I found them once I stopped looking.

Postcard display

@Asylum (47893)

Manchester, England

June 11, 2016 2:28pm CST

The one thing that seemd clearly absent from the local tourist shops was postcards. Eventually I asked the receptionist at the hotel where I could buy some. I was informed that I would need to travel to the Post Office, which seemed odd for a tourist area. Instead I took the bus into Antalya, which is a very popular tourist centre, but never saw a single one. As a last resort I checked online for the route from Hadrian’s Gate to the Post Office and today returned to Antalya armed with directions. After a long circuitous walk I arrived at the Post Office, where they did not sell postcards. At this point I gave up completely and returned to Hadrian’s Gate to stroll around the narrow streets. Yes, you guessed it, a large selection of postcards as soon as I gave up looking.

19 people like this

23 responses

@blitzfrick (2890)

• United States

11 Jun 16

Oh thank goodness! My usual method of finding things is similar. I search and search. Finally I ask someone, "Where can I find [the item]?" The answer quite often turns out to be "Right here" as they point to the object of my quest, located just behind me.

3 people like this

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

12 Jun 16

I enquired at my hotel and was informed that a post office was the only option, whereas they were exactly where you would expect postcards.

2 people like this

@LadyDuck (460350)

• Switzerland

12 Jun 16

This is the largest selection of postcards that I have seen in years. It seems that tourists still buy postcards in Turkey.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

12 Jun 16

There were more than those because they had a block of 3 displays as shown and also 2 more on the other side. Of course they are also the only ones in Antalya. The selection was moderately limited because many were for Belek, Side and other resorts. Now I need to find a post office in order to buy stamps.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

12 Jun 16

@LadyDuck The same happens here, which is obviously a way of lowering expense.

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@LadyDuck (460350)

• Switzerland

12 Jun 16

@Asylum This is another problem, even here in Switzerland almost all the Post Offices are closing down. We are lucky to have a Post Office in the mall near home.

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Arthur Chappell

@arthurchappell (45002)

• Preston, England

12 Jun 16

glad you found them in the end - strange that they are so elusive there

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

12 Jun 16

@arthurchappell No, I settled for the old system of pick something up and take out some money. Fortunately the bus service has a card system, so I do not need to specify where I am travelling. Instead I simply tender 10 lire to the driver and scan the card that he sells me. I jumped in a taxi to go to Hadrian's gate and the taxi driver could not understand me, so I drew the shape of 2 towers with 3 arches in between with my finger in the air. One local shop is used to me now and she enters the amount on a calculator and shows it to me because the numbers are the same.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

12 Jun 16

They were easier to find in Manchester and this is a major tourist area. Another surprise is that almost nobody speaks English in Antalya, despite the tourist trade.

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Arthur Chappell

@arthurchappell (45002)

• Preston, England

12 Jun 16

@Asylum must have made communicating tricky - hope you had a decent phrase book to hand

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@marlina (154165)

• Canada

11 Jun 16

I wonder why postcards are so difficult to find now.

2 people like this

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

12 Jun 16

Most probably because they have become outdated due to current technology. Now we can send text message pictures and email to friends and family, so the postcard demand has fallen rapidly.

2 people like this

ElizabethWallace

@ElizabethWallace (12074)

• United States

12 Jun 16

@Asylum But they are still lovely to receive.

@IreneVincent (15962)

• United States

11 Jun 16

I've been having the same problem here. I promised to send a post card to someone in another country and I haven't been able to find any. Someone told me that the 7-11 store had them, so, I'm going to check tomorrow.

2 people like this

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

12 Jun 16

It does come as a quite a surprise to discover how elusive postcards can be. At one time we could buy them almost anywhere.

@missjessicadawn (3286)

• United States

12 Jun 16

And that's pretty much my life in a nutshell. lol Glad you finally found them! :-)

2 people like this

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

12 Jun 16

We have all experienced this scenario many times, but this was an extreme case.

1 person likes this

@maxilimian (3099)

• Indonesia

13 Jun 16

Well it sounds frustrating

Those effort become useless at the end

i'm wondering that they didn't sell it at minimarket?

1 person likes this

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

13 Jun 16

It is not so unusual for postcards to be elusive these days because the advent of email and social media sites has destroyed the demand.

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

13 Jun 16

@maxilimian The main post office in Manchester, where I live, does not even sell postcards any longer.

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@maxilimian (3099)

• Indonesia

13 Jun 16

@Asylum Yep, that was happening everywhere, and post office now are more busy sending a parcel rather than a postcards

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@sishy7 (27169)

• Australia

12 Jun 16

ha ha... don't try too hard - lesson learned!

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

12 Jun 16

It must have happened within 10 minutes of me finally throwing the towel in and conceding. I could hardly believe it when I stumbled across them.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

12 Jun 16

@sishy7 This would explain why that establishment carried such a huge stock. Many tourists passing by there would be inclined to buy them since they cannot be found elsewhere. I would expect a shop on the main tourist street could do very well if the displayed some outside.

1 person likes this

@sishy7 (27169)

• Australia

12 Jun 16

@Asylum why do they sell them along some narrow streets instead of the proper tourists shop? even the hotel receptionist could not give you the right information... they must have really tried to hide those postcards...

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@Inlemay (17713)

• South Africa

14 Jun 16

Wow that is a lovely array of postcards, did you take one of each? Just thinking? I havent seen an array of postcards as many as that since I was in Greece. I think that people should pay more attention to postcards and greetings its a wonderful and cheap way of keeping long distance friends.

1 person likes this

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

14 Jun 16

Email and social media are more convenient and faster, which has caused the fall in demand for postcards. The biggest surprise to me was to see such a vast array when everywhere else did not stock any.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

14 Jun 16

@Inlemay That is possible, but they would have to pay more for the sole access.

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@Inlemay (17713)

• South Africa

14 Jun 16

@Asylum they might have carte blanche on the product - that I have found to happen here in SA

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@pgntwo (22408)

• Derry, Northern Ireland

11 Jun 16

Things are inevitably in the last place you look, too.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

12 Jun 16

This place must have the only postcards in the whole district. Amusingly I was tempted to walk inside there the previous day, but decided to look for postcards instead.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

12 Jun 16

@pgntwo Yes, but not until I gave up.

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@pgntwo (22408)

• Derry, Northern Ireland

12 Jun 16

@Asylum The postcards were calling to you...

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ElizabethWallace

@ElizabethWallace (12074)

• United States

12 Jun 16

Murphy, of Murphy's Law (Sod's Law) has an odd sense of humor.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

12 Jun 16

Yes and I am often the target of that humour.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

13 Jun 16

@ElizabethWallace Humour is the one thing that I have valued highly throughout my life and have no intention of ever parting with it.

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ElizabethWallace

@ElizabethWallace (12074)

• United States

12 Jun 16

@Asylum As long as you continue to find the humor in it, you'll be fine. Some people get mad. What a waste of energy that is!

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@Lucky15 (37346)

• Philippines

11 Jun 16

That is a lot of postcards :) Am still.looking for.a better.postcard.here ;(

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

12 Jun 16

Postcards are not so easy to find these days because of the reduced demand.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

12 Jun 16

@Lucky15 This is precisely the problem, they are not used often these days so shops do not bother to stock them.

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@Lucky15 (37346)

• Philippines

12 Jun 16

@Asylum i agree. When i was asking for rate...iget this reply..is there still.sending them? I replied...i will

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@paigea (35824)

• Canada

13 Jun 16

I wonder if you had past by any others without seeing them.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

13 Jun 16

Very doubtful because up until then I had been constantly on the lookout for postcards.

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@Jeanniemaries (8237)

• United States

12 Jun 16

Be still my heart! What a great selection! When I was on the Cayman Islands last fall I was delighted to find a great selection of postcards at their local post office. I happened to see it and went in just to buy some local stamps . It was before my Postcrossing days but I still always sent postcards to my kids and grandkids and a few friends.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

12 Jun 16

I saw none for 2 days, then went from one extreme to the other. I have been here since Tuesday and have spent a lot of time among the tourist shopping areas, yet these are the only ones that I have seen.

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

13 Jun 16

@Jeanniemaries It does seem very odd for one place to have a huge amount and yet nowhere else stocks any at all. Of course they have 3 less now.

@Jeanniemaries (8237)

• United States

13 Jun 16

@Asylum It sounds like you have a good selection to choose from, so it shouldn't matter if there aren't any more. I wonder why this place has so many?

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changjiangzhibin89

@changjiangzhibin89 (16558)

• China

12 Jun 16

Just as a saying here -find something by chance after traveling far and wide in search of it.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

12 Jun 16

That describes my scenario precisely.

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@hereandthere (45651)

• Philippines

12 Jun 16

i see a wide variety there. can't wait to see what you'll share with us so we can have a glimpse of turkey.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

12 Jun 16

It is a little deceptive and the variety was not as great as it initially seems. Many of the postcards were for other resorts, such as Belek, Side or Manavgat, which diluted the options for Antalya. I will be posting the cards that I bought to Mylot members who collect them, so I will leave it for them to post here.

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@garymarsh6 (23393)

• United Kingdom

12 Jun 16

That's sods law! It applies world over!

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

12 Jun 16

Unfortunately it is usually me that it applies to.

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@polyxena (2628)

• Sturgis, Michigan

13 Jun 16

Good job on finding them. I remember doing a post card swap many years ago, when I realized my town had zero post cards anywhere. I felt bad that I was asked to send a post card and I couldn't because my little town had none.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

14 Jun 16

I remember having great difficulty finding some when I visited my home town of Bolton several months ago. It comes as quite a surprise to discover how scarce they are now compared to the abundance decades ago.

@thelme55 (76489)

• Germany

12 Jun 16

I am glad you have found the postcards. It is also scarce to find postcards where I am. I think I have to create some Germanys landscape postcards in my zazzle design site. Well, I have a lot of photos from Germany and so I will design postcards from them. Wow! I have just hit my head with this idea.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

12 Jun 16

I have created many items in the past, but have never considered creating postcards.

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@tzwrites (4835)

• Romania

12 Jun 16

You would think they have postcards everywhere right? At least you managed to find some.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

12 Jun 16

I expected that a fair number of tourist shops would stock them, which does not seem to be the case.