A Journey To Turkey (Antalya)

It's 8 years now that my family goes to turkey during the Nowruz Holiday. Turkey is near to us, it's cheap and has a good weather during the Nowrouz.

This year we went (my family from Iran, and i from austria) to Turkey/Antalya, first day we stayed in a hotel in city center (Kaleiçi), and we spent 7 days in Limak Limra Hotel, in Kemer ( one of antalya's cities - Holiday Resort )

Nowruz

Nowruz (Persian: نوروز‎, IPA: [nouˈɾuːz], meaning "[The] New Day") is the name of the Iranian New Year.

Nowruz marks the first day of spring or Equinox^[30] and the beginning of the year in the Persian calendar. It is celebrated on the day of the astronomical Northward equinox, which usually occurs on March 21 or the previous/following day depending on where it is observed. The moment the sun crosses the celestial equator and equalizes night and day is calculated exactly every year and families gather together to observe the rituals.

Nowruz is celebrated by people from diverse ethnic communities and religious backgrounds for thousands of years. It is a secularholiday for most celebrants that is enjoyed by people of several different faiths, but remains a holy day for Zoroastrians. It originated in Persia in one of the capitals of the Achaemenid empire in Persis (Fars) in Iran and is also celebrated by the cultural region that came under Iranian influence.

Kaleiçi

Kaleiçi is the historic city center of Antalya, Turkey. Until modern times, almost the entire city was confined within its walls. It has structures dating from the Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk, Ottoman and modern Turkish republican eras. The Kaleiçi area is located in the centre-eastern portion of the city along the mediterranean coast fronted by the yacht harbour that dates to the Roman era.

The name Kaleiçi means "Inside the Kale" or "Inner Kale" (Kale itself means castle or fortress).

Hadrian's Gate

The Hadrian's Gate or Üçkapılar ("The Three Gates" in Turkish) is a triumphal arch located in Antalya, Turkey, which was built in the name of the Roman emperor Hadrian, who visited the city in the year 130. It has three arched gates. According to local legend, Sultan Belkis, the Queen of Sheba, is said to have passed under those gates and enjoyed a happy day in the palace in Aspendos on her way to visit King Solomon. Formerly the city walls enclosed the outside of the gate and it was not used for many years. This may be the reason why it has not been harmed, and it was only revealed when the walls collapsed. It is considered as Pamphylia's most beautiful gate. The upper part has three apertures in the shape of a cupola, and except for the pillars is built entirely of white marble. The ornamentation is very striking. The original gate was two storeys but little is known of the top storey.

On either side of the gate are towers, which are known not to have been built at the same time. The southern one is known as the Julia Sancta tower and is a work of the Hadrian era. It was constructed of plain stone blocks. While the base of the northern tower belongs to antiquity, the upper part is left over from the Seljuk period.

Kesik Minare

The Kesik Minare (Broken Minaret) standing in the streets of Kaleiçi (Old Antalya) in southern Turkey, was originally built as a Romantemple in the 2nd century AD. In the 7th century, it was converted into a Byzantine church in honor of the Virgin Mary, but it was heavily damaged in the 8th century during the Arab invasions. In the 10th century it was repaired again. The church was converted into a mosque when the Sultanate of Rum acquired Antalya in the early 13th century, which was when the actual minaret was added. In 1361, when the crusader king of Cyprus took Antalya from the Seljuks, it became a church again, only to become reconverted into a mosque during the rule of Sehzade Korkut. The main building was destroyed in a fire of 1846, but the minaret survived as the Kesik Minare.

Düden Waterfalls

Düden Waterfalls are a group of waterfalls in the province of Antalya, Turkey. The waterfalls, formed by the Düden River (one of the major rivers in southern Anatolia), are located 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) north-east of Antalya. They end where the waters of the Lower Düden Falls drop off a rocky cliff directly into the Mediterranean Sea.