This morning while going for breakfast we met Mr. Zuhair Abdullah who is with the Iraqi embassy and family on holiday in Alanya. We had an interesting conversation regarding Iraq, the late Saddam Hussein, USA and the economy in general. We told him that we would get in touch with him in 2010 on our way back to UK. What he wrote in our guest book is most touching and made us proud of little Adrian

A visit to the castle, which was brightly illuminated last night as we came into Alanya, is a must. Alanya castle lies atop a steep peninsula jutting out into the sea. It is furnished with a wall fort stretching 6500meters and have 140 towers. The walled city was known as Korakesion in ancient times. Until the 2^nd century BC it retained its independence in the face of numerous attacks thanks to its geographical position but became a pirate havens in 1^st century BC. It was taken by the Romans under the leadership of Pompey in 65 BC.

Later the city took the name of Alaiyye after the name of the Seljuk Sultan who acquired it and continued to be known as Alaiyye until changed by the founder of the Turkish republic, Atarturk to Alanya.

About 50 kms after leaving Alanya the road started to climb and became windy. Since progress was slow we decided to stop for lunch at 3pm at a restaurant on top one of the hills. It was a great meal we had, deep fried fish, chips, toasted bread and salad. It all came to 23YTL which made us thankful for stopping even more.

By the time we finished our meal it was nearly 1600hrs and we were checking on the towns along the way for a suitable hotels. The road continued to be difficult to drive and when it got dark it was even worse. We finally reached SiLiFKE and still 85 kms to Mersin, our targeted destination. But not knowing the condition of the road ahead, and Alison was all stressed up, we decided to stay the night at SiLiFKE. We found a hotel for 40 YTL which was fine but without breakfast. As we had a late lunch we had oranges and bananas for dinner. I fell asleep while entertaining Adrian.