The Secret Kalkan Diary of Lizilu20 "2014 Summer Special"

[maddie]

it's lovely to hear about your family times. I don't know how you manage to fit so much in. We have fabulous memories of the days we spent with our 2 in Kalkan. Now our son is bringing his girlfriend in Sept and we really hope she enjoys it so we can continue the family traditions........ they are renting the Deniz Apts, does anyone know anything about them?

[kalkan4eva]

Oh the joys of social media....great when we think we are in control, shocking when we're not. We thought we had the last holiday with ours in 2009, but we did have another one with all three of them in 2011.....the power of the Bank of Mum and Dad Now they are 6 instead of 3 so the chances of them all coming back at the same time with us is pretty slim so savour every family moment 
Your holiday has gone so quickly, I can't bear the thought of you not being there to brighten the cold miserable UK weather....
Asian Gary well deserves more than o e visit....not only is the food fantastic their service is amongst the best in Kalkan. Oh and we stay just a stones throw away 
Enjoy!!

[Lizilu20]

Friday 22nd August

It's been a scorcher today guys 

In between Vita and our visit to Lavanta, yesterday, we made a sweaty trip to the market. Grandma Babs has requested some more towels and as I was indisposed last week, I thought I'd better make the effort this week. It was much bigger than April and seemed to go on for ever but was much of the same old tat ( I love looking at tat ) repeated again and again. Last week our youngest bought some vans and OH bought his beatspill and they are both still functioning well. I didn't bother buying any towels as they were quite expensive for what they were and there are a couple of lovely towel shops in the old town which are actually better value for money IMO. Is it just me or is it getting more expensive on the market    I overheard a bloke on one of the bag stalls asking for over £100.00 for a knock off LV which had really poor stitching? I'm sure the prices are higher than they were in April. We ended up with my usual shipping order of spices, black peppercorns - so much cheaper than at home, even in August - sumac, which is gorgeous on salads and sea food, kofte spice, chicken spice and cumin and 5 DVD's. Lots of "cheap shite" "quality crap" " I'm from Baaaaarnsley" - yeah right, later and we had had our fill.

We spent a fab afternoon by the pool, after visiting Lavanta and had some good fun with the girls, and my special time with Walter of course 

So as you know, last night was spent at Asian Garry again! 3 times in one holiday but boy is it worth it. There were 11 of us in total and we had a fab night. The food was awesome. I had chicken tikka Lahore style, with cumin pilau rice, butter sauce and chicken chaat for starters. I also shared a keema naan with OH. In total as a family of 5 we spent the equivalent of £100.00 but we all had startes and mains and drinks aplenty. In fact  I stopped counting the drinks as it was too much effort. Unfortunately, Shirley did the same much to her regret and I think  paid the price this morning hahaha 

Today was an effort to get out of my pit although I shot out like a bolt when I discovered there had been 3 in our bed last night  Me, OH and a crispy dehydrated spider that revealed itself as I shuffled out of bed at 9 this morning. Aaarrggghhh!!! I felt the bile rise as I realised my squashed companion had been snuggled close all night long. Yuk yuk yuk!!!!

This morning was spent at the town beach, Yeah!!!!! Another fantastic first for us and one that was long overdue. Why have we never done this before I ask myself? I even managed to alight kind of gracefully from the shale thanks to my hot tuna footwear. Even better, who should come along, but Jayne and Bob  we had a lovely couple of hours together. Totally unplanned but so nice. Jayne and I are like partners in crime and get on so well together. We were naughty today though. Jayne is a little bit nervous of the turtles and there were actually 4 in there with us today.  We may have pretended they were a little bit closer than they really were to Jayne.  sorry Jaynie 

So we are off to Moonlight tonight (the restaurant) with Bob, Jayne and our sausage friends  another first for us. I will report back of course, with the juicy details   

Meanwhile, Walter is beckoning and so is OH, his tuburg glass is empty and guess whose job it is to refill it?

[Blue Lizard]

Another great post..thanks for keeping Kalkan alive in my mind!!  you are right about the market..it's getting expensive and quality is not as good as it was ..T shirts are getting thinner !! I saw some nice shorts but could I have a look at them in peace??NO chance! they were thrust nearly up my hooter! and when I asked how much I told him you are having a Giraffe mate!!  this became his new saying so I apologise for that! ...I can do without the pestering in the heat of the canvas  best buys were the DVD all of which (10)worked bar 1 which had Chinese subtitles(I can now order from our takeaway in mandarin )
oh! and fancy giving a poor little spider a dutch oven!!!

[Bob & Jayne]

Brilliant Lizzie yet again! but not so brilliant that the Turtle wasn't as close as I was led to believe!!I really believed Automan!!!  lol 

Looking forward to Moonlight Pension for dinner later as well, and we musn't forget the Space Station, Bob said it is at 8.24pm!! Not too many alcoholic beverages before that time or we will forget again!

Shirl x

[kalkan4eva]

Loving your blogs, Lizilu. Between you and Shirley we are getting a double treat of daily goings on. Fab But that does mean double the misery when you both go home...booooo!
A spider in your bed - holy moley, I'd have been screaming my head off - dead or not. Urrgghh

[Lizilu20]

Saturday 23rd August

It's another scorcher today alright. I'm not sure of the exact temperature as there is no thermometer in the villa but it feels almost unbearable at times. The heat of the sun seems to soak right into your bones which is good for the vitamin D level I suppose. At work, my patients are becoming obsessed with their vitamin D levels and form queues for my venepuncture skills, (vampire blood taking) in the quest to check it out. It's a bit like the statin craze or the lipid/cholesterol craze of a few years ago. I say, bugger the blood tests, come to Kalkan and top your levels up in a day!!

So yesterday, after the beach we headed up to Adems for lunch. It was so lovely to see him and his family and of course we were welcomed like the old friends we are. We didn't linger as despite the shade, we were melting but had a fab hour or so catching up on his news and eating his lovely food, while soaking up the spectacular views. There were a family in the next table who arrived after us, commenting on the article in The Times, they had read which had made them decide to venture up. It sounded as though they weren't dissappointed and were having a lovely time. I had the shrimp casserole which was lovely. OH had sea Bass, youngest had chips and a chocolate pancake (not on the same plate !) and our other 2 had chicken arrabiata. With 2 rounds of drinks, it came to 173tl.

Soon it was time to come home, report back to you guys and then get ready for our night out at the moonlight terrace restaurant. What a lovely little place and another first for us. The food is all traditional and was absolutely delicious. It cost approx 270tl for the 5 of us for food and drinks. OH and I opted for the 2 course set menu and our girls had the a la carte option which is not necessarily more expensive, just requires ordering the day before.
As Jayne has already reported, we had a really lovely night and the wine was going down a treat! We were supposed to be going towel and trinket shopping afterwards but somehow ended up in that fab bar Jayne has already mentioned called the Blue Turtle. There was a Turkish lad singing and he was brilliant, he sang a variety of songs eg greenday, kings of Leon, Eric Clapton etc then a bloke (holidaymaker) appeared with his guitar and did a few fab easy listening numbers. He invited anyone else to come and sing and I don't know how Jayne and I stopped ourselves from belting out"it's raining men"   Well , I do know how we were stopped actually. We were physically restrained by Bob and OH telling us that we would regret it in the morning and they of course were right. It would have been another venue where I would have had to look the other way as I walked past! 
After Jayne and I sadly declined the offer of our 15mins of fame, a young girl from another table shyly made her way up to the mike and sang the most beautiful rendition of somewhere over the rainbow, that I've ever heard. Her voice was amazing and to think that it could have been me and Jayne warbling tunelessly instead of her pure talent doesn't bear thinking about  .

I was very very muzzy this am and have only really come to now. I promise to be a good girl tonight on our moonlight cruise, honestly 

[BarbH]

You are certainly making the most of your holiday, wish I had  the energy you have.

We went into  Blue Turtle twice when we was staying in the Korsan apartments this year. got to agree with you about the singer, he really has a good voice. Shame when we was there  was hardly anyone  there so pleased it is getting some publicity.

 When we was there we got offered a swim in the pool, now I could imagine you and Jayne taking that up if offered!!!!!;D






























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[Skunk]

I laughed out loud at this Lizzie - just imagining the two of you warbling away1 Bob and OH were very sensible! Enjoy your cruise tonight.

[Lizilu20]

Sunday 24th August.

Well can you believe that it's our last full day here and tomorrow is the dreaded day we go home   

Yesterday we had another fabulous day. A morning at the town beach with Bob and Jayne, lunch at fener, family time around the pool and finally the moonlight boat trip.

All I can say is fab fab fab!!!!

We all piled on to the Piña x with C'pn Abdi at the helm. As Jayne has already mentioned, he asked us would we prefer a choppy or calm mooring for the sunset. We chose calm for the sake of our youngest who has kind of found her sea legs, but not quite enough to cope with rough water, so we moored up at Frenk bay. During the day time, the sea temperature here can be very bracing to say the least, but it was lovely and calm and dare I say it, quite warm. It was brilliant swimming as the sun was lowering itself behind kalamar bay. We all got back on deck to watch the sunset with our wine, beer and g and t's and it was a really wonderful moment. Swimming in the pitch Black Sea was also fab and then reclining on the top deck with bob and Jayne and our girls, all in a line, marvelling as the space station travelled across the sky and watching the stars twinkling above. It was so relaxing being lulled by the gentle rocking and swaying of the boat. After a delicious meal, we assumed position again, this time it was so soporific that Jayne fell asleep. We had a great time listening to the eagles and the Beatles, singing away and making up ghost stories. I even learned a new trick, of balancing my wine glass on my stomach. When Jayne awoke, we kidded her that she'd missed the belly dancers that jumped on board and and the zombie goats that we'd pretended to see. I told her that we'd been dancing and raving while she was sleeping, but really we just chilled out under the moonlight.

The highlight of the night was when we spied Jayne wearing her sunglasses on her head and our daughters identical ones on her face. How we laughed and poor old Shirl had no idea what we were laughing at!

The only downside to the trip was the bloody mozzie bites we aquired as we found to our dismay this morning. We were all itching like we had scabies as we tucked into our breakfast at Merkez. The spraying in town obviously works as none of us has had any bites up until last night. Incidentally, Turkish breakfast at Merkez is lovely but a bit odd as you have a beautiful plate of fruit, cheese, ham, olives, salad, toast and honey - with a crispy fried egg slap bang in the middle. It's the first time I've ever had the chance of dipping melon into my fried egg   

So I will try and report back in the morning before we leave but if I don't get chance, I'll continue our last days antics when we get back to good old blighty! 

[Skunk]

You are such a laugh Lizzie. I will miss all these blogs from both of you when you get back. The moonlight cruise sounds lovely but I get in a terrible state when I get bitten by mozzies - come up in huge red blotches about the size of a 50p. I've got so many scars from them on my legs I avoid them at all costs! Can't believe your holiday is coming to an end already. Don't want to be a misery but it really is freezing here - we have had the heating on and I am wrapped up in a throw.  ???You'll need sweaters and coats when you get back! You'll probably need another holiday too to recover from all your action packed days and nights!! Are you back at work on Tuesday? Well at least you'll miss the dreaded Monday long day! If we don't hear again have a safe journey and take care.
Love Sxx

[Babs]

Am very disappointed.....looked on Instagram (get me?) but couldn't find you! Please don't come home....I'm enjoying your blogs too much!

[Haybo]

I found a picture but it was a long way down the list....keep looking.

[Babs]

Found it.....posted one day ago! 

[kalkan4eva]

Oh goodness.....it all seems to have come to an end so quickly. Absolutely gutted you are going home tomorrow
It's the only thing about a nighttime cruise....the bloody mozzies such a beautiful way to spend an evening though.
As skunk says, Autumn has come early at home, it's absolutely freezing. You will definitely need your sweaters when you land at Manchester - it will be a huge shock to your systems.
Have a good last day tomorrow and a safe return flight. Boy, I'm going to miss your daily updates, feel bereft

[Lizilu20]

Tuesday 26th August.

Well this is the last instalment of Lizilu and family's 2014 summer special. It doesn't seem 2 mins since I started and now it's come to an end. Why don't 2 weeks at work fly by in the same way?

It's been an absolute pleasure reporting back to HQ and reading all your lovely, kind and funny comments. Ive felt as though you were all here with me and I tried my hardest to recreate the Kalkan atmosphere and ambience for you all to hopefully enjoy. I absolutely love reading holiday reports as they keep me going until the next visit and keep the magic of Kalkan alive for me, so if I've even managed to do a little of this for you guys, then I've reached my goal. It's been brilliant to have my partner in crime, Shirley not only in Kalkan with me, but reporting back too. I've loved reading your reports Shirl, or is it back to being Jayne now? 

So, enough of the soppy Oscar winning speech  , time to do that final report...

Sunday was our last full day in Kalkan and I was on a bit of a downer if I'm honest. I hate last days, so depressing, but my fab family and lovely friends Bob and Jayne, made it a brilliant day to remember. As I mentioned, we breakfasted at Merkez which was another first. I had the Turkish breakfast, not the best I've had really, but I also had a fantastic cafe frappe, or iced coffee which was delicious and had me buzzing. I don't as a rule have caffeinated coffee these days as it sends me a bit loopy - I once ended up in A/E after a heavy coffee session, so I take it easy now and find that an odd cup is ok so long as I stay on the decaffeinated wagon for the majority of time. That's my excuse for drinking wine 
It was lovely at Merkez, OH had a double cheeseburger and all 3 girls had chicken burgers with frozen strawberry sorbets to accompany! The frozen strawberries were yummy but quite tart, as OH remarked "they make you smile at the back of your mouth". We spent a leisurely hour or so there, reading the Sunday papers and watching the world go by. We then had a very sweaty amble around the old town, souvenir and towel shopping. We bought 2 more of the gorgeous glass tea light holders that thankfully survived the trip home, bracelets for our girls friends, a gorgeous hand mirror for me, fridge magnets (it's a tradition) and 2 luxurious Turkish towels for Grandma Babs and Grandad Keith. Laden down with our goods we made our way up the hill, stopping for a welcome blast of air at the Yali fan.

Sunday afternoon was spent at the villa, topping up our tans and I'm pleased to report that I've managed to tan my sides this year. Not that anyone will see this but I know I've achieved it  and playing host to our friends who had to be out of their villa by lunch time. We enjoyed a very relaxing afternoon and before we knew it, it was time for our last dinner in Kalkan. We had decided that we would go to Akin restaurant as we had had such fun there last year, so Jayne kindly booked for us and we had a really enjoyable last supper. Especially when the fireworks started and the music started blaring from the speakers. "Come on ladies, dancing time" so we obliged as it would have been rude not to  and Jayne and I strutted our stuff and gyrated our bellies and threw shapes on that dance floor, the like of which had never been seen before  !!! Well we did our best to keep up anyway and had a very fun time in the process. I got the usual rolling of eyes from our girls but I'm used to it by now, water off a ducks back ha ha  we really had a fab time.

Yesterday was departure day  frantic packing of 5 cases and a quick trip down to Bob and JAynes to say our goodbyes to them both and to my Walter who is kindly being stored over the winter at their apartment, along with a few more bits and bobs including surplus to requirements pimms and gin that we can look forward to knocking back next year.

The transport was due to arrive at 12 midday so at 11 am, all packing complete, we all sat down on the terrace, under the shade of the gazebo, a glass of wine for me and a beer for OH ( wasn't throwing that away  ) and as a family, we talked about our experiences this year, the highlights and the low lights ( hardly any ) and we decided between us quite emotionally that we don't want to holiday apart next year. Despite our 2 eldest being 18 next year and wanting to fly the nest, they both admitted that they really really want to come again with us next year so we will have to work hard on that one and hope we can achieve this. We were all in agreement that the best night of the holiday was spent on the moonlight cruise so that's a definite for next year.

So final observations for 2014

1. Ensure that when swimming on the town beach, you don't go further than the boundary. Some idiot did this while we were on the moonlight cruise as we were pulling out of the harbour by the beach and we very nearly saw a tragic accident. Captain Abdi used his nautical skills and managed to avoid the decapitation of this fool by a whisker. It was really very scary and we all screamed and felt sickened. Makes me shiver now to think about it.
2. Why are the mattresses in Turkey, so bloody hard?
3. Only saw one searchlight this year and this was at a wedding taking place at the bus station. We had a perfect birds eye view from our villa and me and our youngest had a fab night joining in with the dancing and holding our own little celebrations while the rest were huddled around the wifi router, which brings me onto next observation
4. Why could we only get a wifi signal provided we were within a meter of the router? It was very frustrating, especially when writing my blog.
5. Hot tunas or foot wear of the same ilk are a must on the town beach as our two eldest found to their regret this year  so funny to see two fashion conscious young ladies looking like they had St. Vitus' dance as they tried (not so) gracefully to get back onto the beach from the sea.
6. Why do I feel like I now need a holiday, to get over the holiday I've just had  We really jam packed as much as we could into those 16/17 days and had the best time with lovely friends.
7. Need to ask boss for 3 weeks annual leave for next summer - wish me luck everyone.

And so Endeth lizilu20's Kalkan summer special. Over and out for 2014 

[Babs]

A lovely last report Lizilu!
Has no one explained to you about the holiday habits of grown up children? They pretend they want to be grown up and do their own thing and then when you mention Kalkan all of a sudden it's quite cool to holiday with your parents....despite our best efforts to embarrass them and you seem to excell at that! 
We are already booked in for next May with both our daughters and their partners....the "children" will range from 23 to 31! Personally I can't wait, long may it last! Younger daughter is out there in 3 weeks time with her boyfriend and then we follow in 6 weeks. We now enjoy both types of Kalkan holidays....by ourselves and en famille!

[Kalkan regular]

I found that as long as we were paying they would be with us on holiday.

[Haybo]

Lizilu20 - what a lovely last report. I must confess i have a lump in my throat reading it! I do hope we get to meet you next year!  I'm not sure i can party quite like Jayne, but it would be worth a try!

I didn't round off like you, but in hindsight, heres what my observations were
- book a trip for the last full day
- give the market a miss
- eat breakfast out more than once
- hire a car and leave the town boundaries at least once ( going to guru's or Adams doesnt count)
- try to arrange another EK meet
Anyway, Kalkan regular will quite rightly have my guts for garters if hubby doesnt get the deposit paid on our apartment soon...or none of this will happen!

[kalkan4eva]

Oh Lizilu, I feel bereft that you are home....there appears to be no takers on the holiday report front, although I bet Kalkan is stuffed with members right now
Its been lovely catching up with your blog every day - has it really been 17 days...? Boy that has just flown by in a jiffy. At least you have brought better weather back with you...I swear we slipped into Autumn whilst you were away >:
Thanks so much for taking the time to report, it sounds like you had the best time ever.