Do you know that feeling, when waking up, the weather is good and you just want to go for a walk ?? Such a good, long cozy one, where the weather is nice, the sun warms a bit and you still experience a lot of things along the way.
That’s how I often have it. Especially when I’m with Grandpa (my father-in-law). He lives just outside Antalya – in a small village called Duaci. Or…. Small and small is maybe a little too much, because it grows a lot for every time we come there. But it still remains cozy to walk around in. Fortunately.
Duaci Köyü is a small village with a few thousand inhabitants (exactly 2318 according to last count) and is located about 5 minutes drive from the outskirts of Antalya city (or just over 12 minutes from the beach and 20 from inner city). So it is the perfect distance / mix between small cozy village and huge city.
When my father-in-law moved there almost 15 years ago, it was a really small village, but since then there has come both a fine supermarket, a school, a bakery, a lot of new neighborhoods etc.
Google Maps and Bakery:
I just love, my usual morning walk to the bakery, when I visit him (and my father-in-law simply loves good freshly baked bread. And what not to do to make ones father-in-law happy?).
It’s not always easy to find the way. Because there is always something new built or expanded in a new direction. So it’s a bit of luck and pious, when I go. And Google maps. For even Google has over the years also found this small village (just not the small paths that end blindly – and there are many of them). Last time my father-in-law started a major rescue operation, because I had been away for over 1½ hours! For whom do voluntarily go for more than 1 hour in Turkey? Virtually no one (native) I can say. Only us tourists. “Why go when you can take the car” is something all Turks learn from childhood – not least my husband 😀
At home, I often go with my dog – and much so in the morning. And although I enjoy it so much and have a whole forest and fields available, it isn’t quite the same.
Of course, I think there are a lot of different things to experience, when I walk around there. Maybe because it is not everyday and because after all I come so rarely down there.
And then something about garden gates in Duaci:
For example, I often meet an elderly couple on my walks, each of whom herds their sheeps around the city. I always greet them and they are more or less willingly to have their pictures taken every time (and I seem to be a bit strange, I think, that I like to go and take pictures of them with a big smile).
The baker is also not very different. They also laugh, every time I come with my camera and usually invite me all the way into the bakery, so I can see the big oven, where the flour comes in, how they bake, smell the lovely bread etc. They ask many questions and I try to answer thte best I can now. But we always end up laughing at each other (my turkish isn’t that great, so it’s a rather fun play to have a conversation with them) 🙂
And then I seem to have some secret passion for the Turkish garden gates made in metal. Just like those posters from the 90s with Irish doors. Do you remember them ?? I always take a lot of pictures of garden doors in all kinds of colors and shapes. And in Duaci there is obviously high status in having a nice garden gate. Because I have many pictures of the different ones. Many ….
But it is also all the many flowers, the loose chickens and turkeys, that roam all around yelling and fighting. The large beautiful fig trees, which have the world’s most succulent figs several times a year. The large impressive bougainvillea in scratchy strong colors. The soft ring of the sheep’s bells, when they go in long rows to the fields or in the forest. And not least the bird singing and the sun that warms so lovely.
Everything helps to give the day a good calm start. And not least the friendly greetings and pace of the city. Quiet and calm and “we see what the day will bring”.
Can you think of a better start for the day ?? Good day to all of you ….
