Alina Vladimirova's Posts (2)

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Turkey

A week ago, I visited a magnificent country - Turkey. If you like beaches and watersports you will be happy to go there. It was a very agreeable feeling walking by the delightful rocky coast and lively street of Antalya.

 

Antalya is a very old city. It has an interesting history and a colossal mixturing  cultures. I am very proud to have stayed in the heart of this town - Kalechi. Every day I strolled from my hotel to the modern part of Antalya and passed by narrow streets. There were a lot of vendors of everything: beautiful dresses for belly dancers, ornamented carpets, sweet, bitter, yummy spices for cooking, abundant souvenirs and so on, just among the streets.

 

I am thankful to the town folks who kept Kalechi  in such good condition. I think many years ago there were many adventures in those ancient walls. They breathe with victorious and brave spirit.  I was eager to know its history when the guide told us the story of their emergence.

 

There were a lot of jolly tourists in Antalya. Antalya is pretty noisy and busy. There are a lot of people trying to sell something and everything.  

Many people are walking and bumping on each other. There are too many people who want to touch you, speak to you. A lot of them who sell items on the street didn’t seem very friendly. They want to trick you. And when you bargain, you are forced to speak a lot about prices. They tell you high price and you have to ask for a lower price. It’s like a game. It’s a tradition in Turkey. Everybody bargains.

 

As for indigenous people of Turkey, they are  very  faithful, kind and jolly. But I don’t think that they are calm or obedient because if I think of their ancestors - Ottoman Empire who won half of the world, I would say they were once upon a time, conquerors. By the way I was very surprised to know that in Turkey, there are not so many old-fashioned women wearing burqa. Moreover some of them wear modern brief skirts or short dresses. As for Turkish men - a lot of them apply gel on their hair. It’s so funny and looks some greasy.

 

During my journey, I stayed in 2 places: delightful, old Antalya city and beach country Beldibie  which was very boring for me. I didn't go to sea for swimming because it was quite cold. But in our hotel there was a beautiful deep pool and I swam there . The hotel is called Castle. It was not very big but was very cozy. It was such a good hotel that I highly recommend it to anybody who wishes to travel to Antalya. Whoever stays there, will be happy.They served pretty nutritious breakfast with juicy fruits, hot omelette, fresh vegetables, melted and usual cheese, sweet honey, flaky pie, chilly juice, numerous sausages. Nothing was rotten or filthy. I tried a lot of delightful Turkish desserts that tasted like a mixture of a lot of sugar and fruits. It was very good and tasty.

 

The weather changed swiftly. On our first two days , it was rainy and damp. The next days, it was sunny and breezy. I stayed in Turkey and was happy to see a wonderful, cuddly world around me. I saw a lot of mammoth size mountains. I saw the mixed colors of the Mediterranean sea (one part is dark blue, the other was light blue). I saw hilly fields and crooked, bumpy serpentine roads around the mountain. It was divine!

 

Some day I will return to Turkey but I think my next stop will be Istanbul. Merhaba!

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Moscow.

Moscow is a huge and exciting city. It's a noisy city, concentrating 80% of the country's money and 10% of its population. There are around 19 million people who live here.

Moscow is great and international, rich and poor at the same time, fast and lazy, trendy and kitschy – all at the same time. This city has very heavy traffic. You can stay for 3-4 hours on the road on your way home from work. The movement is very slow.

Contrasts are everywhere: fancy shops on Tverskaya street next to concrete shacks; crowds of happy hipsters mix with tired people with unhappy faces; Bentleys and BMWs and half-destroyed old Ladas; and so on...

Kremlin is the most central place in Moscow. Kremlin and Red Square are the most popular places for sightseeings. But there are many beautiful buildings in Moscow such as: the Cathedral of Christ the Savior - the biggest church in Moscow, Novodevichy Monastery – very ancient church with wonderful park, Peter the Great Monument on the Moscow river, Pushkin Monument in the Pushkin square, Yury Dolgoruky Monument in Tverskaya street, the Tretyakovsky Gallery, Bolshoi Theater, and the Historical Museum. We have modern art galleries in Moscow: Garage, Winzavod, Centre of Luymer brothers, and others.
You can go for a walk to VDNKh – a very big park with a lot of interesting exhibitions, to Izmailovsky Park - the place where babushkas (old ladies) go dancing and singing every Friday, Vorobyovy Gory – the nice place for viewing Moscow from the highest point. By the way, the next high-place is the Ostankino tower where a fantastic view can be seen.

Moscow temperature is about 20 degrees Celsius in summer and minus 10 degrees Celsius in winter.

The hottest months are July and August, when the temperatures can reach a high 30 to 35 degrees Celsius. This is followed by mild September which turns into Indian Summer - the last warm days of the year are usually by the end of the month. October sees the Autumn starting and the temperatures can go down to zero.

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