The bulk of Turkey is in Anatolia which is in Asia. The other is Marmara (around Istambul and the Bosporus). That is considered Europe. The population of Alanya today is 200,000 but 30 yrs ago it was only 30,000. Then tourism started.
It really very nice here….some place that a lot of us would like to come back to for an extended stay. The hotels are huge, look quite luxurious as we drove by. We were told they cost $150-200 US dollars per night if you walk in but much cheaper if you get a package with air….through a travel agent. There are 600,000 hotel beds with 11 million visitors per year in Alanya with 100% occupation in high season and 65% capacity in off season. 30 million tourists come to Turkey per year so you can see it is big business here. Part of the reason no doubt is that they get over 300 days of sunshine. Alanya is situated on the south side of Turkey backed by an 1800 metre mountain range…..the Taurus Range and the Mediterranean Sea.  

Because of the abundance of sunshine they get 3 harvest per year.
Turkey is 90% islamic …….most of balance are Christian Orthodox with 2% being Jewish. There are 9 million Kurds out of 78 million population. 2% are nomads. Education is mandatory to all at 6/7 except the nomadics.  The Turks originally were from middle Asia around Afghanistan.
We left Alanya for Side which is pronounced like Sidae. ……means pomegranate.  Side has been in existence since the 7th century BC…..the population of the area is 130,000 now.
Oh my! This is the best ruins i have ever seen. It is a theatre built in the 2nd century AD. It is partly built in the Greek style with Roman part being added later. Stones and seat are all marble, building is sandstone and conglomerate. I will send pictures. It is just amazing! 
From there we went to see the Damlatas Cave where Cleopatra reportedly would slip away down to swim in the sea. The stalactites and stalagmites are really quite something……actually even though covering a smaller area, are much better than the ones that i saw in Barbados earlier this year.  
It was then back to the ship to get some lunch and decide what to do for the rest of the time here is port.   Joyce, Jeanette and myself took a taxi to Kleopatra (yes that is the correct spelling) Beach, went swimming for a bit. The Mediterranean is so absolutely crystal clear and turquoise (although not quite like some of the places in the Caribbean). It, in my mind, is quite surprising how clear it is although there was quite a lot of floating debris. We then returned to the ship for happy hour and sail away.
The fort walls and forts up the hills in Alanya are awe inspiring. Alanya Castle is obviously a landmark of the city, as it is seen basically from every point. The castle walls date back to the 13th century and are built on top of Byzantine fortifications. The walls are 6.5 km long and include 140 towers, including the most famous Red Tower. These castle walls aparently  are 250 metres high. This land was given to Cleopatra by Mark Antony.  The shipyards are from roman period.  The beaches with loungers and umbrellas, party boats in the style of pirate ships plus other pleasure crafts in the bay, are from this period.  All in all …….wow! Myself and a lot of the others, feel that they would love to come back here for a longer more in depth visit. It is amazing to all of us that we had never heard of this place before. Another thing to note is that German is widely spoken here as well as English and of course Turkish. There used to be lots of Russians that would come here up until last year but don’t now because their economy since the Ukraine invasion has made it unaffordable to them.  
Beautiful! I would recommend a visit to Alanya and surrounding area.