tram back to Kaleici , where we sat down at the charming “Antique Restaurant” for a very tasty late lunch. Sunday was a much warmer day, that we spent a large part of sitting in the park, people watching, which is always interesting.

We had a cab pick us up from my brothers house at 9:00am, to take us to London Stanstead for a midday flight. We normally fly from LHR, but the flight times were either leaving too early, or arriving too late. Our flight was landing at 10pm local time (+3hrs GMT). Those of you who know me well won’t be surprised to know that we were the very last ones to board 😊 the Turkish Airlines flight itself, but after that initial embarrassment and then having to reclaim our seats, the circa 4hr flight was pretty painless. But arriving in Istanbul a little later than scheduled, there was another mad dash to get through security, to make our onward connection to Antalya, finally we landed just after 10pm and were kindly met by our host “Naci” to take us to the place that we’d be staying for the next month. We arrived in Kaleici, located in the old town, at about 11pm. We decided against going out to get something to eat, instead opting to turn in….exhausted! After a late breakfast the following morning and gathering a few things from a small supermarket close by, I decided to go for a walk-about before the expected rain later in the day. It’s been a good few years since we were last in Turkey, but the place and people are still as interesting and charming.

It’s been a couple of weeks since I updated the blog, so I thought I’d provide a quick update on what we’ve been up to, which is a lot more of the same really, but really enjoyable. We’ve tended to spend the week with my parents, which I’ve really enjoyed and has also worked well for Rachel with her folks close by. We’ve continued with our early morning walks, with some mornings drier than others….There’s been a lot of rain and the river Ouse is close to bursting its banks where my parents are, but the flood plains seem to be doing their job. The rest of the time we have been helping our folks out, by taking care of health matters and generally helping out where we can, all of which has been really nice to be able to do. We spent another fun night with Jon & Jo, before heading to Bracknell, where we’ve been staying at my brothers house, as he’s been out of town, although we did manage to have a good catch up. We met Seb & Christien for lunch in little Venice in London, which was nice, I looked in on my good friend Andy, and then on Sunday night we had dinner with Richard & Remale in Windsor, before they flew back to the US. We decided on Sunday to head off to Antalya in Turkey, which ticks our main boxes (time zone, internet speed & interesting things to see and do and the weather) and we’re not too far away if our parents need us. We’ve booked an Airbnb for a Month, so let’s see how we get on. I’ll update in a few days.

We spent the week with our parents, which after 4 months away has been nice to do, just helping out with some of the mundane tasks whilst doing the fun stuff too. After the morning exercise program, we’ve taken some really lovely early morning walks with my mum along the banks of the River Ouse. On one of those return walks we were even invited into the small church in Hartford, which built in 1089, gets a mention in the “Doomsday Book” it’s so nice how local people give up their time and use their skills for free, to help keep these community focal points in tip top shape, for all to use and admire….even thirsty dogs are welcome to stop in for a drink. We had arranged to spend Friday night in Braintree (Essex) with Jon & Jo, special friends that we’ve known since my casino days. We had a nice dinner at a local Turkish restaurant before headed back home. So Jon and I could do battle over the chess board, while Jo and Rach caught up. I won the first game, but after that it went downhill from there (I need to practice). Saturday morning Jo, Sophie, Rach and I, took Ozzy for a long walk across the fields and afterwards were treated to a delicious breakfast courtesy of jo & Soph. After saying our goodbyes, we headed back to our base at my brothers and then on to dinner at a great little restaurant called “Plate at No 6” in Windsor, where we met Rachel & Keith who are good friends and always great company. It was a really lovely evening. Sunday we went to play tennis with Christien in some very challenging conditions, but good fun nevertheless. It was a perfect end to a great weekend. Late Sunday afternoon we headed back up to Huntingdon, for another week with our lovely parents.

The quarantine period wasn’t too bad and whilst we stayed at my brothers, who was out of town, we took the opportunity to sort through some of our stuff that hadn’t quite managed to make it into storage. We decided that we’d keep to our early morning exercise routine, followed by a good walk, swapping coastal walks, for a walk through the forest and local park, which was both bracing but enjoyable. We carried out the quick release tests on Thursday and were released shortly thereafter. Thursday lunchtime I met some good friends for lunch in White Waltham. It was great to catch up and have a good laugh. Rach and I set sail at about midday on Friday up to Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire, to look in on my parents. Rachel parents are 20 minutes further north in Peterborough, so we’ll spend most of the coming week flitting between both sets of parents. Saturday we had arranged to meet Seb & Ally in Stamford for lunch. Stamford is a really a pretty medieval town in Lincolnshire, famed more recently for its locational use in numerous period dramas. Perhaps less known is that it’s name was adopted by Stamford, Connecticut when it was founded in 1641. We arrived at a really cute little restaurant called “The Blonde Beet” where we spent the perfect afternoon catching up on all the things that we’d missed and just enjoying being in each other’s company. We dropped Ally & Seb off at the train station and after a long embrace they heading back up north. I then dropped Rach off at her parents and headed back to spend time with mine.

We’ve pretty much used up our 90 day European allowance, so as planned we headed back to the UK to look in on family and friends, before moving on again. Our final week was a mixed bag weather wise, we had some heavy rain whilst the higher levels got snow! And the temperature gauge had definitely dropped a few degrees, which meant that other than our early morning walks a final tennis session at club Toscal, the week was taken up preparing for the UK trip. Saturday was a good day for us to leave, as it was overcast and rainy. As we were staying in the north, it meant an hour and twenty minute taxi ride to the south airport, which was a reminder why we stayed in the north, which is nice and green with a backdrop against the impressive Mt Teide, where as in complete contrast the south is like the surface of the moon. Once in the airport the checkin and customs process was relatively painless, as was our four hour flight. We touched down in London at 7pm, with a driver waiting to take us to my brothers, who had very kindly let us stay in his house for the first 5 days of the trip (quarantine BS), before heading up to see the folks.

Where we are staying, sits between 2 bell towers (stereo) and whilst it’s been really nice to hear the bells sounding out, it has also made us very aware of our mortality. The bells ring every 15 minutes. At quarter past it chimes once, at half past twice, three times for quarter to the hour and then four gongs just before the hour is announced. It really is a constant reminder that your own clock’s ticking and on occasion I’ve found myself reflecting back on the 15 minute period just past, thinking where did that go! Rachel’s not been feeling great this past week, so we’ve taken it pretty easy, but we’ve still managed an hour’s walk first thing every morning and a few mornings when we’ve played tennis. We had planned to go to the botanical garden and the archeological museum, but instead we spent our last weekend in Tenerife by the salt water lake (Lago Martianez) where I managed a couple of long icy swims, but mostly lounged around in perfect temperatures whilst soaking up the sunshine.

This was our last week at “Calle de Fragata 4” and on reflection, it has been an enoyable stay, with great walks, a very welcoming tennis club and the interesting Playa de Jardin to march along every morning at dawn. We’ve been deliberating for the past few weeks on where to go to next and as Rachel’s 90 days in Europe are up in February, we’ve decided on the African continent, but before we go we are heading back to the UK to look in on family and friends. Saturday was moving day for us, so for our final 14 days before our travel intermission, we’ve decided to try out city living and have moved downtown. Part of the trip is about being open to different lifestyles, to help us decide on where, what and how we live the next chapter of our lives, (Rachel’s much better at this than I am). We are travelling with far too much luggage, as when we left in September we really didn’t know what we’d need, we’ve got a good idea now though. I only mention this as the road we are staying in is a quaint, pedestrianised cobbled street, which meant carrying all of our luggage and shopping, without leaving it unattended on busy Saturday afternoon, from a couple of streets away to where it needed to be, it was like one of those team building exercises, topped off with our apartment being on the top floor with no elevator 🙂 Upon opening the door we were greeted with a small bijou apartment, with a lounge diner opening out onto a small enclosed balcony, a very compact bathroom, a master bedroom and a very small guest room. The location’s great, we’ve got some aclaimed restaurants, organic stores, fresh fish & veg stalls all on our doorstep, together with salt water swimming at Lago Martinez and several black beaches….Perfect!