Sand sculptures return to Antalya

I was so pleased to read in the Turkish Daily News that once again there will be an exhibition of sand sculptures over the summer in Antalya. We went to the one last year (which I believe may have been the first one ever in Turkey— sources seem to vary on this point), and it was absolutely breathtaking. Some of the sculptures were several metres high and tremendously intricate, and obviously took weeks in the making.

One thing I remember distinctly from last year was that I was shocked at the lack of barriers around the sculptures, given that sand is not exactly the most robust medium and people (especially children) aren’t really good at keeping their hands to themselves. There was surprisingly little vandalism, though, probably due to the excellent security staff on site. But I remember holding my breath every time a breeze picked up, because the bottom line is that these things are delicate. If there had been a rainstorm I don’t know what they would have done, as trying to cover the sculptures would have been impractical to say the least. Luckily for the artists, we don’t often have rain in the middle of the summer, but as I said before, this year has been a little bit freaky in terms of climate. In fact, it drizzled here even this morning, and this evening resembles a night in March more than a typical night in June. So we’ll see how it goes. In any case, I’m armed with a camera now, so expect a full photo report of the sand sculpture exhibition when the time comes… weather permitting, of course.