Antakya 27/07/08

Sleeping in, I wake feeling in no hurry to do anything. Zeynep will call when she's ready to start her tour, and I'm happy to just wonder the streets, do some writing, get on the net then enjoy a wonderful Kanufe and orange juice breakfast :)

Zeynep's mother arrived from Istanbul this morning and invites me for brunch. Heading over to their house I'm treated to an amazing selection of goodies :) Thanks guys!!!

"So where do you want to go today?"

"The church of St Pierre is the only thing I really want to see, then I'm all yours"

"Do you know it's closed for renovations?"

Shit! "Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure"

"Let's go anyway, if it's closed I will just get some pictures out the front"

She doesn't look convinced but is kind enough to accompany me anyway. A thirty minute bus ride and ten minute walk later we arrive, and "yep", it's closed. What I failed to realize is the church of St Pierre, as well as being the oldest church in the world, is also built into a cliff and from the outside consists of nothing but a door :(

Oh, well...

Zeynep gives me a "told you so look" and we make our way back into town :) Next stop is a huge park built by the French and after being stunned by the size of the monkey's bum in the cage at the entrance we find a cafe to relax. Playing a couple of games of backgammon two of Zeynep's aunts make an appearance, a perfect number for a game of Dominoes. I've never played their version of Dominoes before in my life but being a simplified version of Mah Jong I soon get the hang of it, with a little help from Zeynep's younger cousin ;)

We play for hours and by the time we finish Zeynep has to go meet another cousin for coffee. Arranging to meet again for dinner I head back to the hotel for a rest.

Her choice of restaurant is great, and I have to laugh when she finds out she is related to the waiter but has never met him before....

"Yes, I have sixteen aunts and uncles living in Antakya. My family is huge!"

To top off a wonderful day we head back to last night's cafe, lie on our beanbags and kick back with another nagile. Life's perfect...