8 Jan. Brief ride around and beyond Avsallar.

 Had very little energy after the previous day's ride. A couple hours of toodlng around was in order. It was a nice day.

The Mediterranean coast of Turkey is built to support tourism. Europeans and Russians flood the area year round. Turkey is also a place for cheap but high quality dental care and cosmetic surgery. Health tourism. But because of the lockdown, all nonessential medical services are unavailable. Tourism accounts for roughly 9% of the country's economy. What other industries are included in that figure are unknown. Tourism would include the most obvious: hotels, car rentals, tour busses, airlines. But the supportive industries such as those that produce and supply the hotels or mechanical parts to busses should also be taken into account, for they are adversely affected by a drop in tourism. There are no social welfare programs here such as unemployment insurance, housing vouchers, food banks etc. I ask friends in Antalya what do people who are out of work due to Covid do? The response is noncommittal, shakes of the head, shrugs. They make do. I see people setting up sidewalk shops with items on a blanket. Or lugging carts through the streets calling out the goods they have for sale. Or carrying huge flat baskets of homemade breads. Trying to make a few lira. Or fishing. 

Food here is cheap but that's my American comparative. Cheap can still be out of reach when one has little to nothing. My rides through the back roads take me past farm after farm of all sizes. Fruit trees abound, chickens wandering, herds of goat pop up regularly.

The massive structures that make up the coast fascinate me. Literally thousands of rooms sit empty. Resorts with every manner of playland, family amusement parks, Disney-themed, Vegas-themed. All completely empty. By the abundance of weeds they've been empty for some time.

I do hope things get cracking again. For now I consider myself fortunate to have seen this during such a time. Imagine the freeways of LA completely empty. Yeah. Like that. Bizarre.

Oh, and here are the Manavgat waterfalls. 

Back to Avsallar and surrounding areas..