Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Travelpalooza 2.10

The morning before we left the Hotel Miracle (!) in Antalya (!) on the coast of the Mediterranean (!), I wandered around with a camera. Because the place was amzing.

Firstly, I present to you: breakfast! The buffet and Amanda:




The food was fantastic (especially after mildly sketchy hotel breakfasts). Working clockwise starting at seven o'clock: egg on toast (made to order!), fried tomatoes with cheese, deli meat, fresh fruit, and something rather like a doughut. Bacon would have been fantastic, but good luck finding that.


The breakfast table! From the left: a Rotex chapterone whose name I've unfortunately forgotten, Hannah, moi, Fernanda, Blase, HHannah, Maeghan, Amanda, and Derick. Mmmmmm breakfast on a terrace overlooking a swimming pool about three hundred yards from the Mediterranean.



Looking up at the hotel from the dining terrace.



Swimming pool!


Signage! A snack restaurant is vaguely like a snack bar, but bigger. Kind of.


Wandering about the grounds:




Beach! And Mediterranean!







Looking back towards the hotel. Had a taken one step to the right, it would have been a great picture...


Slightly closer...


Money shot! And it really did look that fabulous in person.


Indoors. There were lots of stairs. Fortunately, there was also an elevator.



This was taken on the bus as we were leaving. The sign says "Welcome District 2420 conference 2009." (I assume the "Rotary" part is inferred from the image.)


A series of shots from the bus. I think this truck is a little off-balance.


Roadside:





And about twelve hours later, we were back in Istanbul.

Travelpalooza 2.9

Following the sunburn of yesterday, we elected to chill indoors. Specifically, in the indoor pool. And frankly I'd've thought that an indoor pool seemed a little pointless when it's about three hundred yards from the gosh-dang Mediterranean, but believe you me, that pool felt good.



For those of you playing along at home...the whole reason for being in Antalya was a Rotary Conference that we exchange students were required to attend. Precisely why, we never discovered, given that we were ignored the whole time and generally advised to keep out of sight, but given that we were getting three free days in a mighty nice resort, we didn't complain a whole lot.

Well. We did a little. But we're exchange students - we do that like some people play bingo.

Anywho, having popped in and out of the pool for awhile, we went upstairs, raided the minibar (for soda), and and exfoliated. On a balcony. On the Mediterranean.

Sorry, I know I keep coming back to that Mediterranean thing, but believe me when I say that it never gets old.

Right. Balcony. Facials.






Juliana, Maeghan, and I had one room; Jael, Vale, and Jime had the next room over. This is Jime and Jael, respectively, and offhand, I'd say Jime got a little roasted.


As part of this Rotary Conference, we'd been told that there was a Rotary Ball. Attendance was compulsory. Dress was formal. So we up and hauled fancy dress around eastern Turkey for two weeks in the back of a bus - some of us spent money we didn't exactly have laying around in order to acquire said fancy dress - and then we got to the resort and were told that we'd been uninvited. The reasoning wasn't terribly clear. Anyway, having been formally uninvited from the ball, we decided to stage our own prom, which basically just meant that we dressed up and had dinner together before hitting the disco.

Juliana was in charge of makeup. Fortunately, she was good at it.


Maeghan:


Jime:


Dinner!

Juliana:


Hannah and Amanda:


Jime and Jael:


Blase:


Garet:


...and photo ops! Mota, Jael, Maeghan, and Jime:


Jael and Maeghan:


Hannah being...Hannah:


Maeghan and myself:


Juliana:


Jime. I believe that flower was once part of a centerpiece.


Further photo ops outside, nearly a handily pretty pool:



Whilst the majority of the clan headed to the disco, Maeghan and Blase and I detoured to the beach. Remember how I said Blase ate something that failed to agree with him in Gaziantepe? The medication he'd been given made him extremely photosensitive, which kinda sucks when you're at a resort on the Mediterranean, and he hadn't actually made it down to the surf yet. And night wading, as it turns out, is pretty fun.




And then we hit the disco! Blase and Garet are into glowstringing - YouTube it, it's pretty cool, and it's especially impressive in the disco lighting. Unfortunately, that also makes it pretty hard to photograph.




Also, dancing, as tends to happen in discos. I fully recognize that we all look like 100% unadulterated dorks int these images. Whatever. It was incredibly fun.



As last nights in five-star resorts go, it was pretty darn good.