Our Day Trip to Gombe

[antler]

Setting off at 9am, we took the road up into the hills behind Kalkan and headed out past Berzigan (sp?). We dropped down the hill and pulled into the goat farm. There was this massive tree - at least 250 years old? - and an old man sat in traditional costume enjoying the shade. We asked Adam what his secret was for a long life and the old man said he was 81, with ten children and they "looked after him" he grinned. He talked fondly of his son, in the Mosque in Antalya.

We washed our head and hands in the chilled spring water, when suddenly it seemed, we were surrounded by over 100 goats. They came up the road and just kept coming.....

The greedy goats went to the trough, full of chilled spring water. The clever ones queued to take it straight from the spout, to save bending down, I guess?!

We bid our farewells and drove on and as we got closer to Gombe, the land was more lush - more water! More money!  The lake just before Gombe was a vivid blue / green and probably half empty. The colour of the water was striking against the barren mountains.

We stopped in Gombe for Apple Tea and a few pastries - just as if we needed more calories!  - and it was market day. A mix of smells and colours.

The shoe stall was most obliging. There must have been 7 people help us choose these leather shoes - prices better than TK Maxx!  The young girls laughed and chatted in Turkish and I asked what they found so funny? It was something to do with nice people have nice shoes, like a flower?!  Adam did his best to translate. I'm not sure whether she liked me or the shoes (but chose to think it was the former!) but they waved and laughed as we bid our farewells.

We bought honey, tomatoes, melon - stopping at the roadside and buying 1kg of gorgeous peaches for about 30p? Leather belts, nuts, coffee...all great purchases and we then made our way to Islamlar for some lunch.

It was cool and shady under the vine and the grapes hung so low, you could reach them sat down. As it was a trout farm, we tried some trout fried in butter, with salad and home made chips. We got change from £2.75 each. It felt rather luxurious enjoying our now regular bottle of LAL Rose.

We dropped back down into KALKAN as the sun was going down on a lovely day in what surely must be a bit of "real Turkey"?

It was a very, very special day indeed.

cheers
Antler





Linkback: https://www.enjoykalkan.com/forum/index.php?topic=4245.0

[claire]

Hey Antler,

What a great report!  Check out my pics when you get a min - I took a few of Gombe and the market.  We went in May so there was less in the way of fruit and more in the way of batteries and ironmongery!  Was still very cool though, and totally and utterly different to Kalkan.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/clairesingers/

Claire.

[turkeyfan]

Antler, I am loving reading your reports.  Thanks for bringing a little bit of Kalkan to a dreary day.

Clare, your photos are fab - are you a photographer?

[claire]

Thanks Turkeyfan, aren't you kind?!  No, I just take loads of pics - most are rubbish, and some are good! 

[AllanChris]

Hi Antlerdubai, We enjoyed your Gombe report, did you go under your own steam or on an organised trip?     All the best, Chris and Allan.

[antler]

Hi Claire - really loved the style of your photos - a keen photographer, I can see! Thanks for sharing.

Chris & Alan - glad you enjoyed the Gombe words....We went with Adem Ondler, from Adams Restaurant. He took us around and explained so much about the area; it was an incredible day and the memories will remain with us for a long time, I'm sure. I'm not sure my brief report did it justice, tho?!

Now its off to the market, a walk into Town for lunch at Kaptans) more food?!) then an afternoon by the pool....

cheers

Antler

[kalkan wife]

When we went to Gombe 3 weeks ago we saw the first rain since May in Kalkan! The temperature measured in our car was 39 degrees in Kalkan and plunged to 18 degrees in the mountains (and the rain). We had a wonderful lunch close to Gombe in a garden style restaurant. Wonderful lamb 'casserole', fresh chips, freshly baked bread, so yummy.

We then went up a mountain (can't tell you which one,sorry!) to find a 'volcanic lake'. I think it was either the blue or green lake. It had rained much of the day and the track was really slushy/sticky mud. Of course, we were all dressed for the heat of Kalkan not the cool and rain of the mountains. We must have looked a proper sight, bedragled and covered in towels found, thank goodness in the back of the car following a trip to Patara. My friend was wearing a plastic bag on her head .................. so funny but maybe you had to be there...........and the rest of us struggling to keep our flip-flops from getting buried in the mud!

All in all a most wonderful, different, beautiful and memorable day. We laughed all day! BUT should you decide to make this trip, no matter what time of year, be prepared with sensible shoes and maybe even umbrella's!