ALDI TOURS - ONE TIME ALDI, ALWAYS ALDI

This walk can be completed in a morning or afternoon, or as long as you want it to take!

Start at the Kaleichi (Old Quarter) and walk down to the marina or, if you wish, start at the marina itself.

The marina was once a fisherman's wharf but is now a busy port with many yachts, schooners and motor boats. Try some ajur, locally produced long, juicy cucumbers, or frenk yemesi, a refreshing cactus fruit that tastes like a cross between water melon and cantaloupe. It is said it can help dissolve kidney stones.

Walk uphill from Iskele Caddesi, a narrow, winding street with many souvenir shops. One shop sells handmade carpets and you can see the young girls at work on the looms. You may see a man selling locally produced teas, spices and foodstuffs. Try some of the aromatic ada cay (island tea) (sage tea), dag cay (mountain tea) or papatya cay (dandelion tea). Or why not buy a tirmis, an edible that looks like corn but tastes like hazelnuts. Soon you will arrive in one of Antalya's main squares, the Kaleichi Square, with its Clock Tower, which was once part of the city walls. To your left is the Yivli Minare (Fluted Minaret), a red brick tower that is, today, the symbol of Antalya. The 37 metre high tower was built in 1230 by Alaeddin Keykubat, a Seljuk Sultan. The original mosque, of which it was originally a part, was destroyed and replaced in 1373 by the Alaeddin Mosque.

Just to the south of the Fluted Minaret, towards the marina, is the Karatay Medresesi, an Islamic religious school constructed in 1250. Close to it, but on higher ground, are two tombs: Zincirkiran Mehmed Pasa Turbe, bult in 1378, and the Nigar Hatun Turbe, constructed in 1502. The nearby Islamic theological seminaries, Atabey Armagan Medresesi and the Ulu Cami Medresesi, are now ruins.