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Author Topic: Winter in Kalkan with 2 "Lemon's" .....but not bitter 👍🏻  (Read 8891 times)

Offline onelove

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Hi all,

So we finally arrived at our villa @ 10:30pm Thursday night....ahhhh, what a great feeling.

First of all I thought I would write about our journey from Gatwick & airlines (at times) crazy pricing structures ???

We booked our flights about 10 weeks ago, Gatwick to Istanbal - Istanbal to Dalaman with Turkish Airlines. We paid £110 each, one-way. The price included 2 X 23kg of hold luggage, 2 X 7kg of hand luggage with free meals & drinks on both flights....amazing value 👍🏻
Albeit, we tried to book extra hold luggage a couple of days before the flight, they wanted £196 per extra 23kg....what's all that about ?

We were both Soooo impressed with Turkish Airlines, the flight from Gatwick took off 10mins late but arrived 15mins early into Istanbal. If someone had told me that it was the planes first flight (brand new plane) I would not of doubted them. Loads of leg room, very very comfy leather seats & seat back entertainment, which was also 1st class. We held back boarding at Gatwick -as we always do- hoping that the flight was not full & if so that we might be able to bag 3 seats to ourselves....mission accomplished, great start.

If anyone else is thinking of doing this route I would advise that you should make sure you have at least a min of 90 mins between your 2 flights. After landing we taxied for 15 mins, arriving at the far far end of the airport passing what I can only describe as a plane graveyard, and lots of maintenance hangers, then onto buses to take us to the terminal...all in all from landing to arriving at the terminal it must of took 30/40 mins. Then we had a long walk to passport control where there were big queues. It was so hot in the terminal, can't imagine what it's like in say Aug !

We don't know how long we are going to be here, 2/3 months prob, it mostly depends when the oh what's to go home, she misses the kids & grandkids after a while, as I do to be fair.

Last night we were watching tv when an advert came on for easy jet. They were advertising 400,000 cheap seats, unbeknown to me the oh had a look at the easyjet website, where she found an amazing deal on easy jets first flight out of Dalaman on the 27th March......£16 each.....so we now have flights home booked for the 27th, we may, may not use them, just to cheap to ignor.

So as I have already said we got to our villa at 10:30 Thursday night & straight to bed. I was up early Friday morning so popped out to get some breakfast stuff and got soaked, it was pouring down, not what the doctor ordered that's for sure. Breakfast eaten we went into town to pay some bills & get get some shopping, the rain had stopped & the sun was trying its hardest to break through. Spent the rest of the day getting ourselves & the villa organised/sorted out.

Come 6ish we were quite hungry so went to Aubergine for dinner, this restaurant Never disappoints. We had free comps, 2 starters, 2 mains & a bottle of wine for the outrageous price of £37, amazing value.

I was woken at 3am, the wind had set our alarm off, the wind was howling, thunder, lighting & pissing down. Today it's been a mixed bag, high winds, torrential rain & hailstones, albeit, as I write this the sun is bouncing off Kalamar bay & steaming through the patio doors, this is the sort of winter weather in Kalkan we love, normal service has been resumed.

That's all for now, hope your all still awake 🙄

Linkback: https://www.enjoykalkan.com/forum/index.php?topic=13592.0
Latest weather report...... Large outbreaks of Efes followed by intermitent spells of vodka and tonic ;-))
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Offline Irene

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Re: Winter in Kalkan with 2 "Lemon's" .....but not bitter 👍🏻
« Reply #1 on: January 07, 2017, 02:20:52 PM »
Lovely to hear about your adventures, we didn't make it this Christmas /New Year, so always nice to hear what us happening in Kalkan at this time of year, when most visitors have returned home!  Enjoy yourselves & keep writing please!  ;D

Offline Tatilde

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Re: Winter in Kalkan with 2 "Lemon's" .....but not bitter 👍🏻
« Reply #2 on: January 07, 2017, 06:45:56 PM »
Hopefully we'll be in Kalkan tomorrow afternoon, if our flights aren't cancelled because of the snow in Istanbul. It all looks okay at the moment. Fingers crossed.

Offline onelove

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Re: Winter in Kalkan with 2 "Lemon's" .....but not bitter 👍🏻
« Reply #3 on: January 07, 2017, 07:00:28 PM »
Safe journey Tatilde & hope your not delayed.

Offline Tatilde

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Re: Winter in Kalkan with 2 "Lemon's" .....but not bitter 👍🏻
« Reply #4 on: January 07, 2017, 10:43:03 PM »
Thanks. We're at Stansted now, vodka bought.
The flight from Istanbul to Dalaman still shows scheduled, but fingers still crossed!

Offline Lizilu20

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Re: Winter in Kalkan with 2 "Lemon's" .....but not bitter 👍🏻
« Reply #5 on: January 08, 2017, 04:41:11 PM »
I saw you'd arrived on Facebook and eagerly checked EK and yay!!! What a fab post and I'm so happy knowing that I've lots more 'winter in kalkan with 2 lemons...' to look forward to before we arrive in April.

Thanks onelove, glad you had a safe journey and enjoy Kalkan life. Hope the crazy weather settles down too.  :)

Offline Tatilde

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Re: Winter in Kalkan with 2 "Lemon's" .....but not bitter 👍🏻
« Reply #6 on: January 09, 2017, 07:51:07 AM »
We made it! Cold but sunny here at the moment.

Offline onelove

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Re: Winter in Kalkan with 2 "Lemon's" .....but not bitter 👍🏻
« Reply #7 on: January 09, 2017, 08:03:02 AM »
We made it! Cold but sunny here at the moment.

A big welcome Tatilde

Offline onelove

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Re: Winter in Kalkan with 2 "Lemon's" .....but not bitter 👍🏻
« Reply #8 on: January 09, 2017, 08:55:05 AM »
We haven't done that much since we got here to be honest, mostly just pottering around the villa trying to get straight.

I pooped into town yesterday morning to get some breakfast stuff and it was pi**ing down, but very mild, well it was to me, not to the Turks I saw wrapped up for winter, you would of thought it was the start of the ice age  ;)

Spent all day watching football (IPTV is just great) don't think my oh was not impressed, maybe I should of asked if she wanted to watch something else !!!

Again, we had it all weather wise, rain first thing, then hailstones, again, after the hailstones stopped the sun came out for the rest of the day, in short, it was gorgeous. It got so hot in our living room with the sun through the glass that we had to open the doors. The sun on the bay was Sooo beautiful, ahhhh life is good, we are Soooo lucky.

I forgot to mention the lack of security when going through the X-ray before we boarded our connecting flight from Istanbul to Dalaman. While in the X-ray queue I noticed the familiar signs telling you that you can't take any liquid over 100mg onto the plane, with a big bin to put your water etc into. We both had 2 bottles of booze in our hand luggage that we brought at Gatwick, so I turned to my oh and said 'we are going to have to dump the booze' oh half said, let's just wait & see what they say....we'll I was pulled over and was asked 'whiskey ?' no I said it's gin that I brought at Gatwick duty free (they did not open my bag to look/check) ok cane the answer, no problem. When we arrived at the villa & unpacked, besides the 4 bottles of booze we also had 2 half empty bottles of water in our hand luggage. Now we all no the rules/risks of been allowed to take liquid onto a plane !!!  When you think we were in the domestic terminal where you walk into straight off the street, and the high risk nowadays of some nutter with liquid (not booze) in their luggage, it's not very reassuring. Try getting through Dalaman X-ray with that in your luggage.

Offline Bob & Jayne

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Re: Winter in Kalkan with 2 "Lemon's" .....but not bitter 👍🏻
« Reply #9 on: January 09, 2017, 11:57:04 AM »
Last year we had our booze put into a special duty free bag at Heathrow and they put a security seal/tag on it. It was then inspected at Istanbul domestic terminal to make sure that it was intact and compliant.
That said, we had also put an unopened can of coke from the Heathrow Lounge into our hand luggage, thinking that we would have it on the plane, not knowing that we would have to give up liquids again at Istanbul. We'd totally forgotten about it, but it went through the scanner no problem!
B

Offline kalkan4eva

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Re: Winter in Kalkan with 2 "Lemon's" .....but not bitter 👍🏻
« Reply #10 on: January 09, 2017, 02:17:39 PM »
Of course, you're not bitter...why would you be..? How lovely for you to spending the next couple of months in Kalkan.
Not jealous at all :P

Although I think "pooping" in town to signal your arrival is a bit much ;D ;D

Looking forward to hearing about your stay, even if its uneventful, weather reports and general updates on any building work going on would be very much appreciated if you can manage it between watching footie (sounds like my kind of day..).
Worries me that Istanbul are so lax with security, given the events of last year - I suppose you don't fit the profile of an ISIS sympathiser (nor you Jayne) but who's to say that won't happen in the future.

Enjoy your LLLONNNGGGG stay!
Better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt :)

Offline onelove

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Re: Winter in Kalkan with 2 "Lemon's" .....but not bitter 👍🏻
« Reply #11 on: January 12, 2017, 04:41:05 PM »
I really didn't realise that we have already been here for week, I only realised that we had when I asked the wife (Mary) what day it was this morning. That's another thing I love with been here, I never know what day it is, that's the true meaning of 'chilled' in my book.

Right it's been a few days (don't know what ones though 🤔) since I last posted and while I can -sort of- remember what we have been up to, I can't remember what day we did what so I'll start with today then work my way back.

We had arranged to call up to see some friends of ours (Mr & Mrs TC from KTLN) for a catch up & a cup of tea. I would think quite a few of you know them as well, a lovely couple & a great source of local & more importantly factual knowledge, they don't do rumours. 90 mins later after a good catch up & tea drunk we were saying goodbye.

We didn't have any plans -love it !- so we decided to go for a drive to Bezirgan to see the snow that the locals have been quite obsessed with. One of our Turkish friends told us that it's the most snow they have seen since 1994. On the way we stopped to take a photo of the sun gleaming off the bay through a small hole in the clouds, it was really stunning. (I have posted a it on Facebook, if you search for Peter Lemon you will be able to see it) Anyway with all the rain we have had there was hardly any snow left in Bezirgan so we turned around and drove back to Kalkan.

The mornings & evenings can be a tad chilly at the moment so you def need some sort of heating in your apart/villa. We have been trying to work out the best way to heat our villa, well, living room only. We have -had- 3 ways we could do this....1. Put on our underfloor heating 2. Air con on heat mode 3. Electric heater.  Non of them are perfect, underfloor heating is great if you know for sure it's going to be cold All day, albeit, it takes a good 3/4 hours to feel the heat through the floor tiles, but then if it's a lovely day with the sun shining through our doors/Windows our living room is like a green house, that coupled with a hot floor is not good, in short underfloor heating, as far as we are concerned, is not very controllable, and expensive. Air on on heat mode is great, it heats our living room up in 15/20 mins, downside it is very dry heat & makes us feel rotten. Electric heater is great for instant heat but it's only good for direct heat, it doesn't heat the room up, and again line the underfloor heating, it's expensive. I said we had '3' ways to heat the living room, well we now have 4 & the 4th one is by far the best & cheapest. On the way back from Bezirgan we called into the shop just through the lights on the D400, where we buy the gas for our hob. 10 mins later & 900tl poorer we were the proud owners of 2 gas fires & 2 full gas bottles. We are now, 19:00 Kalkan time, sat watching tv in a very warm living room....thanks for the advise Mr & Mrs TC 👍  To top it all they are Very very cheap to run...win win 😊

Yesterday morning Mary said she would like a new coat ( I hate shopping with a passion, clothes shopping is my idea of hell ) so we (she) decided we would have a drive to Fetihye. It was a beautiful day, sun shining with hardly a cloud in the sky. We headed straight to the new (couple of years old) shopping centre. We were stopped before we entered the underground car park by a security guard who used a mirror on a pole to look under our car then opened the boot & doors to have a good look before waving us on with a big smile on his face, the Turks are such lovely happy people. We parked up then had to go through an X-ray machine to get into the building, great to see they are taking security seriously.

2 hours later Mary had her new coat & I had.......2 pairs of shoes, 2 pairs of jeans, 3 hoodies, 3 t-shirts, 1 smart jacket/coat, 1 pair of comfy truck bottoms & 3 pairs pairs of socks....can't wait to go shopping again 😜  It was great value, nigh-on all the stuff we brought was in the sales with 50% off.  We then went for a bit of lunch it what I would call a Turkish mans cafe. As normal the food was delish & very cheap.....£12. 

The weather has been a proper mixed bag, but when it's nice, it's lovely, we have had a couple of days with wall to wall sunshine. We left Fethiya at 13:50, sun shining, not a cloud in the sky, the outside temp on the car dash was reading 16c.....not bad 😎☀️  So it was sunglasses on, Abba greatest hits into the CD player, with us two giving it our best Bjorn & Agmetha impressions 👫🎤 all the way back to Kalkan.

Got a fair bit more to say but me thinks this post is long enough already so, more later.

Offline kalkan4eva

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Re: Winter in Kalkan with 2 "Lemon's" .....but not bitter 👍🏻
« Reply #12 on: January 13, 2017, 03:11:10 PM »
So who doesn't like shopping then....?! Hilarious that you came away with so much :laugh: :laugh:
The pace of life in Kalkan sounds just wonderful right now to me, meeting myself coming backwards in work and spinning the proverbial plates at home. What I wouldn't give for a spot of tea with the neighbours, a trip up to Berzigan and a shopping expedition in Fethiye...aahh well! I can get all that vicariously through your posts, onelove.

Glad you got the heating sorted. We have snow at home, so think we might be a tad colder here than Kalkan but I cant imagine what its like to need heating there as we've only ever visited in warmer months.

thanks for posting

Offline onelove

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Re: Winter in Kalkan with 2 "Lemon's" .....but not bitter 👍🏻
« Reply #13 on: January 16, 2017, 04:41:36 PM »
Omg, we have been here for 12 days already, as they say, time flys when your having fun 👍

Again I'm a bit lost when it comes to what we did on what day, so in no particular order here I go.......

The weather forecast for last Monday was sunshine all day & it was bang on ☀️☀️☀️  On Tuesday I had decided that for dinner on Monday we were going to have 'chicken tikka' not chicken tikka masala, but marinated cubed chicken served on a sizzler with chopped onions & lettuce, you know the sort 😋😋😋. When it comes to Indian food I think I'm a bit of a connoisseur, well maybe not, but I do love it, my fav been 'chicken tikka'. We used to go to Asian Gate** a lot before it shut 😪 so became very friendly with Jawad (the owner) & his lovely lovely wife Emine. Jawads chicken tikka is easily the best I have ever tasted, so I asked him if he could let me have some of his 'magic' chicken tikka power (I'm a bit naughty telling you all this because he told me not to tell anyone, so don't bother asking him for some, as refusals can be embarrassing, he said I was a special case on the strength of the amount of time's we have eaten there) It's so easy to make, if you have the 'magic' power that is 😜  2 chicken breasts cubed, 1 desert spoon of magic power, 1 of olive oil & 1 of yoghurt all mixed together & left to marinate for 24 hours. While I was making it 2 couple we know called in to see us, smelt it, wanted it, demanded it. So off I went to town for more chicken breast. They then suggested we could make a 'curry' night of it, so a 'curry night'
was born. The idea was that there would now be 6 of us & we would be eating it at the Zinbad Hotel, me & Mary, our 2 friends & Ahmet (the owner of Zinbad) & his wife. The deal was, chicken tikka by me, Bombay potatos by our friends, samosas & rice by Zinbad. We arranged to meet at Zinbads @ 17:00 for sundowners on their terrace (got to say, imho, Zinbads roof terrace has one of the best views in Kalkan...the mosque, harbour & bay, stunning) As I said earlier the forecast was bang on, we had a full day of sunshine. At the moment the sun sets at approx 6ish, so we got there just before 5 & sat on the terrace supping chilled white wine in brilliant sunshine was Soooo lovely 😎☀️🍷

The meal was delish, company top notch, wine wet & cold, what more could anyone want. After we had eaten we sat drinking our wine listening to 70's & 80's music, playing 'beat the intro' in short a great night, the sort of night you can only have 'out of season'....this little gem called Kalkan just keeps on giving 👍

Note : I would think not a lot of people have heard of Zinbad Hotel. It's well worth a visit. Great food & amazing terrace. Ahmet & his staff go the extra mile to make you feel welcome, as per most places in Kalkan to be fair. For those that might be interested. If you walk down cardiac hill, on the left, just before the Pirat hotel, there is a set of painted steps
walk up them then do another left up a few more steps, you can't miss it.

Next time.....what's open, building work & more 👍
Friday (just gone) was an even better day weather wise so after (a late) breakfast we decided to drive to Patara & go for walk on the beach. I'm sure you all know how special & beautiful Patara is in the summer, well, when you get a day like Friday, wall to wall sunshine, & you have the whole beach just to yourselves, I think it's even nicer, if that's possible ???

In the 10 years we have been going to Patara we have never 'turned left' and walked down to the far end of the beach where the cliffs are. It's really worth doing. We climbed up the rocks then we walked over the top to the other side where you can see Snake & Mouse from a totally diff angle, you have to be very careful as there are sheer drops into the sea on the far side. It's quite high and the view looking back at the beach is truly wonderful. I have never seen the beach so clear of debris, I can only imagine that the resent storms had whipped the sea up, so cleaning the beach. We climbed back down & walked along the beach, sweating in the direct sun, for 45 mins, we still had the whole beach completely to ourselves, totally deserted, but at the same time oozing atmosphere, I really can't find the words to explain how beautiful / surreal it was.   
« Last Edit: January 16, 2017, 04:44:16 PM by onelove »

Offline onelove

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Re: Winter in Kalkan with 2 "Lemon's" .....but not bitter 👍🏻
« Reply #14 on: January 16, 2017, 05:44:04 PM »
.....Tuesday of course should of read Sunday

I dont know why....next time what's on, building work appears in the middle of my post, it was written at the end 🤔

Offline amber

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Re: Winter in Kalkan with 2 "Lemon's" .....but not bitter 👍🏻
« Reply #15 on: January 17, 2017, 04:08:44 AM »
Had lunch with a friend at Zinbad on Saturday.Its a real gem,they have a lovely wood burner for warmth inside and if you want to catch some sun (if there is any) you can sit on the terrace,its high up,overlooking the harbour,has lovely views and just so welcoming.

Offline kalkan4eva

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Re: Winter in Kalkan with 2 "Lemon's" .....but not bitter 👍🏻
« Reply #16 on: January 17, 2017, 01:00:30 PM »
Zinbad Hotel was one of the places we recommended to a friend who was travelling on his own to Kalkan last summer. We've never been ourselves but he wanted something small and personal right in the heart of the village. He ended up staying at another of our recommendations (Courtyard) - but he visited the others on the list, just to check them out. He told us he loved Courtyard but wished he'd stayed at Zinbad  "for the incredible views". These posts have made we pop this on our list for this year!

Offline Lizilu20

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Re: Winter in Kalkan with 2 "Lemon's" .....but not bitter 👍🏻
« Reply #17 on: February 09, 2017, 11:54:28 AM »
Ok Lemons, you've had long enough to relax.  ;)

Where are you and what have you been up to? It's bloomin' bitter here with the East wind blowing through my bones and I need some Kalkan feelgood news. I'm sure you are having a wonderful time but your forum needs you and you're slacking.  ;) ;) :o ;D ;D ;D  What's the weather like over there? Is it still snowy and rainy or have the blue skies returned?

Offline onelove

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Re: Winter in Kalkan with 2 "Lemon's" .....but not bitter 👍🏻
« Reply #18 on: February 10, 2017, 05:24:19 AM »
Yeah your right Liz. I have been very lazy I agree but that's what it's like when you have been in Kalkan for just under6 weeks, it's like time stands still.

I will get my finger out 👍

Offline Lizilu20

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Re: Winter in Kalkan with 2 "Lemon's" .....but not bitter 👍🏻
« Reply #19 on: February 10, 2017, 09:19:34 AM »
Hey I don't blame you. I'm so envious, although we do have something to look forward to. It 's hardly Kalkan but there will be an EK reunion going on this weekend with us and Bob and Jayne, so hopefully there'll be a bit of fun minus sun to look forward to.
Enjoy your weekend.  8) 8) 8)




















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