Welcome to life as a tourist. No boots, packs or walking poles for us today, we were officially tourists.

Out of bed at 830, a lovely couryard breakfast, where cereal was available for the first time in a month and a Specsavers moment for me when I added beautifully diced pineapple to my muesli only to find out it was potato.

Spent the entire morning doing a Lonely Planet walking tour of the Old City with guide Jane in charge.  Visited a fabulous Museum with recreations of Ottoman history and an attached information centre where they contend remnants of society dating back 500,000 years were found locally.

Some beautifully restored ruins and a magnificent gate and city wall built by Hadrian were the highlight. The houses with there extended upper deck terraces are amazing.

Found a little vely old Labrador minding the fort who lives bed a  pat and actually started barking when I stopped- proves my theory most of the dogs here just crave attention. At this stage I cannot get as enamored with petting the cats which are more nuisances than anything else,

Wandered down Kebab Alley which was absolutely packed with quaint little eateries before buying a few Turkish yummy things to sample latter in the day.

Headed along the cliff top to the restaurants with wonderful harbour and sea views. The sea was covered in an eerie mist, from which a couple of navy boats emerged and what I though was a mini submarine entered. The min sun turned out to be some sort of mobile diving platform.

Got some lunch with little plastic forks supplied to eat the chips. Jane still does not know whether the chips or the tip of one tines of the fork tasted better.

Headed towards the harbour and jumped into a glass elevator, with a slight shatter in window of one wall , along with 8 other passengers. Hoped the cables held as sign suggested 4 people and 360kg limit and none of the occupants were jockeys.

Got to bottom safely where about 100 people were waiting to go up. Who knows how many trips would  be needed to clear the crowd.

The docks were full of ships all with mythology or marine themed statues on the aft deck. The number tied up suggested not much business.

The area was full of people selling trips, ice creams and trinkets with a tout outside every restaurant trying to lure you in. There was the odd beggar to boot.

Went for a walk along the sea wall which was as wide as two aqueducts – this time with my fears overcome. One side of the wall was the boat harbour and the other the Public beach. They could not have crammed another person onto the beach which was rows of chairs and pontoons. The water was sparkling clear and again amazingly deep just metres from the edge.

Found our restaurant for dinner tonight which will supposedly, 

as the waiter said ,  give us a wonderful sunset view.

Rest  of afternoon spent planning tomorrow’s activities and lazing around before heading out for a pre-dinner drink at a funky little bar and then down to the restaurant.

Sunset had passed but we had a choice balcony seat overlooking the beach were people were still swimming and also magnificent views of the harbour with cliffs illuminated and a laser show.

In the distance we could see the hills where we had walked  with lights sparkling and almost replicating our way down.

Dinner was probably best on tour and local Turkish wine a great complement.  Our waiter and new best friend was very attentive, but I am sure if you looked in Oxford Dictionary under ‘swarmy’’ his picture would appear.

Wandered home through very quiet streets with most  of the day trippers gone and only those staying in the Old City and a few locals eating out. Spied a great spot with excellent live music for dinner tomorrow night. 

Tomorrow booked on an all day tour to see the famous waterfalls, a ride on the cable car and another city tour.