While slaving away at work on a Friday, my friend Chiny sent me a message saying she was at the airport heading to Istanbul. I turned green with envy instantly. However, when she mentioned she was staying two weeks, an idea popped into my head. Asked her to send me her itinerary, turned out she'd be spending the next weekend in Antalya. A week later, I flew out for a girlie weekend.

My first thought on arrival, right after getting a bottle of booze and mixers, was "this could easily be a city in Nigeria if we make the effort to keep the environment clean and tidy". It was the Sallah holiday, seeing rams in pick up trucks enjoying their last moments on earth did leave me feeling nostalgic about sallah in Abuja.

As it was a very short break and I planned on spending most of the time exploring the area, I went for a no-frills hotel, Bilem High Class hotel. The location was excellent but the hotel itself is in dire need of a makeover.

While I waited for my friend to come over, I went to enjoy the views from the cliff off the hotel (the only reason I booked it to be honest).

Eventually, she came over with Viv and Q, I hadn't met them before but I knew them from Twitter. We got dressed and straight to pre-game.

Got a taxi and drove about 50KM to Kemer. Had dinner at a restaurant on the marina called Navigator. The food was good, service was excellent and the manager wouldn't leave our table. He took a liking to Q and even got her a rose made out of some tissue.

And then we went off to Club Aura. As it was the end of the season, it was a tad scanty. We had drinks, danced and then had to make the almost hour journey back.

Managed to sleep for all of 3 hours before I had to get ready for the day out rafting and canyoning. I had found Fortune Rafting online and they had stellar reviews on TA and FB so I decided to give them a try.

Mehmet, the owner and tour guide, picked the girls and I up around 8:30 am. We drove to the Köpürlü Kanyon in Manavgat, through Lara and Belek, picking several people up. So we were a group of about 17. I noticed Belek had a number of hotels with golf courses. The Regnum Carya Hotel looked oh so lush and very luxurious, a place I'd love to visit.

We drove across the 2000+-year-old Roman bridge to get to our camp.

Views from the Roman Bridge

Had our safety briefing and then set off to start the trek through the canyon. We walked, climbed, swarm, paddled and dived. The whole experience lasted about 3 hours. We were exhausted by the time we got back to camp and thankfully they had laid out lunch buffet for us.

We ate, rested and went through the videos and photos. Soon it was time to head back to Antalya. Will I recommend this tour? ABSOLUTELY! It is a must do in Antalya. Mehmet and his team are professional, safety conscious, knowledgeable and very friendly. 

A shower, quick change and we were back out in town for dinner, in Kaleici. The old city was on my list of things to do. We had dinner on the Marina with Mehmet and his cousin Mehmet, then walked through the cobbled streets, picking up souvenirs.

On my way back to the hotel, I stopped by a cliff. It was so calm and so beautiful. It was the moment that made the trip. They one captured by the heart, not camera. 

Sunday morning with just a few hours left, my chest felt cold and tight, so I cancelled the diving booking I had made and went parasailing on Konyaalti beach instead.

It was so beautiful up there.

An hour later I was at the airport. Happy, satisfied and very very sleepy.