Hatay (Antioch) to Patara: A Journey in Photos

I'm working on a blog post in conjunction with what Brendan wrote about our Tea Garden Altercation, but it's taking me awhile to say what I want to say so it will come later.

For now, enjoy some photos of a few of our stops in Turkey!

The top three photos here are from the ruins at Patara - birthplace of St. Nicholas (better known as Santa Claus). My camera batteries were crapping out, but I got a few shots of the theater, which is still in fairly good condition (a little clean-up and they could probably hold performances there).

Below, a few photos from Anamur, our stop before Patara - there is a fine pebble beach here (no sand means no need for a beach blanket) with clear aqua blue water. There are also the ruins of an extensive city - once Anamurium - destroyed sometime around the 5th or 6th century AD. The ruins run right to the beach, so to swim you often have to climb over remains of walls and building blocks of marble that were probably some guy's house 1,500 years ago.

Here you can see the remains of a Roman mosaic, in situ, within the ruins. Below, a popular swimming hole in the late afternoon in Anamurium, as seen from a vantage point on the citadel of the Old City wall.

To get from Anamur to Patara, you have to transfer in Antalya. From there you take a minibus which can either go on the winding road along the coast (nausea-inducing) or take the route we took, over the mountains and through the backcountry. Beautiful, but if you get a driver who drops people off not just at their village but at their own house it can add an hour or two to your trip.

Below, a few photos from Kalkan, known as an upmarket Mediterranean tourist hotspot with great food (and the food really was great). It wasn't my cup of tea but fine for a day.

And now, some photos from Hatay, near Musa Dagh. We stayed in Hatay as it was the most convenient base from which to make the trip to Musa Dagh, and has a lot to recommend it on its own. Not quite enough to fill up three days, but the world's first known church (the Cave Church of St. Peter), a fine bazaar, an orthodox church, a lovely shopping and nightlife strip and a fine mosaic museum are all there to enjoy.