Antalya: Europe’s best kept secret

MY JOB mostly relies on tips and story ideas. Depending on your connections, you receive calls, emails or texts from people who think that there might be a story worth telling. At times it is stuff that you are not too keen on and other times it is stuff that will keep you on your toes…anything really. A few weeks ago, I received one from Burchin Isler, the country manager of Turkish Airlines. “Get a free week, dust your passport, I have something to show you,” he said. I got a free week, dusted my passport as per instructions and hoped it was not a kidnap script. Antalya, a seven-hour flight from Kigali (if you do not miss a connecting flight) was what he wanted me to see. Located in Turkey’s southern part, Antalya is an hour’s flight from Istanbul, the Turkish capital. The first aerial view you get as you land doesn’t give a hint of a holiday destination but rather an area keen on agriculture. From the sky, you spot greenhouse after greenhouse, occasionally interrupted by a farm with what looks like oranges. Half an hour’s drive from the airport however proves otherwise, the farms make way to resorts and five star hotels, all in their best light possible to impress. Slightly past the lineup of hotels, the land makes way for the ocean with the converging point being sandy beaches. Tales have it that years back, men owned large tracks of land and in their wills they would leave the fertile farming lands to the sons and girls would get beach plots which were not considered valuable back them. It is said that ladies will always have a way to get things done, and the women with beach plots figured a way to make the most of their inheritance, they built fancy restaurants and in an attempt to outdo each other, they all brought their best foot forward. When you look up Antalya on Google images, you come across numerous images of blue waters, almost yellow sandy beaches. And in real life, it doesn’t disappoint. The convenience of most hotels in Antalya is that once you are booked in, they offer an all inclusive package. That means you have access to all the services on the menu without having to pay for them. You want to have breakfast like it is the last day of your life? Knock yourself out. You feel like sitting all day at the bar ordering beers? You are taken care of. As the beach side restaurants have been trying to outdo each other by décor and design, they have also taken to price competition and quality service provision. With this, Antalya has in recent years become a top tourist destination for a majority of European tourists, making it a leading destination for tourists from Germany and Russia amongst other countries. A spot check around several hotels at Lara beach, a beach that spans about 12 kilometres to the east of the city centre, reveals that a standard hotel features a beach front, meaning one has access to activities like jet skiing, two or more pools (including an indoor pool) several bars (where you do not have to pay for drinks by the way) a gym, spa and amphitheatre amongst other features. Sandy beaches is not all Antalya has to offer, there are ancient museums like the Antalya Museum which has remains from the ottoman times and Ataturk Museum which has objects from the times of the Turkish Republic founder Ataturk. These museums and ancient sites leave nothing out when telling the country’s history and culture. The area also has a dozen or so ancient mosques, still beautiful, serene and thought evoking as they were when they were built centuries ago. Whatever time of the year you go to Antalya, you will still have fun. If you are there over summer and spring, you get to swim, take a walk by the beach, feel the sand between your toes and the sun on your face. If you are there over winter, you get to go skiing in the snowy Toros Mountains and swim in indoor heated pools, then stand by glass windows and watch the snow come down like it’s the end of humanity. As Mehmet Bahar, who runs a tourism agency says, Antalya’s variety of tourist attractions has seen it grow as a tourist destination not only for guests from Europe but all over the world, Africa included. “Last year we received about 12 million tourists with the numbers growing every year, a large number of them are repeat tourists, which means that they are impressed by what they see.” Unlike most touristic towns, Antalya feels new and fresh but that is because most of the tourism infrastructure, including resorts, are not more than 20 years old. “15 or so years ago, Antalya was known for its fruit production and other agricultural activities. Tourism is fairly a new venture but the industry players are trying their best,” Bahar says in a heavy Turkish accent. And it is evident that they are. Cab drivers, waiters and waitresses will speak in broken French and English as they address guests which will impress you because it is not how fluent they speak that matters but their struggle while at it. The people are warm and kind and in some parts of town, they might want to take a picture with you because it is rare that they get to see guests of your skin complexion. Though they have a variety of alcoholic drinks, including one of Europe’s best beers, Efes, Turks are not heavy drinkers but they make up for it by smoking – almost 8 out of every 15 people I met were smoking. Turks know how to have a good time during meal time, when they have time to eat, it is mostly course meals that feature appetizers that are mostly varieties of vegetables and cheese and pepper in generous measures (so you do not have to worry about calories) the main meals have either lamb, chicken or beef. Pork is unavailable in Turkey. The best part is dessert, which is made up of pastries and ice cream. Those who like drinking wash it down with an alcoholic drink, ‘Raki’ that keeps the appetite up. The best thing about it is that it is affordable; some tourist agencies in town will tell you that a week in Zanzibar, Tanzania or Mombasa in Kenya costs more than a week in Antalya. At this time of the year, it won’t take you back more that USD 1600 (Rwf 1.1m) to get a week of five star treatment with air tickets from Turkish Airlines included.