Kalkan Turkey Forum - EnjoyKalkan.com
Kalkan Discussion => Holiday Reports and Reviews => Topic started by: Lizilu20 on August 10, 2013, 04:53:40 PM
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Hi all,
Well here we are again!!! Arrived in the wee small hours and are now absolutely shattered. Had a fairly straight forward journey, but lots of turbulence over Austria, which went on for at least an hour or so. Our youngest is very frightened of flying and gets terrible motion sickness so spent most of the journey with her head in a sick bag, poor thing.
The villa is beautiful, it's very high up, at the very top of kiziltas and has a view to die for, with a gorgeous infinity pool. Needless to say, we are very, very happy with it. :)
We tried to walk down to town to pick the rental car up, but had to flag a taxi down as we were all so tired after only having a couple of hours sleep.
So, we collected the car from Alper and delivered sausages to a friend who lives here and has been longing for a taste of tesco's finest for a while.
We then changed some money, rate 2.90 at the PTT and sauntered down to fener for lunch. Five chicken burgers later and a few gallons of diet coke helped with the dehydration! ( had to have a duty free night cap or 4 when we arrived at the villa - it's a tradition!! ).
Bob and Jayne joined us and it was so good to see them again.
After a leisurely lunch, we traipsed off to migros for a giant shop and finally made it back to the villa for a chilled out couple of hours.
No major mishaps yet thank goodness, but 3 of us have so far managed to bash our heads on a beautiful hanging candle holder which is dangling above the couch on the terrace. Of course accident prone OH has done it twice so far. I had a good giggle, then promptly stood up and did exactly the same thing!
Off to Marina tonight so I'd better get cracking and get ready. It's good to be back! :)
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Great to hear you are safely here. Glad that I'm not the only one who finds things to bang my head on, even when I'm not trying.
Keep up the reports!
(By the way... I suspect some "thank you" manipulation).
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Look forward to episode 2 Lizilu........have a lovely evening!
Martyn .....I gave you a thank you just for the sake of it as you seem to be getting a bit hung up about this!! :laugh: :laugh:
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;D ;D ;D that worked then! ;)
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Glad you have all arrived safely....albeit with bruised heads now. ;D
Looking forward to your reports, Lizilu so don't forget us here in miserable UK.
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Episode 2...
Martyn - you and I are now even Stevens!!! ;D
Well, the novelty has not worn off yet! We keep pinching ourselves :) we were in a bit of a daze yesterday, post flight and nightcap syndrome. I forgot to mention that on our way back from fener, we encountered a tricky situation. If you remember, at Easter we were stuck behind an articulated lorry up at the traffic lights at the petrol station, which kept sliding back because of the rain, well, the same thing happened to us halfway up cardiac hill yesterday. We were behind a belediye truck which couldn't make it up the hill. I think the roads have become slippery in the heat and try as it might, it cold not make it up the hill. We were very civilised and waited, and waited for it to get a grip on the Tarmac but unfortunately
, not everyone was as patient. Cardiac hill soon resembled a crossroads in Rome! Care were coming at us from every direction, weaving around the lorry and it was really hair raising. Meanwhile we were still sat there...and sat there....and sat there until OH decided, well, if you can't beat 'em, join the buggers, so off we set a'bobbin' and a weaving round the lorry, taking our life in our own hands as people nonchalantly missed bumping each other by a whisker and our girls with hands over their faces like they were on a white knuckle ride and exclaiming "dad - watch out ' entertained themselves. I had to have a stiff gulp of wine when we got back to the villa!!
Today has been idyllic so far. Breakfast was served on the terrace at 10am having caught up with our sleep, and consisted of chucky eggs (brown - usually only see white) soldiers, toast bread and cheese and tomatoes. Yum yum yum!!
We have had a perfectly decadent day around the pool, gazing at snake and mouse in the distance - we are so high up here - and lounging about. I'm reading 'and the mountains echoed' in paperback and a free kindle book upstairs in the bedroom. Can get a bit confusing at times :) but so far brain is not too addled to enjoy them in tandem.
I got the new Elie Saab perfume at Manchester and its divine, so I'll be drenching myself in it tonight, above the movie repellent. 1 day, no bites yippee!
On the accident front. Automan is doing well. Today he had his head in the fridge finding fanta and managed to nearly knock himself out as he left the freezer door open while filling it up with efes glasses, jumped up and cracked his head on the freezer door, rendering himself in a stupor like state. How we laughed. Poor bloke - we need him for entertainment!!! ;D
Just listening to abba gold and about to pour myself a chilled glass of wine. Can life get any better???? 8)
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Oh dear, you don't have much luck with large vehicles getting stuck do you..?
In fact you don't have much luck with heads...and knocking them senseless....this is what happens when you aren't used to your surroundings. In a few days Automan will be taking fanta out the fridge like a real pro 8)
Looking forward to your next installment.
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Why not take off Abba and put on Status Quo....then you can all bang your heads..... O0
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;D ;D
There is definitely a recurring theme in your holiday reports Lizilu .......take care and carrying on having a great time! Enjoy the meet up which I think is tonight?
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Episode 3....
Thanks for all your comments guys. I'm afraid I'm at a loss to know what to do with Automan. It's getting rather boring now, recounting his bumps, slips and mishaps. Perhaps I should just do a tally - so far, head bumps x 4 ( the latest on the corner of the bathroom shelf while brushing his Peggy's ) kerb falls x 1. Think I'd better do as BL suggests!!
Well I can't believe it's Tuesday already. Where are these days going? We've had a busy few days, socialising, eating, drinking, more drinking and even more drinking! It's exhausting!!
We had a lovely meal at Marina restaurant on Saturday night, Automan and I had filet steaks in peppercorn sauce and they were melt in the mouth delicious. We had 2 starters, calamari and shrimp rolls, the usual free puffy bread and cheese, olives and garlic butter, all 3 girls choosing pasta. We all had 2 drinks each and the bill came to 210.00 TL. We thought that was really good value for money and the food was excellent.
After dinner we met up with Bob and Jayne and had a drink at the pirat hotel. It's really nice at the pirat, the view over the harbour is amazing and the waiters were so friendly.
On Sunday we had a villa day and Walter and I became reacquainted. Our relationship is solid as a rock, although our new addition Roger ring did try to vie for my attention but I'm committed to Walter. :o
At night we met up with friends at moonlight bar, so lovely to see RosiB and yelkenite again. Unfortunately they will not be attending the EK meet up tonight but we will hopefully be dragging our next door but one neighbours with us. They are in Kalkan now on my recommendation - they said that they were sick of hearing me rave on about Kalkan, so they thought they would see for themselves. Needless to say, they have fallen in love with Kalkan already and are talking about coming back next year!! We dined with them at akin on Sunday evening and we had a great night. The food was really tasty and extremely good value for money - really generous portion sizes and I stuffed my face, ate far too much and very irresponsibly, drank far too much wine as well. I never learn from my mistakes unfortunately. The bill came to 300 TL for 9 people!!!!! Amazing.
When I got home I was in a bit of a state. I was so hot and couldn't seem to cool down. I lay down on the cold marble floor by the swimming pool and shimmied about trying to cool down but to no avail. I'm claiming a bit of a memory loss here and blaming my next action on my funny turn - not my greed and alcohol level, but I have it on good authority, that I proceeded to strip off my layers and flop into the pool in my birthday suit ::) it seemed to do the trick though. There's nothing like a midnight skinny dip to bring you back to your senses. I heard my girls muttering to themselves "mums at it again" again?? What do they mean?? Am I really that bad??
Yesterday was a blurry day for me :) I've bought myself a lovely new handbag from simply chic. What a fab and quirky little shop. I had a browse while Automan was coiffured at Sevil barbers and came out looking once again like my silver fox. The massage had loosened up his tense shoulders and I'm very happy to report that it also loosened his grip on his wallet.
We then collected Bob and Jayne from the pirat for a villa day at ours.......to be continued 8)
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Wondering if the head bumping and drinking could be connected in some way?? :laugh:
Sounds like you are having a ball......and doing an excellent job of being a totally embarrassing mum.....these kids just don't realise that its on our job description do they??
My youngest is quite sad she is not going away with us this year as I manage to keep her entertained. Her favourite episode....and one she just loves sharing is when I got knocked over in the waves at Patara in water only up to my knees....when I finally resurfaced I had sort of been relieved of my bikini bottoms......much to the horror of a young lad next to me....he probably still has nightmares! ::) ::) At least you were in the privacy of your own home!!
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Lets hope there were no Barnacles on the bottom >:D
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I certainly hope there's no repeat of the skinny dipping whilst in the presence of Bob and Jayne? That will make for interesting photos in the Gallery ;D ;D
Have you managed to walk down into town from your Villa yet or is Automan living up to his title and driving you and the girls everywhere? If so, those bumps on the head are affecting him more than he realises :P
Yep, lost my entire bikini - Babs style - in Lykia World. Fortunately the kids were not around to witness it as BH also lost his trunks :o We wandered down to the private beach one day and wondered why no-one was in the sea - nice waves, looked great fun so we bounded in. Two seconds later a wave had spun us around like a washing machine cycle and spat us out on the beach sans swimwear. Obviously, we had to re-enter the sea to retrieve our cossies...cue more washing machine spins and naked Brits on the beach. The thing is we were laughing so hard we couldn't move - the laughing made worse by the fact everyone on the beach was a humourless Russian who didn't find our plight even remotely funny.
Eventually, after what seemed like hours, I abandoned my top (everyone was topless anyway) but had retrieved my bottoms which I'd dragged from the sea bed with a ton of shail. We walked up the beach with what looked like over full nappies, in pain from laughing so much. At the beach shower I dropped the bottoms to get rid of the stones and BH said "everyone can see your everything...." erm bit late for that eh? ;)
Looking forward to hearing all about the afternoon with B&J and also the meet up tonight :)
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Episode 4....the one with the wildlife :o
Apologies for my abstinence yesterday but I was to traumatised to blog! More about that later.
On Monday, we had such a fright. I was just settling my bod on the sunbed when I heard our daughter shriek "arrghhh, what the hell was that"! We saw a creature about the size of jam jar lid scuttle under the sunbeds. We thought it was a crab, so off we followed to investigate. Turns out it was a giant spider!!!absolutely huge, fangs and everything, no exaggeration honestly!! Off it ran down by the pool and over the edge of the car port. Phew! It had disappeared. We then set off on our travels to collect Bob and Jayne.
We arrived at the pirat and Jumped out of the car. As Automan got out, something caught his hand - he looked down and there was the spider!!! It then sprinted, fast as lightening, over the roof and into the passenger side - I was riveted to the spot with fear! My brave Automan manger to flick it off the seat and it ran into the door seal, never to be seen again thank goodness. When we met Bob and Jayne, they told us that a young girl had just been carted off in an ambulance, apparently had taken an overdose of paracetamol so it was all systems go at the pirat. How sad, she is only a teenager and her girlfriends were obviously distraught. As a parent, I can only hope and pray that Im never in that poor girls parents situation. Imagine your daughter going on her first holiday away from you and then getting a phone call to say she was in a life threatening situation. My thoughts and prayers are with that family.
We all jumped in the car with trepidation re the man eating spider. Don't think Bob and Jayne were too happy when we told them about it, but luckily Jayne didn't realise that it had actually been a stowaway in our car until after the event or I think she may have preferred to sprint up cardiac hill with a rusty nail in her shoe rather than sit in the car with the stowaway spider from hell!! :o
What an absolutely lovely day we had. We nibbled and drank and chatted and swam, and had such a fun time. I don't know where the hours went. Time flew by so quickly and before we knew it, it was midnight. We had a Hunkar takeaway for our evening meal for us and a passaport pizza takeaway for the girls. We had plenty of photos taken in the pool of us all in various poses and I'm pleased to say that all swimwear was intact!!!
How I laughed Babs and K4E, at your tales!
Jayne has a dislike of gin, but by midnight, she was gulping gin and bitter lemon like it was her favourite drink!!
On Tuesday we stayed in the villa (with sore heads and feeling very fuzzy), then off to kaya and the EK meet up.
It was a brilliant night. Thank you so much to all who attended and hope you had a fab birthday M, hope nM enjoyed herself too!!! Martin, you were a star - and you entertained us so well with the group. What a good voice you have. Lovely to meet Suzy and family and skunk and mr skunk and of course our new BFF's Bob and Jayne ;D our neighbours from home seemed to enjoy themselves too which was nice.
Yesterday was a little traumatic, as I mentioned earlier. I was lounging in the infinity pool, gazing out over mouse and snake island and the graffiti on the foot bridge, the sun was sparkling off the silver mosque roof and all was well with the world.
I then noticed our resident villa cat playing with something in the garden. Silly little puss was on her hind legs and tossing something in the air.....it was a bloody snake!!!!!!!
To be continued....... :) 8) :)
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You do have more than you fair share of traumas don't you? The spider I may have coped with but a snake!!! May have to give the next episode a miss! :o :o
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Oh God that spider sounds like the scariest spider in the world...I don't know how you got back in the car knowing it was in there with you...seriously I would have been the person running up Cardiac Hill like Usain Bolt :o
This spider also has no fear and makes itself known to you at every opportunity...almost toying with you. It is evil >:D
Then a snake.....a bloody snake OMG. BH always says when we are walking through rustic terrain on our Kalkan walks, "watch out for snakes" and I've always thought that he was joking and there are no snakes in Kalkan.... :-[
Glad to hear the Meet-up went well - nice putting faces to names and all that....but I can't concentrate on that because of all the wildlife incidents :(
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Love your reports Lizilu - thanks for taking the time to do them! I will be checking under everything the next time we are over for any creepy crawlies. We had a similar incident in June, we were just about to reverse the car out of our driveway in Kiziltas when one of the grandchildren shouted to us to stop, we pulled up and hiding under the car was a baby tortoise - inches from being squashed! We picked he/she up and put him back on the grassy bank to be reunited with his family - I do love a good ending! As for your spider and snake it would have been curtains for them!
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Sorry folks for our lack of input. Lizzie your latest post has just made us laugh so much we promise we will embellish events later as the gin mixed with copious amounts of wine and bacardi oak heart made me feel a tad hung over! And if I had realised about the spider well goodness knows what would have happened! But what a fun time we had! We have pencilled in Saturday as on a boat trip tomorrow to do our blog when hopefully we will have internet as has been very intermittent here!
On the mid town evening meet up. It was so lovely to meet M@M for the first time, we are sorry we didn't realise it was your birthday, and lovely to meet Suzyq and your family and of of course the lovely Skunk and Mr skunk. Martyn you and your band were fab! And lovely to meet Fiona :-)
Bob's just told me off as I've gone off topic and we're late for the kofte at the Turkish evening here at the pirat!
We can see them bbqing them from our balcony and he is worried they will run out!
Jayne and Bob
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Oh my, what a day (or two) you have had!! I would prefer the snake over the spider any day and definitely would not have got back in the car if I had known it was (or might have been) in there.
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Spiders and snakes always make for good stories ;)
You should ask Alper (the lovely young guy who used to work at Kaya and now runs Ege Rentals) for his pics of the snake they had in their garden... now that was scary...
All you need now is a scorpion or two to complete the set :)
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Alper already knows about the snake Martyn as he commented on my photo if it in Facebook. He requested we drop a bowlful of snake soup off to him at ege rentals. Anyway, how are the renters from hell doing?
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That spider sounds the same as the one we encountered last year at Adams Place. It was huge and crawling up the wall behind my husband. He could not get out as the chairs were against the wall. Adam came along with a cloth and got hold of it. We all thought it was some sort of crab too. I am afraid we made a hasty retreat from there after that.
Sounds like you are all having a great time.
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Episode 5.... The one with the screaming kid!!!
A big thank you for all your comments guys, we are having such a wonderful time but like Suziq, cannot believe that a week has flashed by so quickly. K4E, I'm ashamed to say that Automan is indeed living up to his name and ferrying us about everywhere. I've gas a really sore foot for the past few days so that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it ;D
I was sitting on the outside sofa the other day and having a read of the guest book. I love reading the impressions other renters have of the accomodation we are staying in, and how they express themselves. One stuck in my head as perhaps a little harsh. Anonymous from Watford described that they were having a wonderful holiday, the villa was beautiful "despite the screaming kid next door"!!! Automan and I thought that this was a bit out of order, we could understand if they had mentioned the barking dogs or the searchlight etc, but to comment on the next door neighbours child was a bit nasty. The villa next door is owned by a turkish family and it appeared to be empty for our first few days, then they came home with, you've guessed it, a screaming kid in tow. By God can this child scream. It's always crying, in fact I was quite concerned at first, but the neighbours seem lovely, the child seems safe, it's just very vocal. To be honest it doesn't bother us as we have 3 of our own and know how demanding a toddler can be but it really must have bothered the previous renter to actually moan about it in the guest book!
On Wednesday we set off out in the evening, opened our front door and there was the lovely snake, presented to us by our puss, what a thoughtful pussy cat. It looked to be slithering but it was in fact an army of ants underneath, marching it off for their own turkish night celebrations, what a feast they would have that night. We had a sundowner at moonlight and bumped into mr and mrs skunk and regaled them with our souvenir pics of the snake yuk!!
We then called into Adda and paid for our kekova trip and decided to eat at alternatif. We have never dined there before and it was a really nice experience. The greeter remembered us from when he worked at mussaka brasserie. All the tourists they see and yet people always seem to remember us, not sure if this is a good or a bad thing :o the food was excellent, Automan and I had the most beautiful lamb shanks and the girls had spaghetti and a hamburger. It wasn't cheap, but certainly not the most expensive so far. It cost about 200tl, this seems to be about the norm for 5 of us price wise. After dining we dragged ourselves up the hill after another trip to the sunglasses shop. Our girls seem to love it in there and have the largest collection of glasses known to man! I called in desti and bought a cookery book and a map for when we do our jaunts, although we haven't really been able to drag ourselves away from the villa much yet.
Thursday took us to Kalkan beach park with Bob and Jayne, calling in on the market first for a quick sprint to the spice stall. What a fantastic day we had at the beach club - we've finally done it after 6 visits!! We had a lovely lunch and a mini boat trip in the process. The captain was so cute, an elderly little wizened up Turk in full captains regalia, reminded me of the love boat chap! I can highly recommend the beach park, we had a fab day and would definitely go back. We ate at mussakka on Thursday night and it was as delicious as usual. Of course I couldn't resist the chicken livers to start, I really adore these with a passion. I then had amaretto chicken for my mains. I was as full as a tick after that feast. This was our most expensive meal so far. About 300tl but well worth it. It was lovely to see Suziq and family at the next table and we had a good old chin wag. Fantastic evening, we rolled home for a nightcap on the terrace, gazing at the magnificent view of kalkan lights twinkling below us, the laser weaving its way back and forth and the lilting vocals of screaming kid lulling us into a soporific state, and so off to bed we shuffled.......to be continued :)
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Even though I am here in Kalkan at the same time as you Lizzie I'm still loving reading your reports. Can I ask a big favour and ask that you keep all those spiders and snakes up there above the D400! I daren't tell Charlotte for fear I won't get her to leave the villa let alone come back to Kalkan again! :)
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Episode 6.....the one with antler!!
Thanks Suzy, I've really been enjoying reading your reports too. Hope your holiday is going a bit slower than ours!
So, Friday was cleaning day, the maid Fatoush arrived bright and early and I had to drag the girls from their slumber. What a thorough job she did too. I was a little surprised though that she she cleaned all the laundry and linens in the villa washing machine. I felt bad as I'd just put a load of our sweaty clobber in just before she arrived, so she had to wait until our smalls had finished spinning before she could continue. I think that set her back a bit a bit but she took it in her stride and we had a lovely chat in broken English about the gorgeous smelling fabric conditioner in turkey. We spent the morning outside in the pool, girls doing their usual acrobatics and Automan and I relaxing and mooching from pool to sunbed, to outdoor couch and back again, our own version of sluggish circuit training! I was engrossed in my latest book, 'and the mountains echoed' when we heard an almighty crash - Fatoush had flattened the fly screen!! Poor lady was walking through the patio door with a mountain of laundry and forgot the fly screen was there, it certainly made us jump. Of course we all rushed to her aid but nonplussed, she picked herself up, dusted herself off and proceeded to refit the fly screen door like a craftsman. She even re beaded the bottom where the net had come away. Took her all of five mins to completely refit the door like it had never happened. The door actually slides better now than it ever did. What a remarkable woman, she's up there in my estimation! I didn't like confessing that it was actually Bob that made the flyscreen come away from its frame when he did the same thing the other day, but miraculously bounced back before the door came away from the frame. Sorry Bob, I have to reveal your little secret!!! ;D
Automan ran Fatoush into town (it was the least we could do) and went to collect our friends to join us for the afternoon. Another fab afternoon lounging round the pool, drinking efes and wine and catching up with the gossip. We dragged ourselves off to Kalkan kebab for dinner but home by eleven, absolutely shattered!
Saturday was another lazy day, only broken up with a little shopping trip to yali where we bumped into MartinE. I invited him to go before us in the queue as he only had a couple of items whereas we had a trolley groaning with goodies, in fact I'm sure I caught him eyeing up our magnums! ;D
We had a brilliant Saturday evening up at Adems with Bob and Jayne. We were greeted like old friends and nothing was too much trouble. The food was lovely as usual and the ambience to die for. We watched the sun disappearing behind the mountain, bit cloudy so no spectacular sunset and Bob had an idea :o let's Skype Antler! And so we did!! It was fab to see the look on Adems face when antler appeared on Bob's phone, he was thrilled to bits and so were we. It was lovely to see him and have a chat, it made our night and Adems. Hope we didn't disturb you too much antler, it looked like you were busy whipping up some fab culinary delight in your kitchen. M really looking forward to your blog this year and reading about all the beautiful meals you have prepared in Kalkan. I came with all the usual good intentions, but we've relied on Hunkar kebab takeaway far too much I'm afraid!!!
Yesterday was our first boat trip day on Anil boat with captain Ali and what a day it was.......to be continued.
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Thanks for taking time out to write such vivid reports...give me snakes and spiders over a screaming kid anyday ;D ;D >:D
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Lizilu20 it was great to hear from you all. Sorry you met me with my apron on! Just practicing in the kitchen....!!
It was a great use of Skype, so thanks for thinking of us. Adem is such a lovely guy, isn't he?!
Have fun and please keep us up-to-date with your antics!
Cheers
Antler
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Saturday was another lazy day, only broken up with a little shopping trip to yali where we bumped into MartinE. I invited him to go before us in the queue as he only had a couple of items whereas we had a trolley groaning with goodies, in fact I'm sure I caught him eyeing up our magnums! ;D
Oi! I've got my own Magnums!!! ;)
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Fab Fab Fab!!!
I expect Skype recipe moments as well as YouTube now, Steve....!
Sounds like you are having a fabulous time, lizilu....just loving your reports. B&J hang your collective head in shame.....if I was your form master writing on a school report it would be "could do better". Lizilu it would be A* all the way for you :angel:
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Episode 7...the one with the boat trips 8)
Just loved your replies guys, thanks, feels good to know I'm teachers pet :angel: talking of which, it's our two eldest daughters GCSE results tomorrow :o please keep all your fingers crossed they achieve their grades. I've been having awful dreams these past few nights, I'm so worried for them both. They seem quite chilled so I suppose I shouldn't worry, what will be will be.
Sunday dawned beautifully bright with a gentle breeze, perfect for a day on the high seas, well, around mouse and snake etc! The lovely Skunk had per booked a private hire for ourselves, mr and mrs skunk and Bob and Jayne for the day. We had an absolutely brilliant time on Anil boat with the fab captain Ali. It was one of the best trips we have ever had and I must say a massive thank you to skunk for your efforts. We had the usual swim stops and routine, but what made it that bit different was the ambience. When we set off, he played beautiful classical music while we sipped tea and coffee and he changed the music at every stop, reflecting the mood. He made the most marvellous food, my favourites were the courgette and cheese fritters and the yummy carrot salad. We also had a lovely chicken curry, bread, bulgar salad, boreks, kofte, spaghetti, salad, lentil balls and fresh tuna. There was a mountain of food and it kept on coming. We also has fresh fruit and cakes for our afternoon tea. I also have to say that he made the best g&t's bar none!!!
We honestly had a fantastic day and I can highly recommend a trip on Anil boat. Captain Ali also regaled us with fantastic tales of Kalkan of old, which were really interesting and amusing. He told us that Kalkan used to have 2 beaches. The town beach and one where the pirat hotel now stands. He said that no one would ever believe that the pirat is still standing as it is build directly over the sea. When he was a little boy, the beaches were segregated, the town beach was ladies only and the pirat beach was for the men. He said he and his friends when they were little boys, used to creep up and spy on the the girls on ladies beach, whereupon the ladies would throw stones at them and shout at them to get lost. He was such a good raconteur, I could have listened to him forever. We had the usual mud baths and or was such a scream watching Automan and bob doing each others backs. They looked like 2 creatures from the swamp!!
We were shattered after the trip so had another Hunkar takeaway, which we shared with friends, it was their last night and their first time to Kalkan. They have had a fantastic time and guess what, they are booking again for next year!!!
We woke up Monday morning and thought that it was raining. We could hear a massive deluge and ran outside to take a look, but the sky was blue and not a cloud to be seen, however water was gushing down the side and back of the villa. Automan went up to the roof to investigate and it transpired that the pipe to to water tank had burst and it was flooding his contents all down the villa. A quick phone call to Ekrem our maintenance guy and within half an hour the plumber arrived and job sorted. We had a very lazy day on Monday, doing our usual sluggish circuit training, only resting for wine and efes and went to gourmet for our evening meal. I had 'who let the chickens out', my favourite, and the others all enjoyed this curries, fajitas and jamesons steak, followed by scrummy chocolate avalanches and a traditional turkish sweet for myself. I just love the freebie starters of vegetarian sushi, homemade warm bread rolls and hot hot hot wasabi sauce and dipping oil. All this for less than 300 TL for 5 of us. If we'd have eaten the same standard of food at our local favourite restaurant at home, it would have been twice the price and no freebie starters.
Yesterday was another boat trip day to kekova, this time organised by Bob and Jayne via Adda tours...to be continued 8) 8) :)
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I'm there on the boat with you, sipping G&T's and eating homemade cake...sounds just wonderful.
How funny that there used to be two Kalkan beaches - one for women and one for men :o Kusadasi still has a Ladies beach although its populated by plenty of strange looking women with hairy chests these days ;D ;D
You are packing so much into this trip and still finding time to tell us about it...you deserve the equivalent of an MBE for services to EK.....an EKE :)
Fingers crossed for your two girls expecting their results tomorrow - hope you will all be celebrating :)
Keep the reports coming, if you have time, really loving them.
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Thanks so much K4E. We do seem to have been busy. Busy socialising more than anything! ;D
Automan has just been busy practising his photographic skills and has added some photos to the gallery.
I forgot to mention that we had a fab brunch at chillies on Monday, so nice to see mr happy and the gang again.
Just one question for the forum, why are my sides still white?? Doesn't matter what position I contort myself into - I cannot seem to get the backs of my legs or my sides tanned? ??? I know it's not earth shattering but I'd love to know how to do it. ;D
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I think you need to use used tea bags Lizzie, just rub them in, apparently they work well!
B
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Thanks Bob, I'll try that ;D
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Strange that ladies threw stones at men....they did that when I was there in june..I just assumed it was because they didn't like my mankini matched with crocs and rubber bathing cap ::)
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Hi Lizilu,
Welcome to Kalkan again. I really enjoyed to read your posts and will be looking forward to seeing you in Kas again.
Regards
Cpt. Ergun
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I've really enjoyed reading this thread. It's 2 months since we were there, so reading your reports transports me straight back to beautiful Kalkan. We've got to wait until next year for our return but can't complain; at least we are returning!
Good luck with your daughters' exam results.
Karyn
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Hope both girls get what they need and you you can relax, celebrate and enjoy Kalkan even more.. 8) 8)
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Just catching up on here after three days away on a course....was so busy that I didn't have time to get on here! Great to hear you're still having an amazing time....lovely that you are able to meet up with fellow forumites!
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Episode 8...the one with the results!!!
As I mentioned earlier, Tuesday was kekova day. We set off to Kas in the Adda tours minibus, flying at breakneck speed around the hairpin bends and thankfully, we arrived in one piece at the harbour, a little shaken but not too stirred thank God! We boarded the boat safari 2 and were welcomed on by captain Ali, his crew of merry men and his wife.
We had just pulled out of the harbour and we were telling Skunk and Bob and Jayne about our trip out on captain erguns boat, the gulsah, when we were in kas a few years ago. We were motoring on at good speed when we realised that the boat we had just drawn alongside was the Gulsah! What a coincidence! Jayne and I were feeling giddy so started shouting "captain Ergun", much to the disgust and shame of my girls ;D then we realised another coincidence - who should be on the boat, but none other than Suzyq1 and family. We had such fun waving and shouting to each other and hurriedly taking photos!
We had a fab day out. I'm so glad we did this trip after all this time and may well do it again next year. The sea was turquoise and so inviting, and it was so interesting viewing the ancient ruins. Lunch was amazing considering Ali's wife was catering for so many people. The BBQ'd chicken sis was really lovely as was the rest of the food. Simena was a beautiful little island, really picturesque and we wolfed down the gorgeous home made ice cream, rather than trudge up to the castle. As we were walking up the steps to the cafe, we were behind some people off another boat. I glanced up and couldn't believe my eyes, a woman dressed only in a thong bikini - bum cheeks a'wobblin' and a rucksack was directly above us, twas quite a sight believe me! I know turkey is quite liberal foe a Muslim country and I'm no prude, but she looked really out of place. All the turkish ladies we saw on simena looked very traditionally dressed, one wonders what they must sometimes think of the tourists!
There was also a little incident of me walking into the toilet and disturbing a lady mid wipe, but the least said about that the better!! It reminded me of the post that someone put on about this happening to their wife when they were on the plane to Kalkan (sorry I can't remember the poster)
On the way back, I sat with my legs dangling over the side of the boat, with the breeze in my hair and the dribble sneaking its way down my chin as I nodded off, lulled by the gentle sway of the boat. It was perfect. We actually saw dolphins and a turtle too, a brilliant day out. We arrived home about 7.30pm, absolutely shattered but a quick cold shower to wake me up soon sorted me out off we trotted to Ata and then on to watch MartynE at midtown. We finally gave up the ghost about 11ish and headed off to bed.
Wednesday was spent lazing about the villa then drinks at moonlight before dining at akin again with bob and Jayne. Our meals were delicious and very reasonable, and after we had eaten, Jayne and I were invited up to gyrate on the dance floor (the street outside the restaurant). Seeing as we had downed a bottle of wine, we obliged and had great fun doing our version of belly dancing. Suzyq1 and family were dining there too and we saw her taking photos, she has strict instructions to destroy the evidence as we have sneaky pics and a video courtesy of Bob, of her strutting her stuff too!!
Thursday was results day. I was a bag of nerves, to put it mildly!! Waiting until 10.30am to telephone school was a nightmare and our 2 girls were besides themselves. Poor Hannah had to wait until 12 for hers but I'm very pleased and very proud to say that they did amazingly well, managing to score a combined total of 15 GCSE's between them both. Automan and I are extremely proud parents and a great big thank you to you all on EK for your kindlly encouraging words and good wishes. Phew! So glad that's over with. They both managed to get their places at college/sixth form too.
It was celebration time for sure after this, so off we went for a celebratory trip to the market - girls not impressed - and then on to fener for a lovely lunch. I had a goats cheese and avocado salad and it was delicious, especially as it was accompanied by a lovely selection of salad dressings and oils, vinegars etc. Automan had a full english and the girls had chicken burgers. The chicken burgers at fener are such good value for money. About 8 TL and a huge piece of chicken filet with salad on a bun, served with chips.
We ate at tanzore on Thursday night and it was a pleasant change from turkish/Mediterranean style food. While we were there, Eniste came in with his wife and it was great to have a chinwag and a catch up. Back to the villa for a night cap and a movie but had to call in to the sunglasses shop first as one of the pairs of glasses had broken. They were exchanged with no hassle. We settled down to watch the movie, Automan asleep within the time it took for the opening credits to roll. It was a scary one - the conjuring, bought at the market, fair quality if you didn't mind the Chinese subtitles!!
Friday was our entertaining day....to be continued!!
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Thanks for for your continuing reports. Getting me in the mood for our holiday there in ......... oh 3 weeks time now.
I love Fener's Goat's Cheese and Avocado Salad. I always rave about it when I am there. I have it 2 or 3 times during a two week holiday. My mouth is watering already at the prospect.
Enjoy what is left of your holiday.
Jo
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Just one question for the forum, why are my sides still white?? Doesn't matter what position I contort myself into - I cannot seem to get the backs of my legs or my sides tanned? ??? I know it's not earth shattering but I'd love to know how to do it. ;D
Sorry for the delay - but here's the cure:
Assuming you are a sunbed addict, then you need to lie on your side some of the time with the relevant areas pointing at the sun. You don't need to do it for long just regularly (each day). The time depends on your sunscreen and the suns intensity. You may find it effective to raise your arms to expose the under arm area, depending on your pale extents! This is best done reading or sleeping! generally 10 minutes or so twice a day gives a sufficient colour. Npot pretty and may not be comfortable, but that's the cure.
Now for the reason:
I wold assume that you're lying on a sunbed (reading). The sun's radiation is directly onto the main part of the torso and so gets tanned. At the sides, the rays ar striking the body at an angle so the radiation effect is reduced. You can liken it to the shadow on a ball (or the moon!!) where the light part gradually changes to the dark part. The light radiation declines until it's in shadow. Same with the UV radiation (except there will be some residual reflection from the surroundings).
Hence, you need to point the pale bits at the sun to get the radiation.
Alternatively, start with a spray tan ;D
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Hi Lizilu,
Seem to remember you were heading home today so hope you had a good journey?
It was great to keep bumping into you all. I'm so glad the girls got the results they needed." Congratulations girls!"
Dont worry Lizzie I'm a true believer in "what goes on in Kalkan stays in Kalkan" so the photos will stay locked in my computer.....of course for a small fee.....? ;) ;)
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Absolutely loved reading your reports Lizilu and if you are now home I'll really miss catching up on your antics. Congratulations to your girls on their results, so pleased they got what they needed to get into college. I'd be interesred to know what you thought of Kalkan this year with so much negativity on here over the past few months it would be good to hear what you think.
Thanks for taking time to share your trip with us ;)
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Thanks so much everyone. Those last few days flew by and I didn't get chance to post but I will continue either tonight or tomorrow and keep you up to date on our last few days of fun and frolics in Kalkan. It's probably going to be a long one and just up to my eyes in washing, unpacking, dentist visit and college enrollment at the mo! :)
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Well that's something to look forward to....your post I mean, not the dentist etc!
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Episode 9...the final chapter :( :(
Well, where do I start? I do apologise for the delay everyone but I can't believe how we ran out of time! I need to get back into holiday mode so I've poured myself a glass of wine (it's Kalkan time now in my mind) and hope it will give me inspiration.
Martyn - guess what?, last thursday we saw the mother of all scorpions on our wall beside the front door, so we really did have all the Kalkan wildlife around us, snakes, spiders and scorpions. I thought of you when I saw it!!
Friday was our entertaining day. We invited Mr and Mrs Skunk and Bob and Jayne up to the villa for a day of BBQ fun in the sun. I spent most of the morning in the kitchen preparing the buffet. We had home made kofte - lamb from the butchers, mixed with grated onions, garlic, spices from the market and eggs to bind, Chicken sis - chicken thighs from the butchers kindly provided by Bob and Jayne - which I marinated in a yoghurt, garlic, olive oil and again spices from the market. Sausages and fried onions (requested by our girls), Bulghar wheat salad kindly provided by Skunk, cacik, salad, roasted pepper and tomato pasta, made by my own fair hand, potato salad which I made courtesy of the recipe from the turkish cookery book I bought from desti gift shop, gravy from the chicken which I had partially cooked in the oven, then browned on the BBQ - courtesy of bisto ;D and bread to mop up all the lovely flavours and juices!! Yum yum it was bloody good even though I say so myself! Bob was masterchef and cooked everything to perfection - he even skinned the tomatoes for the salad bless him!! He is now know as Hunkar-ke-bobby ;D
Thank you so much Bob - you did a fab job! We had a fab day, nattering, drinking, eating, swimming and relaxing.
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I've loved reading your brilliant blogs...thanks so much for taking the time to post them :laugh: :laugh:
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OMG..Ive just writtan an essay and half of it's bloody disappeared!!!
Thank you Rachey, I'll now continue with the rest and try to remember what I wrote, how infuriating! ???
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the final chapter continued...
Not sure what happened but half the post disappeared into cyberspace!!
We awoke on Saturday with verry blurry heads - we had a villa day, drinking berocca and nibbling/snacking on the leftovers from the night before- a lovely night with lovely company. We had no plans for saturday night, so I donned my blingiest top and started off at the moonlight bar for a sundowner, then had my rings cleaned, polished and dipped at infinity as is tradition. Such a fab service - all completely free, just tip the chap in the back who does the job. Another example of kalkan hospitality at it's finest. We stopped off at Merkez for a chat with the Skunks and MartynE and family who we spotted on our way down. We ended up at Salt'nPepper restaurant - a first for us and it didn't disappoint, the food was excellent as was the ambience, service and staff. I had a laugh with one of the waiters, I asked for a large glass of white wine, he replied, did I want a large glass or a lots of wine in it? I said that I wasn't bothered about the size of the glass - more bothered about how much was in it! He came back with the largest glass of wine I've ever seen in my life!! A double large white wine - certainly kept me quiet all night! The food was really delicious and the bill wasn't bad either considering.
Sunday was our last day :( :( :( but we had a brilliant one. We set off to Kas in the car, to the beach club just before the marina - the one with the water slides. The sea is like a lagoon and so warm. We had loads of fun there. We stopped off at Kaputas on the way back, for a final look at the turquoise sea, which was a bit choppy. THere was a gulet almost turned on it's side, rocking and rolling, glad our youngest wasn't on board - sick bags would have definitely been needed! We then carried on, up to Islamlar and to Bodamye Tepe restaurant where we had a beautiful simple lunch of crusty bread and grilled sea bass. Another first, but it definitely won't be the last, the views were tremendous. As we wound our way down the mountain, admiring the rustic scenery, we saw a wizened up old man having a pee, facing the road. He actually sprayed our car!!! So glad we had the air con on and the windows shut!! I've heard of the kids spraying water pistols at the jeep safari tourists, but this was something else!! ;D
Sunday night was spent with fabulous friends at a fabulous restaurant - Bob and Jayne, the Skunks and the guys at Marina. A brilliant last night, to round off another fantastic holiday in Kalkan.
Final thoughts...Chris s - I will, follow your scientific instructions re side tanning next year ;D thans for the advice. K4E, Kalkan is still the fantastic unique place it always has been. I never saw one fishbowl - unless you count the ginormous glass of wine I imbibed at SaltnPeppper!! Yes, the laser shone nightly, illuminating the night sky, but I can't say that Kalkan is now down the pan because of it! The greeters were still a pain at the harbour, even felt like running the gauntlet during the day, but they were pleasant and polite. Kalkan is still our most favourite place to be in the world and it's been great today, revisiting our holiday, even though it's been frustrating scribing all this down again as my previous post disappered. Blame the wine and roll on next year 8) 8) 8) ;D
Once again, a huge thanks to all who have read and commented on my blog this year. I very nearly didn't bother due to the previous negativity, but I'm so glad I did now. It's been such fun ;D ;D ;D
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What a lovely wrap up, Lizilu20. We are even more pleased that you DID bother. Sincerely. Thank You. And enjoy the fantastic memories that you have - after all, they are priceless.
Antler
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Thank you so much antler. It was great to "meet you" while on holiday and I can't wait to read your blog too, it will transport me right back again! :-*
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Thanks so much Lizilu20 for your posts, enjoyed reading them all, sounds like you had a fab time as usual. Less than 2 weeks until I'm there and can hardly wait.
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Thanks Lizilu20. No negativity here. I have loved your blogs and it has speeded up the time until we arrive 2 weeks today. Looking forward to Antlers activities now!
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Thanks Lizilu......it's made great reading, so enjoyed your holiday! :laugh: We have just taken our dog for his first hydrotherapy session and are very hopeful about them having him for home boarding too. So looks like our trip in October may well be back on!! :angel: :angel:
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Yes, thanks Lizzilu for taking the time to write all your great reports.... it certainly took the pressure off me!
Lovely to meet you and your family. Heres to the next time! :)
Suzyq1
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Wonderful wrap-up lizilu.
Your last day sounded just perfect and as with all your holiday, you packed so much in to the available time.
I've loved reading your reports, thanks so much for taking the time to post.
So pleased you found Kalkan still the place you love and want to return to.....I often wonder if we are ovelooking things that others are seeing ( you know because I'm wearing rose-tinted spectacles ::) ) but good to know you have found it much the same as we did.
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Aw, thanks again, really lovely to read your comments. It makes it all worthwhile. :-*
K4E - I think we go to the same opticians ;D
Babs - fantastic news re your dog, so glad he is on the mend. We hate leaving our Charlie at the kennels at the best of times, we feel like we are putting him in prison, even though the kennels are wonderful. It's been a traumatic few months for you hasn't it? Home boarding sounds so much nicer.
Suziq and suzyq1 - I never realised that there were 2 of you with such similar names! It was lovely to meet you too suzyq1 and hope our paths cross again - hope ours do too suziq!
Charlie - not long to go now, you lucky thing, enjoy every minute, and to you all out there now and planning to go in the future, hope you all have brilliant holidays. We are just looking for next year now. Some of my family members had asked if they could tag along (another 6 adults and 6 kids) next year but it doesn't look as though it's going to materialize.
I can't believe the price of flights though, to travel on a saturday morning and return on BH monday afternoon next august is £560 more (for 5 of us) than to do night flights on the same days!!!
My beloved Walter is in storage now at Bob and Jayne's apartment, along with their injured hammock Winnie, Roger ring and our 'Hot Tuna' beach shoes. At least they'll keep each other company until next year ;D
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Glad to hear that Walter and your 'Hot Tuna' shoes are in good company!! It makes me laugh when your refer to your beloved Walter as our lovely elderly next door neighbour is called Walter! :laugh:
We have been leaving our dog at home boarding for a few years now, so much more personal than a kennels, but the person who usually has him doesn't think she would be able to cope with him and her own dogs now he is disabled.......fingers crossed he will carry on making progress and will get the go ahead. We may literally only know the week or so before we are due to go.....watch this space, I'll be so excited that you all know.....and I won't care that some people won't care either way!! ;D ;D
Fancy there being a suziq and a suzyq.....I hadn't noticed either !
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Oh Babs, I really hope everything is sorted with your dog and you can go to Kalkan. I can't think of anything worse than booking a trip and not being able to go :( That's like torture.... :'(
Reading about how hard it is to leave a pet reminds me why we don't have any.
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Tanks k4e.....things are definitely looking more hopeful.....we feel we can trust these people and the dog has had a firm talking to.......he's definitely getting stronger! :angel:
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Thanks even....silly predictive text!
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Only just caught up with your posts Lizilu -well done they make great reading. We did have fun and it was so great to meet you after all this time.
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Lizzie - Sorry, my feet have only just touched the ground after returning from our holiday, and have just caught up on EK, fab reports, fab holiday, and fab time that we all had, thank you so much! Promise Walter will be safe with Winnie until next year.
PS. Hope that spider has emerged from the foot well of the car and didn't creep into Walter's storage bag!!!
Jayne