The Joys of Turkish Buses Cont.

A few weeks ago I went on a short day trip with my American friend. It was my first time this year exploring somewhere else in the Antalya province, which I hope to do a lot of this year. We went to the towns Side (pronounced See-Day) and Alanya and had a pretty marvelous day.

This trip again reminded me that one doesn’t need to freak out about things in Turkey, that eventually everything works out just fine. Turkish buses (usually) are a fine example of this.

We first went to Side, about an hour east of Antalya on the Mediterranean coast. It’s a small town and is mostly famous for its ruins. We got to the Antalya otogar (bus station) at about 9:30am. We easily found the right bus, which leave quite frequently every 20 minutes. One doesn’t take a bus to Side though, but to a neighboring town and then have to take a service bus to Side. So that was bus number two. The Side otogar is very conveniently located right next to the ruins. We walked through them a bit, but then went into town for an early lunch. Restaurants lined the small harbor (which reminded me of Cyprus and Lebanon) and we were overcharged for our iced coffees and pizzas. This is something a bit annoying here—being treated like tourists and ridiculously overcharged even though we live here. We walked back through the ruins and climbing over some I fell and scrapped my leg. Veronica said it was my battle wound from the ancient wall. Took some nice pictures there though, and then got on bus number three to Manavgat to take another bus (number four) one hour further east to Alanya. Got on that bus easily and took a nice afternoon nap.

Then we arrived in Alanya. We were dropped off at the small bus station rather than the otogar and were a bit confused at first. After verifying with three Turkish male bus drivers we learned which city bus to take to the Alanya Castle and waited for that one (20 minute wait). Again, were overcharged for a coke. Bus number five. To the top of the hill that offered a crazy beautiful view of Alanya. Looks just like coastal Italy. We paid the 10 lira to get inside the “castle” just for the chance to take more photos. Then bus number six back down the hill to the beach. At the base we decided to go into the Damlataş cave, famous for its healing powers for people with asthma due to its very high humidity. Not sure if I got cured though. We enjoyed a nice dinner on the main street off the beach and talked the waiter into giving us happy hour prizes. Win. I had the best pasta with real cheese that I’ve ever had in Turkey! Quick stop at McDonald’s for a mcflurry. Then took the city bus to the otogar (bus number seven) for our bus back to Antalya (bus number eight). Again, got a bus as soon as we got there.

Heading back to Antalya we realize this is more than a two-hour drive. Not sure how that figured. Anyway, we unfortunately didn’t get back into Antalya for two-and-a-half hours at 9:30pm. Then took the tram back to the city center (tram number two, first one was in the morning). Then took the city bus (number nine) back to my house and got home around 11pm.

It was a long day, but that wasn’t the point of me writing all this. It’s that there really are joys to Turkish buses. They do all work out. Or maybe it’s just these short, local ones…