The Mall of Migros

On Wednesday there was a trip planned into Antalya.  We have been into town a couple of times now seeing everything from the hardware store to the symphony but hadn’t actually done any of the site seeing so we grabbed at the chance with this trip.  Jenny organized the trip and oddly enough the only people who went were in a small cluster on our dock which was sort of cool.  The first half of the day was devoted to visiting Old Town Antalya and the second half was a shopping excursion to the Migros Center which is the big mall in Antalya. 

Antalya was a hot bed of activity because it was another Ataturk Day.  This time it was on the day of his death so it was considered more of a memorial.  It was also great getting to see the Old Town and a part of town we hadn’t visited before.

Mosques, clock towers, and Christmas lights!  Does life get any better?  The clock tower or Saat Kulesi, signifies Kalekapisi which is one of the interfaces where Old Town meets New Town.

Welcome to paradise.  This was taken from a park just outside of the Old Town.  There are luxury hotels and apartment buildings lining the cliffs of the city.

We were walking with a couple other people in search of a metal working place that had been moved since the last time they were in town and instead we found a street of what appeared to be antique stores.  There were carts like this one in front of stores and then brass pots and pitchers inside. 

This guy was beating a design into the brass bowl he was working on and I’m assuming this is his wife who helps run the shop.  I liked how it looked in black and white better.

We didn’t go inside the McDonalds, but per tradition we took a photo of Dad outside.  We did however walk up the street with Jenny, Eliza, and Ben and had a cup of coffee at a local Starbucks.  The ice cream place that used to be there wasn’t any more so we went with a 6.75TL tall white mocha instead.

This is the Ataturk statue where Old Town and New Town meet.  Because it was a type of memorial day there were these circle crest type of things surrounding it.  We saw them on Ataturk day at a local statue and aren’t real sure what the purpose is.  I’m thinking it’s certain organizations showing respect or something?  There were also scout troops all around holding flags, holding up the scout sign at an eternal flame that was lit, or holding other signs.

Dad, Mow, and I posing in front of the Ataturk statue.  You can see the flames and scouts holding up their signs.

This is the “Old Bazaar” which is now a line of t-shirt vendors.  It was an actual Turkish bazaar in its heyday, and now has rude American graphic T-shirts and Levis on sale.  The cistern in the foreground has a sign that says “Historical Cistern, 1799”. 

This is Dad standing in front of one half of Hadrian’s Gate that leads into the Old Town.  It was constructed in honor of the visit by the Roman emperor in AD 130.

Mow and I are posing in front of the other half of the gate.  I like this half better because there is an inscription that says that Sultan Aladdin had it commissioned or restored or something along those lines which made me smile.  Prince Ali-Abubu.

This is a view from the inside.  It was a really pretty and big gate.

This is the street that leads from Hadrian’s Gate to Karaalioğlan Parkı where Dad and I got a little lost.  The street reminded me of St. George Street in St. Augustine.

There were shoe shine people like this lining the streets.  Dad got one Croc done just to see what he was going to do.  By the end of the day the shine was lost.

“I went to a Turkish rug shop and bought… a Mickey and Minnie carpet?” I could see how that conversation would go down in Orlando.

This is the inside of the Korkut Mosque which was also a church, then a mosque again, then a church again, then finally a mosque until a fire destroyed it in 1896.

What is left of the mosque.  It was previously known as the Korkut Mosque after Prince Korkut, then as the Friday Mosque, and once the fire got the second floor the truncated mosque.

Dad and I got lost once we reached Karaalioğlan Parkı.  We had gone separate from the rest of the group to see Old Town and ran into the park on accident.  It was really pretty and right on the water which was really nice. 

This is a view of the Old Town from the top of one of the cliffs.  There is an Old Harbor at the base by the water which we didn’t have time to visit.  I’m excited to go back with Bryan and explore more when he comes to visit.

Migros was… a mall.  It looked a lot bigger from the outside than it actually was, but it was a lot of fun to look around anyway.  When you get through the metal detectors and bag checks at the entrance to the right is the Migros store which is like a Target; lots of groceries, electronics, cleaning products, and soaps.  The stores inside the actually mall range from Tommy Hillfigure and Nine West to some high end Turkish stores lining the first two floors.  The third floor has a movie theater, CD/book shop, electronic shop, rug shop, and other shops with odds and ends.  There is also a food court well equipped with a Starbucks, McDonalds, Arbys, and various Gyro places.  Dad and I had an Arby’s roast beef sandwich and curly fries as a toast to home.  We didn’t buy anything else except for an Ataturk t-shirt I found in Migros and a plastic bin to try and turn into storage for anchor chain.  It was nice to just walk around and see what was being sold though and get that needless window shopping fix.  It’s also good that we now know where a movie theater is and we talked to Jenny about possibly making a marina trip to see Harry Potter if it comes out in English here.