Woolly says – With our time in Alanya coming to an end Jo and I set off to walk the routes we have taken so many times over the years. With the sun out and the temperatures at a pleasing 16 we hit the beach, walking towards Oba which is the next town along.

As the city grew smaller behind us we watched the gulls flying and the waves rolling in before finding a place to sit on the sand which would allow me to get my bucket and spade out whilst Jo read her book.

It was wonderful to enjoy doing something that we hadn’t done for years and once bored and having stamped on my wonderful castle creation we continued, to one of our favourite beach bars in Oba used to be. Gone was the tatty building and instead stood a lovely wooden bar right on the beach. Having consumed a tasty and cheap lunch we turned back and padded along the promenade where I was delighted to find my ship which had run aground many years ago.

The next day saw us head to the castle, not that we actually go in the castle anymore having seen it so many times, but the walk down is fascinating to see what new delights have been unearthed. Most of the castle was built in the 13th century under the Seljuq Sultanate of Rûm following the city’s conquest in 1220 by Alaeddin Keykubad I, most of it was built on the remnants of earlier Byzantine era and Roman era fortifications.

Lots more tomb stones had appeared from the undergrowth, and I did wonder how many more would be found over the years to come, the walkways that had been started a few years ago was now complete and made the first part of the descent much easier than it used to be.

As we passed the towers we arrived at a very new and white sculpture that had arrived, it looked somewhat out of place amongst the castle ruins and gave us no information as to what it signified.

Aksbe Mausoleum which had been built in 1230 to house the bodies of the Aksbe family (nothing is actually known about the family themselves) remained as it always had and as usual I poked my trunk through the wire to check if I could see anything much inside which I have never have.

Round the corner was a strange area that we had seen many many times, a number of chimneys and remains that were covered in Perspex, this time however an information board had been added which told us all about  Mecveddin Sarnici, sadly it was all in Turkish (we did google it on our return but there doesn’t appear to be anything about it) it did show us pictures of what lay below, maybe one day we might even get to see the delights it showed.

Following the footpath across we tried to peek out onto the Kleopatra side of the castle but high walls and fences made it difficult, it did give us a lovely view of the mosque though.

 Süleymaniye Mosque was built by the Anatolian Seljuk Sultan , Alaeddin Keykubad I during the reorganization of the city in 1231, at the summit of the castle. Destroyed in the following years and it was rebuilt by Suleiman the Magnificent in the 16th century during the Ottoman period using the rubble that it had become. It’s rare that we have been able to see inside as our walks down seem to be normally timed to perfection for the call to prayer, today luck was on our side and as Jo covered her head and took off her boots I stepped inside. It’s much smaller than I expected and remembered but was quiet and peaceful with it’s low hung lighting and white walls. Having paid our respects to the earthquake victims in the last few hours we made our exit.

The path took us past a row of photographs showing Alanya through the decades, it has changed so much and is constantly evolving, it’s hard to imagine how few people had lived here in the 20’s and 30’s when you look at the city now.

A short walk away is our special place with its wonderful view of the city, harbour and sea. We sat for a while remembering the times that we had spent here with Ian.

Our memories reminded us of the tortoises that we had meet on this walk over the years, my small companion was up and racing down the path to see if he could find any now.

Woolly says – Not a tortoise in sight but lots of Kedi’s which we greeted as we continued our descent. Pausing at different places as we got closer to the harbour to take in the views and admire the finery of the castle and its walls. As we entered the narrow lanes that led in to the harbour itself so little had changed and I felt glad that this wonderful place was still as great as it had been on our first trip to Turkey in 2010.

Our last day was upon us and we had decided to walk to both of the lighthouses that guard the harbour area. The view across the harbour was lovely as we headed along the walkway to the smaller lighthouse. With the sun warming my fur we stood for a while admiring the snow on the distant mountains.

Retracing our paw steps, we wandered around the harbour pausing to look up at the Red Fort before taking the sea wall to the larger lighthouse.

Many years ago we had been able to go inside but now the gate was firmly locked and people sat admiring the views whilst a Kedi dozed in the sunshine.

We had two more places to go but our first stop was to the nearest supermarket to buy as much as we could carry in dried goods including rice, beans and chickpeas before heading to the city’s main square.

Following the earthquake on Monday our hearts were breaking for the people of the provinces affected, whole towns had been wiped out and many of the places we have visited in the past including Gaziantep, Malatya, Diyarbakır, Kilis, Şanlıurfa, Adıyaman, Hatay, and Adana were now reduced to rubble. Woolly and I knew that we couldn’t do much but had decided that at least donating some bags of food and giving every lira we had left might help a little.

Woolly says – It was very sobering watching the people loading huge trucks of provisions and aid, within moments of our arrival five massive trucks tooted their horns and left fully laden with bottles of water. The helpers thanked us for our donations, and we set off to see our wonderful friend Erdogan who had helped us so much last week and who had now lost many members of his family and the town in which they lived no longer existed. We sat with him for a while as the news showed more and more reels of the devastation that the earthquake had left behind, it was so horrendous and not how we wanted to leave our wonderful adopted country. Finally, we said our goodbyes hugging him tightly and reminding him that he, his family and so many other victims where in our hearts, prayers and thoughts.