Discovering The Ancient Past Of Turkey: This Is AMAZING – My Excuse…
In my recent post about Italy and Tunisia there was ONE KEY DETAIL that I purposely failed to mention – This was that I had already booked to fly to Antalya Turkey. Only 2 days after getting back, and my excuse was I was Interested in Discovering The Ancient Past of Turkey.
It was Insane really. For the 40 odd hours I was back home for It was very hectic. As well as pushing myself to get ready for this next excursion I had also booked a driving lesson and I had all my eBay orders to get ready that I sold whilst in Italy/Tunisia.
My driving lesson did NOT exactly go well either. I wasn’t sure if this was just my autistic brain or all the extra pressure I was putting myself under getting myself ready for this next trip, but, STILL this was my plan.
Coming back home and heading straight to Turkey once I had caught up with everything. I did look at coming from Italy and at one point I was looking at stopping over in Bucharest for one night but the more I thought about it – it was a much better plan to just come back home for a couple days.
This was definitely a better Idea than going to Romania as well lol – travelling in this way really does take it out of you. I’m sure anyone would feel like this – it’s just so much to take in. One day your on a plane coming back home and before you know it then off you go again.
I always wanted to do this – when I was in Malta in 2023 with my Mother I wanted to come home and fly straight back. I kind of did this going back to Gibraltar earlier this year but never have I gone back away in such a short time until now.
I’m not sure I’ll be in such a rush to do this again in all honesty. It was pretty brutal, but this trip really Interested me and this was what I really wanted to come here for – as well as another BIG reason I will share soon.
Discovering The Ancient Past of Turkey…
SO, Before I got my flight here to Antalya Turkey I had found out that my sister was flying here – after her holiday to Tunisia – which I went on and she didn’t – was cancelled.
That was – I’m not going to lie – why I started looking at flights and what there was to do in Turkey. I watch a lot of videos about Hidden History on YouTube and one thing I see was the 2 day tour to Cappadocia.
Here is where you can find ‘Derinkuyu Underground City‘.
Exploring Derinkuyu
This place if you don’t know about Turkey is an Underground Ancient City believed to have been built in the 8th Century by by the Indo-European Phrygians. It was said to have been a refuge centre by Christians in the Byzantine era, and an even older theory is it was built by the Anatolian Hittites in the 15th century BC.
My favourite theory is that it was built during the Younger Dryas Event about 14,500 years ago. This idea would mean THIS and other underground cities that Derinkuyu are also connected to would have been constructed around the same time as Göbekli Tepe.
Göbekli Tepe up in Mount Nemrut is in another part of Turkey that is Incredibly fascinating. It is an ancient astronomical clock that is certainly one of the worlds greatest mysteries.
I didn’t think of coming to Turkey to see this. It didn’t even register in my brain but what did was Derinkuyu and The Sunken City of Kekova.
It was a shame really as I never did get to go to any of these places. My time here was only 5 days and really I wanted to see my family.
I think I will have to go back now because I haven’t really had the kind of experience I wanted coming here in this respect but it did still have it’s moments as I will explain.
Getting Into Antalya, Airport Turkey
Getting into Turkey was pretty painless. Prior to this I had 3 buses to catch back in England. One to drop off my post locally and then two more to get to Luton airport.
I arrived at Luton with about an hour and a half to spare. Just enough time to NOT have to worry about rushing around but I wasn’t too early so I didn’t really have to wait for too long either.
The flight was nowhere near full. It was probably less than half full with passengers. It was almost like there was 3 seats to every passenger. I would have been curious how these last minute flight deals would work out here – I wonder how much cheaper I could have actually got here for.
I mean actually this is a big incentive for me to come back as well. There seems to be a lot of cheap flights during the day from Luton to Antalya and I could probably do this without breaking the bank – if I’m smart (I think).
Although, I suppose maybe one thing that may put people off is It is a very long flight – the longest flight (I think) I’ve ever been on – 4 1/2 hours (I’m sure it was), and not exactly smooth flying either.
I am sure there was thunder and lightening during the flight because there was on the road to my hotel after. It was kind of unbelievable really – here I was following my sister to Turkey and bringing the bad weather with me lol
That was my joke.
My Real Reason For Coming To Turkey
So, as mentioned – my sister was here in Turkey with her partner and kids. Originally she was supposed to have been at the hotel where I stayed in Tunisia but the travel agents cancelled this booking and rearranged a holiday for a week after here in Manavgat near Alanya.
The thing was that I had this funny Idea about surprising my baby niece in Tunisia. It was a shame that this didn’t end up happening because I think they would have loved it here (like I did) but still it was nice to do this in Turkey.
It was a shame I didn’t end up doing the Cappadocia tour. This also included a Hot Air Balloon ride – something I’ve wanted to experience for a while now. Not actually specifically here in Turkey but I think this is one of the cheaper places.
So, I ended up cancelling the tour. It looked amazing but it was at ridiculous times – this tour starts at 3:30 AM in the morning and ends at 3:30AM 48 hours later. I would have gone under different circumstances but the only dates I got was when I was staying at my sisters hotel.
I paid £180 on the Agoda App for these 2 nights. My other place prior to this was only £21 a night and it just wasn’t worth it paying this if I wasn’t going to be here.
I mean I STILL want to do this. I will have to come back especially but on this occasion there was no way I wanted to miss out on spending time with my family. My little Niece – I actually couldn’t wait to see her, and when I did it was absolutely all worth it. I think she was very happy to see me (and Teddy) as well.
My First Night In Turkey
This was a bit of a concern. I was relieved the day before when I realized I had good time to get to the airport in England but when I thought about actually getting here – what dawned on me was that I wasn’t getting to Turkey till late and my hotel wasn’t exactly close to the airport.
I didn’t check what the time was when I got off my plane. It was supposed to be 23:15 in Turkish time but I think it was a bit later than this because the plane took a while to take off and it took a while to land.
My thought was Initially that I would take 3 different buses to where I was staying. My first Hotel (The Aroma Butik Hotel) is typically around 2 1/2 hours by public transport. At an earlier time I think this may have been doable but not on this occasion.
Getting a taxi was all I could really do. It looked like I could get one for around 50 euros. I would have been happy with this but in the end I paid around £75 GBP equivalent booking with Uber.
I was at peace with this – because of the distance but I will say if your coming to Turkey see if you can sort transfer before you get here. I thought I could be smart by using one of the apps – Uber, InDrive or Taksi but all drivers try to charge top end, and you can’t really arrange a price on the app before.
I will talk a bit more about taxis over here later in this blog but just a bit of advice to share – look on sites like Viator.com and Booking.com for transfers this is the cheapest way I have found and this is what I did on the way back.
Also, get Turkish Lira or Euro before you get here because the ATMS are very expensive.
*Note: Another good thing to note is The Turkish have to take Lira as it is their currency but a lot of places will gladly take Euros, and even seem to prefer Euros than Lira.
Getting To The Aroma Butik Hotel
I got to the Aroma Butik Hotel around 1:20AM. The receptionist was sleeping on the sofa when I got here but he got up and give me my key. The room I was quite surprised about – it was really nice I thought. For 21 GBP a night I felt like I got a great deal and I would for many reasons definitely come to stay again.
Big TV to watch, Youtube on as well but just one thing I learned the next day – the location isn’t really the best, and I found this out the very next morning when I got up to go out.
Meeting My Baby Niece and Family The Next Day For a Boat Trip – My Best Day!
The next morning I was already booked for my first tour. My sisters doing but fair play to her because I wouldn’t have gone otherwise.
It was a bit worrying really because I needed to try and get to my sisters hotel up the road for 8. I realized that morning how useless the taxi apps are here. I was up at 7 and I needed to be at my sisters hotel for 8 but I could not get through to anyone. It seems they will only respond by call or WhatsApp which I didn’t know.
It got pretty desperate the closer it got to 8 and if it wasn’t for my sisters partner getting me picked up by the tour bus I would not have made it.
I was so relieved when I got the message saying the bus was coming to get me and when I got on it felt so good to finally see my little niece. I am not sure if she knew I was getting on the bus. She is nearly 2 but she is very clued up. I like to think that this was a nice surprise for her but maybe she knew before.
I brought both my teddy and Sweep puppet for her to play with when I got on the bus. She was very excited and this was just the start of it.
The tour was one of the many river boat tours here. It was on a pirate ship. They was walking round with a Red Macaw Parrot and Bearded Dragon taking photos. I see what they was doing straight away – taking photos to sell them after.
My sister didn’t make the boat trip but her partner did and he paid for the photos of my niece. He paid 40 euros for 3 photos – expensive but she did look pretty cute in them. They tried to sell me my own pictures as well but no way was I paying 30 Euros lol I wanted to hold the Parrot but this was it really.
The Rest of The Tour – What Was It Like?
The boat trip generally had some quite amazing views. I don’t know what it is like for others but I like to see these natural landscapes. Even on long coach trips I try to look out the window as much as I can and take in the views.
There was a mountain range in the background. It made me think of Mt. Arafat where apparently they found Noah’s Ark. I learned that this is actually in Armenia but besides this the sea was a beautiful green-blue colour.
I didn’t like a lot of things about Turkey but this was amazing to look at, and this was not everything. We had 3 stops after this. The first was a beach where I had a lovely walk down with my older niece. It was a bit of an odd place really as its a beach and river right next to each other but it was nice for its views.
Not as much though as the next place THIS was very special. It is a tourist stop with restaurants, an ice cream stand, with a few other places but MOSTLY here there is an amazing waterfall.
They have these carved wooden sculptures here too. I thought they was quite amazing. Whoever made these is clearly very talented. They wasn’t as special as the waterfall but in their own right they was quite a spectacle.
After this it was back on the bus. We had one final stop at one of the markets. We had a walk around for a bit but in the end we left to go to a restaurant. My little niece had a nice time playing with the kittens and driving in the little car here.
She was playing football with the locals for a bit after this. They was very good with her. Even though they was trying to play there own game they was still passing here the ball. She is too young to play properly but that was nice of them.
I got dropped off at my sisters hotel after we all left here. I had some food and drink here, and had a walk around with my niece for a mini tour. It is quite a big place and it was a lot more complex than where I stayed in Tunisia but I think I did prefer it over there really.
Getting Back and The Next Day
One thing I noticed on this night is how expensive it is to get from here – Armas Pemar Beach Hotel to the Aroma Butik Hotel. It was either £20 or £25 for the taxi and it isn’t really too far to get between both places – 10 Minutes driving.
It was the reason I came here – because I thought I could save some money on my first couple of nights but seriously factoring in these extra costs It was very annoying for me.
It was something I really didn’t like about here in Turkey. There were no buses I don’t think either. You just have to kind of grin and bear it.
It was a shame because at the Aroma Butik Hotel I was getting a good feeling about the place. Just how its built, AGAIN the price! and just being able to take the short walk down to the beach out the back.
The Swimming Pool isn’t really nothing special and the shower in my room was broken but they had hot water so I still felt like for £21 a night it was a good deal.
I am not sure what the deal is here with lunch and dinner. Breakfast is free but I went for lunch one day and there was nothing there so don’t know how this is.
I really should ask as I probably wouldn’t mind staying here again but I would want to know about the other meals I think.
Going Back To Armas Beach Hotel
I got 2 more taxis on this day. One to Armas Pemar Beach Hotel and one back. I managed to get the one back for about £18 and I think I paid more to get here. Getting here was a pain because I could not phone through to my sister, her boyfriend or my niece, or actually my nephew.
I had to walk off because I was getting proper interrogated. No one could understand me. Not even the English speaking woman who they went and got
It was very nerve wracking. I just walked off and headed to the shop. There was a track heading towards the forest from here. It looked like wild bear territory lol. I turned around after about 20 minutes when my niece finally called me back.
At the hotel my sisters boyfriend had the idea to go out for dinner. I suppose really this was better for me having the initial trouble getting into the hotel. So I was not here really for that long. It was off again to the next place.
Having Dinner at The Palm Restaurant in Alanya
On my last night I stayed at the Aroma Butik I ended up coming here to the Palm Restaurant up the road in Alanya with my Sister her partner and my 2 nieces.
The food here was pretty good. I think it was about 22 euros for my mixed grill. It felt nice to eat something proper because I hadn’t really eaten too well up to this point.
So, I’m not sure exactly what Palm Restaurant this was in Alanya. There are a few different ones with this name but this one is right by a big indoor market. Lots of places for shopping. I had a walk round with my niece. I bought a magnet and a postcard and I was persuaded to try one of the powdered mango tea drinks.
I’m sure the shopkeeper would have liked me to buy some but really I was just not wanting to spend any money anywhere else except the restaurant.
The taxi ride back after this as mentioned cost me £18. It was pretty bad because I was in a taxi back from the restaurant anyway.
I had something like 600 Liras (10.00 GBP) but it was not enough for the driver to carry on 10 minutes up the road.
So, I had to come back to the hotel and get some more money together – basically another 400 Liras. I got a number for a driver on WhatsApp – he was after 1500 (£27 GBP) Liras to drive me back. I said I had only 1050 – he eventually agreed to this price but by this point I’d already got one from hotel reception.
I don’t know what it’s like in other parts of Turkey but over here in Margavat/Alanya – the taxi drivers will rinse you on most occasions.
Walking To The Pemar Beach From Aroma Butik
The next day it was time for me to leave Aroma Butik. I stayed on this day I think till about 12, had breakfast, took a walk down to the beach, had a paddle in the sea and dropped off my keys.
I decided that I wouldn’t get a taxi to Pemar Beach Hotel after this, and Instead I would walk the whole way.
In my head I was thinking that surely if its only 10 minutes to drive up the road then its not going to take me 2 hours like it says on Google maps.
WELL – it was a nice walk and it wasn’t. I think it took me around 110 minutes altogether. The beaches here aren’t really that great. The sea is nice but its all pebbles and dirty sand.
I was basically walking through every hotel resort along the way – as each pretty much has their own areas of beach and you need to cross through to get past.
It was funny because a few places were asking to see my wrist band. I just had to walk off and at other points parts of the beach were separated by mini streams and I had to take my trainers off to get through.
I then couldn’t wear my trainers at certain points because my feet were covered in sand and then I had to walk over the rocks. It was one of several reasons I should have got some sliders/crocs – something like that.
At one hotel I’m sure it said it was a Turtle Sanctuary. The name I don’t even remember but I had a good 10 minutes here. I was hoping to see a Turtle or two but I unfortunately only see frogs and tadpoles.
I was a bit worried after this because my phone battery was getting low and I wasn’t sure if I was heading in the right direction – but sure enough I kept walking and finally I arrived on foot at the Pemar Beach Hotel.
My Last 2 Days / Nights At Pemar Beach Hotel
It was nice to finally come here to where my sister and family was – under the circumstances that I was now actually booked to stay here.
I was a bit early for check in (I think). They told to leave my bags at reception and go have dinner whilst they got my room ready.
The room wasn’t as good as either my room in Tunisia or at the Aroma Butik – except the working shower. It is hard to complain really for £90 a night – you have all sorts to do here. Gym, games room, large pool, spa, kids activities and the list goes on.
I think the restaurant didn’t really satisfy me so much. It was all you can eat for free granted but it was more quantity than quality really. It kind of reminded me of a school or prison canteen. It wasn’t really that bad but it was so much better in Tunisia. I suppose there just wasn’t much I wanted to eat here really.
So, I won’t write the hotel off for that – it was nice taking my little niece swimming here and it was quite funny seeing her dance at the kids disco. I think she had a great time here. For anyone with kids I think this would be a good hotel to come to. I can’t say if there are any others that are better – there is about 20 in a row.
I paid £90 a night to stay here and booked on the Agoda app. This was much cheaper than what I was quoted on Booking.com. Well worth taking a look at.
So, I could have done a lot more during my stay here. I was feeling pretty ill towards the end of my stay. Probably chronic fatigue from coming here so soon after Tunisia. It was worth coming though – I had my complaints but it was a nice family holiday in the end.
Leaving Turkey
The good thing was that I managed to arrange my airport transfer for quite cheap compared. It was £48.00 on Booking.com – compared to the £75 I paid to get here I really wish I had of known before I got here that I could do this.
It was a bit of a tough morning. My trainers were still soaked. I didn’t say above but me and my sister went in the sea and she was hysterical laughing at me because I wasn’t coming in properly – I was getting as far as the rocks and they were hurting my feet so much that I didn’t come in any further.
I was just sitting down on the shore and getting struck repeatedly by the waves. My trainers were nearly goners – I had them on the beach a wave struck them and they almost nearly got dragged into the sea.
So, I had to get some sliders / crocs in the end and I had to wear these the whole next day – getting on the plane, getting off the plane, getting on the bus, walking around Stevenage – I must have looked like a right wally.
I couldn’t get the bus I wanted in Stevenage either because road was closed. 15 minutes I had to walk in my sliders. It was nice to get back home but I did feel very ill after this. It took me a couple days to recover.
My Idea For Going Back To Turkey
There are some reasons I wouldn’t go back to Turkey for. Namely to not have to pay for expensive hotels and taxis but I would maybe stay in the Aroma Butik again for £21 a night and definitely there is Discovering The Ancient Past Of Turkey…
Gobekle Tepe, Derrinkuru, and Mount Nemrut, and the Sunken City of Kekova.
I would have to get planning with some tours I think and I would have to be staying (I think) somewhere cheap. I would like to go to Aroma Butik Hotel. Just because it is really nice here but I think maybe central Antalya would be better.
Basically, I think Derrinkuyu I could get to on the Cappadocia tour, and the Sunken City as long as I book in advance I could book around the same time but Mount Nemrut / Gobekle Tepe that would have to be something else and I’d maybe have to get to another location.
>>>Find Out More About – The 12 Main Ancient Sites of Turkey HERE<<
I probably would spend maybe 2-3 weeks in Turkey. If I could get these 3 trips done and maybe go to the waterfall again I’d be pretty happy with this.
Maybe next year I want to try and do this cheap as possible but will see how this turns out. When it happens I will write a new post but for now I hope you liked reading about me gate crashing my sisters holiday.
Leave a comment to let me know what you think below.
Many thanks for reading;
Alex and Teddy
Keen traveller and digital nomad looking to share my stories from my international trips with my faithful companion Mr Bean 2.0 (Alex Chivers).