Occupy Gezi in Antalya

We stayed in Antalya 3 days after the beginning of the strike in the Gezi park in Istanbul.

On our first night there, we were hanging out in the old town after dinner, enjoying the warmth of the air, the beauty of the sea and the deserted narrow paved streets of Kaleici. We could hear what sounded like a big party in the distance, and saw the fire works and light & water show that was taking place in the newest part of the city above us. We asked around if there was something going on? Maybe a football game! And people were saying yes, there is a football game…

On the second night, same party type noise, load music, fire works…. can’t be football night every night, can it?

On the third night we  decided to go and check for ourselves…

Well technically, I had to convince Mister to go… He very much insisted that if anything happened he would never forgive me… sic!

And there we were in the middle of the strike or what definitively looked like a good celebration! There was music, a bunch of friendly people, a lot of cameras and smatphones in the air taking pictures! and food stands and balloons…

Of course, without knowing what the few signs held up, or the lyrics of the songs, or what was being said, it was impossible to know what was exactly going on. If Turkey had won some sort of world cup, it probably would have sounded the same to us. But there was nothing frightening about the event, there was no anger in the air, it was just a very pacific and joyful strike.

We didn’t stay too long either. Tired of our day, we (or maybe just I) left happy to have witness this event.

If this is how they strike in Antalya, I’d like to see how they party!

The only one to wear a mask that evening was a statue…

However, one of the next day, something kind of irritated me. I saw in the press the first picture below sent by a Belgium tourist about the strikes. (no copyrights infringement intended). the thing is that I had taken the same kind picture, the same day from a different angle and I am sure everybody will agree that this different angle changes everything!

Above, what was published in the news and below what we witnessed that day

There was no strike during the day apart from a few kids on a statue. (please notice the guys cleaning as well!)
A picture might be worth a 1000 words, but it can surely tell the wrong story…