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In my recent travels to Turkey, I had the pleasure of visiting one of it's newest concept resorts called the Land of Legends. Located in Belek, Antalya, Land of Legends offers tourists a completely different kind of experience to the rest of Turkey's historical offerings. It is a modern resort combining three different attractions into one : A themed hotel, a water park and shopping complex. Considering it's diverse offering, the Land of Legends could turn out to be the killer attraction to re-invigorate the stagnating tourist industry in Turkey.
Although Turkey is becoming a prime destination for Chinese tourists, I was surprised to find no travel blogs about Land of Legends by Chinese bloggers. In most other historical sites in Turkey, the Chinese crowd often eclipses that of any other, after-all, one in five people in the world are Chinese. At the Land of Legends, the Chinese demographic is surprisingly sparse. I'll take this opportunity to step up as the first Chinese blogger to blog about this place, and hopefully give all my Chinese travel friends a good idea of what to expect.
The Land of Legends is a collaboration between Rixos and Dragone Productions. Rixos is a local success story with their hotel chain expanding to much of Europe, growing a very strong reputation. The Land of Legends is one of their newest hotels and was opened to the public in July 2016.
My first impression of the park is how large it is, the shopping avenue extends for several kilometers, along side the avenue, there is a small artificial river hosting the daily musical gondola parade show. Standing out at the end of the river, is the signature castle building resembling the Cinderella Castle(s) at Disney.
Like the Cinderella Castle, it is substantially taller than it's neighbouring buildings and consists of many pointy sub towers. I don't think the castle towers are accessible, but you can go inside the ground level. Unlike the Cinderella Castle at Disney which is a more Gothic style of architecture, the castle at Land of Legends has a more localised Turkish flair which is the dominant style throughout the resort.
Throughout the resort, we can find elements of Greek and Roman influence, from the style of the buildings, to the statues and stone carvings. Historically, both the Greek and Roman empires have ruled Turkey, and thus the Legends as referred to by the resort name echoes the importance of these eras. An example of the Greek influence is the Hoplite soldier stone carving on the side of the wall.
At night time, the resort turns into a dreamland with all of the buildings illuminating themselves with strategically placed lights. I actually preferred the night time ambience, not only is it cooler making for a comfortable evening stroll, the orange glow of the street lamps and towers emphasise the designs of the buildings in ways you wouldn't see during day time. It's much more romantic as a result!
These are some pictures of the main building. This is where the hotel part of the resort is, and so it is also where you'll find the hotel facilities like the restaurants, health center, library, games room etc.
Can you recognise the statues? It is of course Julius Caesar, and the quadriga four horse chariot. Both famous Roman sculptures.
The main building is called Kingdom and with 400 luxury rooms, the name is very well suited to it's grand scale. From the outside, it is hard to tell just how large the building is, but from one end to the other, it is over 1 kilometer. All of the hotel amenities are in this building, this includes the main restaurant where breakfast and dinner are served, but also various lounges for gaming, reading, snacking among others.
The Rooms
Land of legends prides itself with it's consistent classical theme throughout the park, rooms included! Even outside the rooms, the entire hotel is decorated with Roman cartoons and physical Roman style ornaments. Since this is a family resort, the main demographic the hotel wants to appeal to is children, as such, the use of vibrant colours play well with the funny style cartoon Roman soldiers.
Inside, the room is more like a playground than somewhere to sleep. The wall papers have more of the Roman cartoons, and they are cleverly placed throughout the room to make the whole place come to live. Some are life size, whilst others are miniature cartoons circling around the top ledge of the room.
Even the furniture is consistent with the Roman theme. For instance, the table is like a part of a horse and carriage, and the room lamps are Roman style soldier helmets.
The standard rooms come with a balcony, and some view of the shopping avenue. There are of course upgrades available which range from deluxe rooms to the Kingdom suite depending on your needs.
The attention to detail makes the room a lot of fun, and even though I'm no longer a child, I felt like I lost a few years in age whilst inside the room. I tried to find all the different cartoons in the room and take a picture with them!
Each room also comes fitted with an LED TV and Playstation 4! Surely this is a kids dream!
A lot of the objects in the room come to life and in doing so, reveal their true utility!
Hello? Is that Julius Caesar? Are we ready to attack?
Depends on what my other general says!!
The main lobby is extremely spacious and also sports some very colourful decoration. Just behind the reception desk, you'll find a huge screen playing videos of various points of interest in the park. Above, you can see the famous hot air balloons of Capadoccia.
If it isn't already obvious, the hotel is catered for adolescents and therefore it has all of the fun and games you would come to expect kids to enjoy.
There is a library for those who like to tuck into some children's books, and then there's also the gaming cafe. You would probably expect a gaming cafe to have lots of computers, but this is quite literally a cafe with a big screen in the background and customers can play console games whilst enjoying a drink at the "bar".
What would a children's dream be without endless supplies of candy? The land of legends provides unlimited candy at various booths throughout the hotel, all for free. This is surely a nightmare in disguise for parents..
There is a mini village inside the the hotel. All these colourful houses are playhouses for the children.
Explore the hotel some more and you'll find a couple other interesting places worth visiting. First is the real life gaming area which has various types of board games and physical games for both the parents and children to play. If that isn't enough, there is also a dance area with a DJ playing at certain times during the day.
Those who feel guilty eating all the candy can go burn it off at the gym which is also inclusive of your stay. Strangely enough, I never saw anybody in there, so exercising must not have been on the top of people's minds.
Before we move on to the food, the obligatory visit from a local Turkish Cat!
Breakfast
Breakfast is included as part of your stay and is served buffet style in a large dining hall. There is no shortage of choice here, whether it's a traditional English breakfast, or an international style breakfast, there is something for everyone here and as an added bonus, it's all presented very nicely too.
Check out my video tour!
And that wraps up our first look at the new Land of Legends resort in Belek, Antalya, Turkey! I've always been a big fan of these kinds of hybrid resorts combining the hotel and theme park experience, so my expectations of the Land of Legends was very high. Not only is it the biggest water park in all of Europe, it's also the only one of it's kind. Sure, there are Disney's, Alton Towers and a host of many other theme parks, but how many integrate them with a water park in some of the nicest Mediterranean weather anywhere to be found?
Then, how many of them go to meticulous detail to preserve their branding and theme, even in the corners of every room?
The Land of Legends draws a lot of attention because is the answer to many of these questions, and then some. It's nearest competitor is Atlantis in the Bahamas, and luckily, I've had the opportunity to spend a lot of time there to properly compare them. In the next few posts about Land of Legends, I'll be sharing more the possible activities at the park and giving you a verdict on whether it is indeed better than Atlantis, or it could do with some improvement.
For now, I hope you enjoyed this post, and found it to be informative enough to help you decide if this is the kind of place you're looking to visit. At the same time, if you've already decided you're definitely going, you can now get a sneak peak and early look at what to expect!
Please upvote the post if you liked it, be sure to follow for more travel blogs, and leave a comment to let me know what you think!
我非常珍惜在外旅行的时光，在我看来，旅行给了心灵最美的一场邂逅，旅行会上瘾，能让我在全新的环境中接受挑战，发现自我。虽然路程很辛苦，却带给我无穷的快乐和幸福感，旅行最大的魅力，就是给了我无限的空间去放生想象力，去盼望与期待生命里一切的美好。在土耳其安塔利亚最后一段行程中，终于到了我最期盼的部分，那就是一起去探索欧洲最大的主题乐园——The Land of Legends传奇之地主题公园酒店。
早在之前准备行程的时候，就发现了这家的酒店，提起做了点小小功课才发现，这家酒店仅仅开业半年多，作为可能是全网第一个写下这家酒店游记的人，心情还是好激动。传奇之地主题公园酒店是一个家庭景点度假酒店，位于土耳其南部地中海沿岸的贝莱克，是一个集娱乐、冒险、自然、教育、零售、购物、豪宅和剧场为一体全球独一无二的综合度假村。在号称星月传奇，充满浪漫神秘故事的土耳其，探索一家传奇主题公园，真的再合适不过了。在这世界级的传奇主题乐园里，有着丰富多样的游乐和休闲景点，水世界、水上过山车和穿泳衣体验的5D影院，还有全球首个音乐游船巡游，每个活动都超级精彩，极具吸引力，这里应该也是亲子游最理想的度假天堂了。
车子缓缓停到酒店门口，像是来到了一座充满土耳其韵味的金色宫殿，酒店名字叫做Kingdom，名字的含义是酒店的构思、设计和雄伟壮观的建造，都是为了给远道而来的客人提供皇室般的待遇。建筑上矗立着威武的石像，楼顶雕刻着立体的奔腾飞马，穿过高耸的大理石圆柱大门后，是充满趣味和想象力的大堂，土耳其真的是糖果的王国啊，大堂正中的圆桌上摆了一圈香气迷人的软糖和棒棒糖，五彩缤纷的颜色搭配好看的图案，旁边的饮料吧还提供了各种口味的果汁，一位仿佛从童话里走出的花裙子金发女孩，把甜蜜的糖果和果汁递给了我，让我在等待办理入住的时间也弥漫着糖果的芳香。
酒店大堂的布置简直就是梦幻的世界，头顶悬吊着无数个土耳其标志性的彩色热气球装饰，糖果形状的吊灯和柱子，彩色的小屋子。柜台后面超大屏幕上播放着度假村里狂欢节汇演的盛况。大堂内有专门一层是孩子们的乐园，各种积木，滑滑梯，还有饮料吧台前面超大屏幕上的赛车游戏，看的我都忍不住想过去玩玩，这一切简直像一场梦。我迫不及待推开房间的门，酒店定制设计的房间装潢充满了童趣，很有自己独立的思想，为了配合动人的传奇故事主题，墙壁上画着各种卡通版的古罗马战士英雄。房间的主题更展现出土耳其是一个历史悠久，色彩斑斓的国家，在这片土地上，见证了罗马帝国的兴盛和衰落，也同样见证了十字军东征的铁蹄与征伐。
把这段历史童趣化是酒店的创新，墙壁画上，这些英雄有着幽默搞笑的表情，瞪着大眼睛，圆圆的脸胖乎乎的身子，怎么一副哆啦A梦的既视感，好像很有日本漫画的喜感呀，让人一看到就忍不住想笑。糖果色的房间，绿色书桌，黄色沙发，搭配红色蓝色的地毯墙壁，仿佛让我一秒钟穿越进了彩色缤纷的童话世界里。真的不敢想象，这就是属于我的房间，房间里的每一处细节都能看出设计者的精心，蓝色的红酒桶原来是冰箱和柜子，旁边的书桌融合在古代战车的情景里，书桌两边是红色的车轮，打开书桌上方的天蓝色小窗户，里面其实是平板电视，再往上看，在墙壁和天花板的连接处，画着几位卡通士兵和背景城墙，从远处看就像是罗马士兵正驾驶着战车驶出城门，极具3D立体的效果。书桌上竟然有一台PS4游戏机，这让我非常惊讶又兴奋，管理房间的工作人员还留下了欢迎卡片，和度假村里每个时段的小活动和表演，周到体贴的服务让我感觉像回到家一样的温馨。
酒店的室外是高耸的传奇之塔，几座漂亮的塔楼连成一座很有土耳其风味的城堡，城堡前是一条悠长的河流，两旁是度假村的购物街，如果有趣致，客人还可以划着河流上的威尼斯木质小船去每家店购物。酒店的自助早餐餐厅也装扮的像七彩的糖果世界，主厨为客人们烹制了意大利，南美，欧洲等地区的精致美食，在这里，不同种族、文化和宗教背景的游客都能找到属于自己的欢乐天地，也都会拥有一段怡然自得，十分难忘的休闲体验。今天土耳其传奇主题公园的酒店探索就要告于段落了，之后还有更精彩的水之传奇水乐园和海底餐厅要和大家分享。