| The Caucasus - My Journal |
Cruising to the Coast
Pamukkale -> Antalya, 1st August
I had an early start today as I had a long bus ride to my next destination, Antalya. The hotel had posted the times of the coaches, and the earliest was 9am (which mean leaving the hotel at 8am) which was early, but reasonable.
 I needed to grab a dolmus (a small bus) to the station, the word "dolmus" actually means squashed, and in this spirit the little bus was crammed full. All of the seats were taken and a dozen of us stood in the aisle, making the atmosphere very hot and sticky.. Luckily, during the journey, the bus began to empty and there were soon only three of us standing in the aisle. Suddenly, I realised that the others in the aisle were squatting or sitting while I stood nonchalantly, looking out of the window. A friendly teenager, who I'd been talking to earlier, started waving frantically and telling me to squat down. I quickly did so, and he explained "Police on road, problem!". Then after about 2 minutes he said "Ok, no problem" and we all stood again. Looks like the police don't like people standing in the aisle on these buses! Good to know for future reference...
When I got to the station, I wandered over to the ticket sales areas to be faced with a brazen and dramatically colourful wall of contrasting names. About two dozen different companies had their luminescent company logos plastered on the wall, all fighting silently to be the first one to be noticed by the traveller's brain. You see, in Turkey, there are literally dozens of different coach companies fighting it out on the routes. The stiff competition means excellent service and low prices. Much better than the prevalent and complacent National Express in the UK.
Confusingly, most companies adopt a town name as their company name, but this having no bearing on where they go to.. It'd be like going to a bus station in England to be faced with bus companies called Sheffield, Bristol and Plymouth, each of them going to various destinations, perhaps Sheffield bus from York to Edinburgh. So, I held my breath and dove in and began asking the companies "Antalya?"
The first desk I asked at said "2:30pm only. Right...a bit late. The next company also said "2:30pm only, it's the only bus of the day!". Hmm...I looked at my watch...8:30am...I wasn't waiting at the station for that long! Luckily, the third desk showed the second guy had lied by offering me a 9:30am bus. Thank God! I quickly bought a ticket before setting off to explore the large bus station and surrounding shops as a way of passing the time.
The station proved to be pretty boring, with some random shops selling very random things. But after a few minutes I came across the hotel owner, waiting by a small stand, drinking Chay, the eponymous Turkish drink that is drunk by everyone ad every time of day in copious quantities. I'd already had my fair share, every shop owner, local and passer-by will invite you to share a cup of chay with them. And as I stood chatting with the hotel owner, he bought me a cup from the stand behind him. Actually, by cup, I mean the small curved glass that chay is always drunk from. This glass doesn't have a handle and I'd quickly decided that all Turkish people have asbestos hands in order to hold these scalding hot glasses with no issues. It must be because they start drinking it when they're very young. Luckily, they often serve it on a small sauce, which makes it much easier for the untrained to hold it.
The hotel owner explained to me that although he doesn't normally like doing it, he needs to hang around the bus station to tout to tourists when they arrive. Business has been slow this summer, so extra efforts need to be made. We kept chatting for a while, then he pointed out that my bus had arrived, so I thanked him for the Chay and rushed off.
Although the journey was lengthy, it was comfortable, with complimentary tea, coffee, water and cake(!) being served during the journey. I also actually quite enjoy long coach journeys. Something about being cocooned into your small seating area, comfortable and secure, while the driver knowingly whisks you towards your destination. It's also the clam before the storm...the easy and stress-free bit before you arrive at the destination and begin the challenge of getting your bearings and finding the hotel in the scalding heat.
In Antalya, like many Turkish towns, the otogar (bus station) is a long way out of the town. Getting into the town from the otogar can be a logistical challenge with the easiest method (taxi) being ridiculously expensive and the cheapest method (local bus) being difficult to find and use. However, I'd discovered that most big companies provide free transfers between the station and the town...they just don't advertise this fact to loudly. Typically, on arrival at the station, you just need to scan the nearby area and quickly locate a small bus or van with company's logo on it. And just as I was giving up, I spotted the little van and rushed over.
I brandished my bus ticket to the mini-van driver who said something in Turkish. I waved the ticket harder, but he repeated himself a little harder. He must be asking where I want to be dropped off. "Belediye" (Town Hall) I said, which he nodded to and I climbed on board. It's strange that...how situation can often instantly translate a phrase.
 After a ridiculously circuitous route, I was deposited at the town hall, a short walk from my hotel or, more accurately, pension. As soon as I got off the bus I was hit by the stupendous heat. Seriously. I'd been travelling through hot countries for a while now, but the intense heat in this town was much more than anywhere else. Even thinking causes sweat to gush out of every pore. Even though Antalya is a costal town, it still manages to retain this awesome heat. Luckily, I quickly found my pension and even more luckily, my four bed dorm had air conditioning. Not bad for £6 per night including breakfast!
I checked in as fast as I could and rushed into the dorm, sealing the door behind me, and earnestly powered the air-conditioning up. The room quickly became fridge-like, and I enjoyed the fantastic temperature for 15 or 20 minutes before setting out to explore the town.
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