Despite the previous day's riding I awoke feeling quite good and ready to take on Alanya. I looked out from my window to see the Mediterranean had some remaining windswell and the water and sky were much cleaner than last night. There were even a couple of people out surfing the fine Mediterranean break.
I had chosen the Grand Okan after reading many good reviews, and the hotel is fine and the price was quite good.....However, I was not expecting to be greeted so many times with guten morgen by so many older, overweight, red-faced, suntanned, tattooed, sandal and socks wearing Germans. My responses in English didn't make a difference with several continuing to speak to me in German. I was later informed that the area is very popular with Germans and a few more Northern European holidaymakers.
Since this was my first day on the Mediterranean coast and one of the places I had researched I was sure I had information on what to see and do in Alanya. I had the information for Alanya Castle saved in the iPad but I knew there was more that I wanted to see here…..
The day looked to be off to a good start on the Mediterranean in Alanya.
I headed off for the Castle making my way through one of the gates in the wall only to find myself walking past private homes up narrower and narrower lanes of diminishing quality until I found myself with only vague pedestrian tracks through the grasses and over the rock towards the outer perimeter wall of the castle.
One of the many remaining dwellings inside the castle walls.
I continued on and reached the wall and climbed up, over the fallen bottom steps, to the steps running along the upper edge of the castle wall. The space at the top of the steps was very narrow and I wondered how many soldiers may have died falling from up there while trying to defend the city.....? I returned safely to the rocky hillside to climb further up without really knowing why, or where I was going within Alanya Castle.
It was fairly rugged going and the ledge up on the wall is rather narrow.
With great views down the steep cliffs to the sea.
It was good to be out of the motorcycle gear.
Eventually I sighted a viewing platform well above me and continued scrambling up over the rocks, through the shrubbery and grass to make the vantage point that has wonderful views down to the Alanya Port and over the city and coastline. Since I had barely seen another person for the past 45mins I assumed I hadn't made the actual tourist attraction yet. I continued up the roadway with the other tourists and found the gates to the inner castle.
The view down over Alanya.
I paid the entrance fee and quickly saw what was there to be seen - a little disappointing after I had clambered around the publicly accessible areas for over around an hour.
The Inner Castle that you pay for is less rewarding than the rugged public areas.
As I exited the Alanya Castle the nagging in my mind that there was another reason why I wanted to visit Alanya continued. As I rounded one of the bends in the steep road down to the port area I remembered that there may be a local brew pub in Alanya. My recollection of a Google Earth place marker were right. I checked the BB's Internet and I was very close. I easily found Red Tower Brewery Restaurant and sampled their two varieties available at the time, Pilsner and Martzen. The Pilsner was quite cloudy and not like most typical Pilsners while the Martzen was quite a good darker beer.
I was glad to have remembered and found what I was looking for in Alanya - a small-scale brewery.
Decorated ships in Alanya Harbour.
Interesting children's wear in Alanya shops
Socks and sandals were everywhere in Alanya
After returning to the hotel I relaxed for a while before heading out for Tex Mex dinner at a nearby eatery. The place, like many, was almost deserted. I moved on to the Nordic Garden, where I had enjoyed a few beers the night before and finished the evening there. I received a brief education in how a DJ does his job these days - two YouTube clips running at the same time on the laptop with volume adjustments between the two clips. Surprisingly two Norwegians came to the Nordic Garden and we briefly discussed our travel plans - theirs to stay in Alanya for 2 weeks and me to leave after two nights - both plans seemed unusual to the other.