I’m back from Antalya. I was there last time 25 years ago. This time I met up with my mom (she’s from Russia) and showed her Turkey №2. Turkey №1 was last year (Istanbul). Here are some photos from this trip. All taken on an iPhone (I brought a camera too, but was too lazy to carry it around).
Russian pop music is no longer blasting from every speaker, but Modern Talking and similar genres are everywhere, until midnight. I was lucky to rent a hotel just 9 steps away from a night bar that quiets down at midnight, but no worries, we got used to it quickly and the music is decent. The city has many Russians, not only because it’s easy to get there, but also because Turkey offers citizenship for $400K — a sum many Russians can afford for a “passport”. But there’s really nothing to do there. You can tour all the natural sites within the first year or two, and then it’s just a very boring city. No museums, no cultural activities, except for more Modern Talking from the bars. So, at a minimum, you need not only to go there for the passport but also actively use it to live somewhere else.
My mom did great, handling all those hills and boats, and had a lot of impressions. Actually, she has only been abroad in Riga and twice in Turkey, last year in Istanbul and this year in Antalya. I really hope for her 80th birthday next year we’ll go somewhere else where Russians don’t need a visa.
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 