Thinking of buying a villa in Kalkan

[vonneytravel]

New to this sight and looking to buy a villa in Kalkan, as we love it so much. We would expect to live there for 7-8 months October - May/June every year. Can anyone tell us what winters in Kalkan might be like? Weather wise? Do the restaurants and shops stay open, when the tourists go home?
Also does anyone know the policy on dogs as we would want to have our dog with us. Can we take our dog over to Greece with us too? And home without restrictions - he has a pet passport.



Linkback: https://www.enjoykalkan.com/forum/index.php?topic=6070.0

[Enjoy Kalkan]

Welcome to EK - you may be best posting these questions in 2 new topics to get more responses


Hope that helps

[Roxie]

Hi,
Just be very careful with your purchase. Let "buyer beware". You can search through threads on this site. As everywhere there are a few horror stories! We were very lucky and just went on gut instinct. I would not be so foolish again. I would also look at someone reliable to look after it in the summer months. The garden will need watered etc.I will be interested in how you get on with the dogs as we may want to do something similar in a few years!
Good Luck
Rx

[amber]

I have lıved ın Kalkan summer and wınter for 5 years my advıce would be to rent somewhere to start wıth and see how you lıke ıt.The wınters ın Kalkan are very very dıfferent to the summer season from many aspects and some love ıt and some hate ıt!!! Locatıons that may seem very attractıve ın the sun can be very ısolated I thınk you should really experıence a wınter here before you make a fırm decısıon.Hope that helps.

[Cosetta]

I agree with Amber.  Rent through the winter before deciding.  Bring you dogs with you, we brought our 2 dogs from the US and take them in and out to Spain, Italy, France and the US.

Be aware though that vet facilities are extremely limited here.  There are vets but they have no equipment, they mostly do surgeries or give you antibiotics.  But they have no diagnostic equipment.  For something serious or needing diagnostic equipment, you have to take your dog to Antalya.  There is someone in Fethiye with equipment but he doesn't seem to know how to use it properly or understand the results.

Although we have lived here much of the year since 2003, we spent only one winter here.  It is very windy in winter, a house without heating can be quite cold (we have central heating and used it from December through mid-April).  There are many fewer people, many shops and restaurants are closed but there are several winter activities that are not offered in the summer.  There is also a growing year-round resident population.

[amber]

I and many other people I know have had very good experıences wıth the vet servıces ın Fethıye and they have been able to offer as good a servıce as I would have been able to get ın uk.The vet ın Kalkan offers a lımıted servıce as he does not have xray equıpment or a lab but has also done very good work for my own anımals and the street anımals too.
I dont thınk there has been any changes ın the law so you are not able to move anımals between Turkey and Uk just on a pet passport.I am sure there must be lots of ınfo on the ınternet about thıs.
 

[Cosetta]

In Fethiye at the vet near Migros, over the course of the 3 years we used him every diagnosis we got was wrong.  So was the treatment.  When I took my dog to a properly trained and equipped vet clinic both in Antalya and in Spain, they were aghast at what she had been given.  I know someone here whose dog was misdiagnosed and treated for something quite different when in fact, the dog had cancer. 

That vet also put Stronghold into my cat's ears and they were totally burned and raw.  It says right on the box not to do that.  I showed it to him.  He responded that 'that's what they taught us in vet school'.   With that combination of events, we stopped going there.  Admittedly, if a dog has a ball in his stomach the x-ray machine could capture that and you would see it yourself.  Also true that a generic antibiotic might cure something even undiagnosed.  But we had just too many bad experiences with that particular vet clinic in Fethiye.  Also unsterilized table and often outdated and moldy prescription dog food.  Things have gotten one notch better since 2006 but not better enough.

More recently she was diagnosed in Spain with diabetes, congestive heart failure and possibly atypical Cushing's.   All of the Cushing's tests are not available here, there is not a single vet opthalmologist in Turkey that we could find, the cardiac ultrasound machine is a 20,000 euro piece of equipment and the diagnostic equipment for diabetes is also very expensive.  Only university vet hospitals and a couple of vets in antalya have any of this equipment. 

[saskia]

I didn't want to prolong this discussion about the vets here as the initial topic wasn't about them but rather advice for people thinking to move here. However, I feel I have to speak out as I think the Fethiye vets mentioned are being unfairly criticised if it is Kent veterinary clinic next to Migros that Cosetta is talking about. They are a husband and wife team of fully qualified veterinary surgeons that I have had dealings with ever since 1995.In that time I have to say they have always shown themselves to be caring, compassionate and willing to go the extra mile for any animals that I have taken to them be they owned or street animals. Their business has grown considerably over the years but they have always ploughed the profits back into the business buying X-ray and laboratory equipment. They do not profess to know everything and have on several occasions sent blood or tissue samples to the veterinary college in Aydın for further examination. I am sure that every vet everywhere can make a misdiagnosis from time to time but is only to be expected after all they are human. However, over the years they have treated hundreds of animals for us at Kapsa, they have opened the clinic for us on Sundays when an emergency has required it and they have never turned an animal away. All in all I think we are fortunate to have them near by.

[maria]

I agree with Amber it is best to rent somewhere 1st and experience a winter here in Kalkan we have rented an apartment  in a Turkish owned house in the old town kalkan in winter is very different and I found it very lonely here to start with most of the restaurants and shops are shut and those that were open shut early as it was very cold at night so the winter here is not for me,we are going home in October but I have spoken to many people who love it here in the winter so give it a try but possibly rent 1st.

[kim21]

Definately vonneytravel, spend a winter here renting and get to know those who live here all year round and chat about house buying in kalkan, owning property in kalkan, it's an eye-opener

[Mags]

Yes, I agree too. Winter in Kalkan is a very different experience! We stayed in our house (which is not centrally heated) into December one year, but would not want to repeat that. The nights were very cold indeed: we soon bought a 5-bar electric fire and spent evenings huddled round that (when the electricity was working, that is: the power cuts were more frequent and for longer once the weather got bad). Also, it was WET: lots of rain, wind, storms and thunder and the streets became rivers. Of course, we had sunny, warm days too: I remember sitting outside at Aubergine, having lunch, in the middle of December.
Not many shops or restautants were open then (it was 3 years ago), although I believe that may be changing gradually as more (non-native Kalkanites) people begin living all year round in Kalkan.
And the feral dogs became even more menacing than usual: roaming round in large packs, looking for food, once all the nice tourists who feed them had gone.......

[amber]

My fırst wınter ın Kalkan I ınvested ın a hot water bottle, a blanket and a paır of cosy PJs and yes, a good electrıc fıre to back up the aırcon system.A good supply of candles ıs always useful!
The good news ıs sınce Kapsa was formed a couple of years ago, there are now more volunteers organısıng a wınter feedıng programme for cats and dogs around Kalkan (3.85 tons of food dıstrıbuted over the past 2 wınters)
I have brought myself a nıce paır of unıon jack wellıes ready for thıs wınter but some days we can be sıttıng out enjoyıng the sunshıne and havıng lovely walks.
I thınk Kalkan ın wınter ıs great but ıts not goıng to be everyones cup of tea.
Gıve ıt a try- ıt wıll certaınly be an experıence to remember!