On to the coast: Antalya

We flew out of Kayseri to Istanbul and caught a connecting flight which brought us to the shores of the Med and into Antalya by around 2pm.  It's a popular city named after one of Alexander the Great's generals who was left behind to mind the shop when he pressed on to do more conquering. The old city is a rabbit warren of little streets happily with quite a number of surviving Anatolian style houses with a protruding upper storey that looks like a balcony, rather medieval in style. Some are fallen into ruin but can not be knocked down any more. Most of them are now in service as boutique hotels and restaurants, shops and cafes to service the tourist industry.
We set out almost at once to explore and after snaking around for a while dodging the mildly pestering salesmen (and our guide said nothing here is made in Turkey) we descended to the harbour which is deep below the cliffs.  This makes it particularly good for defensive purposes and that is one reason it was chosen as a site, plus that the silt which comes down from the Taurus mountains behind the coastal plain and clogs up the rivers, would not harm their trade entry.  Many other cities from antiquity (such as Aspendos which we visit tomorrow) had to be abandoned as the silt blocked up the river mouth and rendered defunct their role as a trading port.
That same silt makes the soil fabulously fertile and this area supplies much of the fruit and veg for the whole of Turkey. Also they grow cotton, produce apricots, pomegranates and other exportable items.
We are seeing through the ruins and pottery histories that being in the location at the connection of 3 continents is a bit of a curse as well as a blessing.  The latter because constant flow of trade, ideas, peoples and languages enriched the place.  The former because everyone wanted to control it.  Assyrians and Egyptians, Hittites, Mesopotamians, Seljuks and the list goes on.
The existence of these sheer cliffs means that when the rivers reach the edge of the land they pour over the edge in beautiful waterfalls.  Our boat motored along the coast for a good hour before we saw the waterfall and it was a very jolly outing, with good light and skies BUT rolling waters.  We almost had to tie ourselves down and it was hard to move about and take photos.  Happily I was not seasick.
More fun facts:  Firoozan (this is for Grace and Soroosh) means turquoise apparently, which I'm sure they know, but I didn't.  It's a popular colour for luck in this region.
We have all seen the blue 'eye' which is worn as jewellery around the middle east and countries from Morocco, Egypt, etc.  It is commonly described as a symbol to ward off the evil eye.
In fact, it originates with the legend of Medusa.  It represents her single eye, and its ability to absorb evil.  The idea is that if you wear one or put one outside your home or business, that anyone with evil intentions or thoughts will not be able to inflict them on you, as the eye will 'take them in'.  The blue also represents the sky.  So there.  Bet you didn't know that!