Kalkan Turkey Forum - EnjoyKalkan.com
Kalkan Discussion => Holiday Reports and Reviews => Topic started by: janeb on September 26, 2014, 09:00:43 PM
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Getting ready to post. Thought I'd warm up by trying to relay how excited we're getting in the few days leading up to our next visit to Kalkan. Today was our last day at work - hurrah. Everything ready to go, well almost - pedicure and highlights tomorrow. That's me not my OH!
A little background of the six of us. There's Richard, my much better other half! Richard and I have been to Kalkan many times over the last 10 years. Our friends - Dina her husband George - it's their 2nd visit. Finally - Jimmi, and his very beautiful wife Rachael. Dina loves althings ancient. George will be the one that everyone remembers - he's in marketing and promotions so loves talking to everyone - but he loves a traditional English breakfast, help, recommendations anyone? We're staying in the Old Town. Finally Rachael and Jimmi , Kalkan newbies, they are a very glamorous couple and will love the eclectic vibe of Kalkan. We all love food, wine - me a little too much - hic.
Well all the packing's done. That sounds so straightfoward but deciding on the perfect dress for each evening hasn't been easy. Sorry no orange, boring black and navy. Making sure the OH has remembered his essentials - he has a record of forgeting something critical! No swim shorts one year and the entire washbag (it was the only thing he had to pack!) in May this year which included his contact lenses.
It's my birthday when we're there so hopefully handbag shopping here I come!!
Looking forward to meeting up again with Mendares at the Oasis, Adem at the Asfiya and Yousef at Yeni Korsan.
Could someone remind me of the lovely nut man's name?
Only 3 more sleeps.
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The lovely man selling the nuts is Kenan and he's in Kalkan every evening.
Enjoy your holiday. The weather is beautiful here at the moment.
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This looks promising! Cant wait to hear what you get up to!
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Chillies for a great English breakfast. But please don't think of Chillies as just a breakfast joint, try them for lunch and dinner . You won't be disappointed.
pw
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Thank you janeb, can't wait to hear about your holiday, 3 more sleeps how exciting. Another place is Fener down at the Harbour for a full English, and they also serve a lovely Turkish breakfast too. Have a fab time, and please keep us posted? :D
Jayne
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...and Cafe Ev, opposite The Market, is great for their Full English. It's so straight forward and clean in there. I used to love their Liver with Grilled Vegetables - and chips (although, not for breakfast!!). Hope you have a fabulous holiday.
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Cafe Ev best chips in Kalkan.
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Hi janeb - loving your reports already and you're not even there yet! I've just asked OH where best place for English breakfast is and he reckons either chillies, Fener or cafe vita on the Kalamar road. Cafe Leon in the old town is a fab place for breakfast but never sampled a full English there. Our friends swear by Merkez but again we've never sampled them. I can recommend turkish breakfasts at chillies, Fener and cafe vita too. Chillies do a fab menemen and omelettes too. :)
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The Doy Doy did a lovely English breakfast for our group of six, when we were in Kalkan in May.
We're heading out to Kalkan again on the 6th October for two weeks. Can't wait! Not long now!
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My vote for best Full English in Kalkan is Cafe Orange - opposite Merkez Cafe. It is underneath Paprika (ex Ozalp). I'm off on Thursday for a month - see you there!
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That looks good Christina but not sure my OH would want all that salad on his full English. Looks a bit like a BLT on a plate. Similar to my Turkish breakfast at Merkez! An English Turkish food fusion! :)
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That really does look good Christina, but I agree with Lizzie about the salad, can you imagine serving cucumber at home with a fried egg! Talking of which, I've just had 2 lovely boiled eggs, cooked to perfection!!! 4 minutes as Automan recommended! ;D ;D
Have a fab holiday and if you get time, a post or 2 would be nice :D :D :D
Jayne
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A whole month Christina, how lovely. Hope your wrist is better.
Haybo
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We're here. Arrived yesterday afternoon. Our friends fell in love with Klalkan as soon as we turned the corner and saw Kalkan in our its glory. The taxi transfer was great. Yousef driving for Abi tours was so friendly. Supplied us with lovely chilled water. Our friend George commented that he would rather have a cold Efes! An indication of things to come I think. Anyway off we set off only to stop on the outskirts of Dalaman where Yousef dashed out and left us sitting feeling slightly abandoned and a little bewildered. Don't panic! He was soon back with a six pack of cold Efes for us, what a star.
We were all very tired having set off at 3:00 am so decided to settle into to our house in the Old Town which is beautiful with views of the Town beach 2 minutes walk away and the harbour just as close. We unpack and walk the short distance to a small supermarket for some essentials - Wine, beer, crisps etc!! That was followed by drinks on one of our 3 terraces, then a quick shower and then off to the Moonlight bar for some people watching. We concluded our night with a fantastic meal at the Olive Garden. The food was amazing, I had the Goat casserole wow it was wonderful. The bill, for 2 starters, 2 bottles of wine, 1 bottle of water, 6 mains was 345 Tl. Bumped into Kennan, the nut man, stocked up on some lovely almonds and made our weary way back to our house.
Today will be spent lazying around enjoying the sun. George has set off in search of Fenners for his breakfast. Rachael and Jimmi have ventured out a a walk to explore Kalkan. Dina and I are just relaxing and unfortunately my OH Richard is in bed with a sore throat. Hopefully he will feel better soon, he probably needs something medicinal.
Bye for now. :)
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Hi janeb,
All sounds perfectly normal, acceptable behaviour for a Kalkan first day! Sounds just lovely. I went out to Kalkan 2 weeks ago and had a sore throat before I left, so I stocked up on throat lozenges and sprays at the airport and tried to drink lots but it just never left me the whole time I was there. I even got antibiotics from the pharmacy on Kalamar Road but nothing helped. I came back with it and eventually got rid of it after nearly 2 weeks! ??? Never had anything like it before. It never developed into a cold as it normally does, just hung around for ever! So I do hope your OH gets shot of his....I tried plenty of alcohol for lubrication but this proved only temporary and the demon virus was back again during the heat of the night.
Hope he gets better soon and look forward to following your lovely reports!
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Hi Jane,
It sounds as though your friends have caught the Kalkan bug...........which causes you no harm,but just an awful lot of good !
I hope Richard is feeling better very soon.It is not nice feeling like that on holiday.I hope George found Fenner bar for a yummie breakfast...Great spot for people and boat watching.
Great first day and I look forward to catching up with your reports hopefully very soon.
...
holiday lettings http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/rentals/kalkan/9407
o direct http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/accommodation/p8154298
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Yay you're in Kalkan 8) 8)
Hope Richard feels better soon, bad luck developing a virus just as you arrive but the pharmacies are fab and I'm sure will sort him out in no time if he pays one of them a visit. Goat casserole - wow! I've only had goat once (that I know of) and that was in Antigua and was in the form of a yummy curry. I really enjoyed it so I will have to try that next time we are in Kalkan. The Olive Garden seems to be having some very good reviews on here at the mo. Dare I ask where it is? I must have walked past that restaurant with blinkers on! :D
Enjoy your holiday and I'm very much looking forward to the next installment. :)
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Lizilu - don't know about blinkers but maybe you've been distracted by BSG opposite!
Olive Garden is above Merkez, access through the cafe down the side.
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Ah - yes! I know where you mean now and you're right! BSG does tempt me to look the other way!! ;D Thanks Chris-S
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Hurrah, janeb and party...you're there. Really looking forward to your reports and enjoying your holiday with you. You could always make your own Full English...we do. Try Gourmet Pork on Kalamar Road for your bacon, sausages and black pudding and the supermarkets for the rest. Enjoy!!
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Janeb thank you for posting, what a lovely surprise seeing it on EK tonight, glad you had a fab first day, sorry to hear Richard is poorly, hopefully he will be feeling better tomorrow to enjoy your holiday. We haven't been to the Olive Garden either, and have heard so many people this year say how good it is, definitely one for the list next year. Hope to read more of your adventures soon.
Jayne :D
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Had a lovely day laxzying on the terrace with frequent trips to the plunge pool. We went to Aubergines for lunch. Our friends choice, Rachael had the largest bowl of salad I've ever seen, Richard and I shared a sandwich and some chips, Dina had the same. George was still too full from breakfast as was Jimmi. With 2 beers, 2 fantas, 2 glasses of Rose and a cocktail the bill came to 174 Tl.
Thanks everyone for your concern I'm glad to report after a day that was spent mostly sleeping Richard returned to almost full form in readiness for dinner.
The others have indeed fallen under Kalkan's spell.
That evening after drinks on the terrace we walked up to see Erol and Kadir in Kaya, Richard and I left the others there and popped to the Oasis to see Mendares, he was in fine form it was lovely to see him.
At the start of our holiday we decided that each of us would take turns on deciding where we would eat dinner - last night was Dina's turn. She decided that we would go somewhere that was more back street so on the way to Kaya we thought we would check out some menus. We settled on Celik, and went on our way to Kaya. Not sure what happened next, but the wine and the Efres might have contributed to us sitting down at a table by Celik and then realising that the restaurant we had booked didn't have tables on the street, we were in the wrong restaurant and we should have climbed the stairs to our table! What should we do? The greeter and the Chef from Celik were looking down on us, the waiter from the restaurant whose table we were sitting at was very pleased to see us; help! We were all embarrassed, but decided to have a drink, apologise and go to the restaurant we had actually booked. The meal was delicious - good choice Dina. Free garlic bread and dips, followed by fillet steak for 5 of us and a veggie casserole for Rachael - 2 bottles of wine and several bottles of Efes later with a bill that came to 313 Tl we strolled onto Botanik for a nightcap. George was every so slightly worse for wear and proceeded to amuse us greatly with his singing and dancing. :)
We're lunching on the terrace today. Will fill you in on today's highlights later.
Bye for now.
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I like the sound of George!! ;D
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Ha ha! George sounds like my kinda guy too and as for plonking yoursleves down at the wrong restaurant - an easy mistake that Id probably make as well! Loving your reports and glad that Richard is back on form. ;D
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Wednesday was spent on the beach. The weather is so good. It's the latest in the year That we've ever visited so we really didn't know what to expect but so far the sun has shone very brightly. The beach was very busy with lots of turkish families. We took advice from previous reports and bought some beach shoes from Kipa. So avoided the Hokey Cokey dance when getting out of the sea - no in out, in out and shaking all about for us! We sat and enjoyed a coffee in Kleos and later a delicious ice cream from Fenners. We've booked a boat for Saturday it will be a private hire which will be lovely. George had breakfast at Deniz and said it was good. I think he's on a mission to try as many different places as possible.
That evening we ate at Doy Doy, food really good but atmosphere slightly lacking. Before eating we all had a go on the Hubba Bubba pipes, across the road from Doy Doy, - great fun. Back to Botanik for a last drink before heading the short distance to home.
Thursday. Off to the market.
Rachael and Jimmi were keen to visit the market so off we set. We were hit with the cheaper than Asda call as soon as we entered the market. Rachael and Jimmi set off we explore, for the rest of us we had a few things in mind and headed purposely in the direction of the fresh produce and bought, tomatoes, cucumber and cheese before buying a small beatspill and a pair of sunglasses. There seemed to be bargains galore but I have to say I prefer shopping in the Old Town. We then headed for a small cafe near the market and had a much needed glass of fresh orange juice. R and J didn't appear until much later and came ladened with turkish delight and other sweet treats. We then made our way back to the residence for another hard days labour laying by the plunge pool watching the activity in the harbour. Just remembered George tried Cafe Orange for breakfast, another good one reports George.
After our sun downer we headed to Kleos and then on to Mussaka. My favourite. We enjoyed a delicous meal topped off with a choice of liquor. 6 mains, 2 bottles of wine and 3 Efes came to 360 Tl. Must report that I bought a bag from the leather shop below Doy Doy and I've got my eye on another from Misty Mays. I've had a birthday this week so that's my treat.
Just about to cook up some Scrambled eggs before deciding what to do today. I think we'll probably do a little shopping, Racheal would like to take a lamp home for her mother and I, of course, need to check out the other bag shops.
Bye for now.
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Hi janeb, you sound like you are having a great time. I know you are in the old town with a plunge pool, just wondering where you are as that sounds ismilar to the house we have booked for next May.
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Hi Jane,
Sounds like you are having a fab time and loving the reports.The market is great but ,like you I prefer the slightly more relaxed shopping in the old town.I have not come across café orange but George seems to approve.
We also have to wear beach shoes to avoid total embarrassment,entering and particularily exiting the sea,and i watch in amazement at some locals who appear to have steel feet.
Have a fantastic day today.
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The market has lost its charm for us. I know it's a cultural thing but if you could just be left in peace to look at things I'm sure a lot more would probably be purchased. Saying that some of the banter is really funny but we found shopping in the old town much nicer. My bag is still in its orange carrier bag on a shelf in the wardrobe and my bracelet yet to be worn. Oh well who knows perhaps today may be the day.
Keep on enjoying every moment of your holiday it's such a magical place.
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Enjoying these reports janeb. Please keep them coming. I love that you are bag shopping like a woman on a mission....see, buy move on to the next target. Love it!
I'm kinda fond of George's mission too - hopefully by the end of the holiday he will be able to give you his top 3 so you can let us know.
Cafe Orange is opposite Merkez (the old Ozalp) last year it was a bar, this year a cafe - Paprika is the restaurant above (which is still owned and run by the original Ozalp team).
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Loving the reports janeb. Would love to hear about your bag. I bought a moody LV in that shop. I love it. It is a milky coffee colour. They sell for £3500 in LV i am chuffed to bits with it for less than 10% of that price!
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Shouldn't realky report now. a little tipsy. But here we go.
We're staying in the Old Town Residence. Booked via Olive Tree Travel. It's a Beautiful 3 bedroom 3 bathroom house just behind Korsen Fish Terrace. Would Highly recommend. Not that great if you've got young children but for the rest of us - just wonderful.
Bags!! Well bought a brown "Mulberry" passenger bag yesterday, and today a tan "mulberry bag from Rapsody. Bargains - well my birthday money has been well spent.
We've had a good day. Mostly on the terrace with a bit of a shopping fuddle for the bag and a frozen t-shirt for our granddaughter topped off by an ice-Cream at Fenners. George has rated the breakfast there the best so far! Praise indeed!! We ate tonight in The Okd Trading House - lovely highly recommend.
Off on the boat tomorrow. Will try a less tipsy blog tomorrow.
Good night all.
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Tipsy or not Janeb, fab report. Your accommodation sounds excellent, and what a fab location, imagine your view in the morning is brilliant. Well done on the bag shopping, you must be one happy lady :D Have a great boat trip and look forward to hearing all about it. Re George's breakfast, just dreaming of being at Fener right now,having breakfast and watching those boats leave the harbour, as I look out of my window and the rain is lashing down in Dorset!
Enjoy :D :D :D
Jayne
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Thanks for the post! What an amazing villa, Janeb - and only 53 photographs?! You lucky thing. The view over the beach is to die for (as well as the view of Villa Kismet and The Old Stone House!). Does it have egg cups now??! (Mentioned in Reviews). Enjoy your warm sunshine as autumn has arrived with a bang in the UK and the forecast is to expect heavy rain and even gales with trees down.
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I'm so glad you have confirmed that it's a lovely house janeb that is where we have booked for next year! :laugh:
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Thanks for the great report Jane.Hope you have had a fab boat trip.Good to hear the bag purchasing is under way.
George is doing a stirling job being a breakfast blogger...How many places has he tried now ?
The mouse island to Kalkan charity swim is tomorrow,so fingers crossed that the sea is calm enough and very good luck to the ten swimmers.
Enjoy a lovely day tomorrow and look forward to your next installement
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Lovely day had by all on the Neptune, we sailed over to Mouse Island and Mud Beach to name just a couple of stops. We're all looking at least 10 years younger. We saw lots of turtles and some very very beautiful super yachts. The captain and his crew made us a fab lunch of Grouper, chicken, courgette fitters and numerous different salads. It was absolutely delicious. With lunch, fruit and afternoon tea and cakes the day's private hire cost us 700 Tl.
Too tired for an evening meal as well as being to stuffed so last evening was spent watching the sun go down followed by a takeaway pizza.
Bumped into someone from our home town in North Devon on the beach yesterday which was fun.
Our house still doesn't have any egg cups but does pretty much have everything thing else, the only thing I'd bring would be some small bin bags, but we have managed with carrier bags from the supermarket. The supermarket we've found close to the house with the best choice is close to Aubergine. The pictures on the web sight of the residence do go on abit but are very accurate. Only 5 sunbeds but that hasn't been an issue for us as the Kalkan Backgammon challenge has been in full flow on the terrace with the sofas, leaving us girls with the pool terrace pretty much to ourselves.
George rates Fenners the best for both taste and value. Our favourite bars so far have been, Moonlight, Botanik and the Foutain bar with Kleos being perfect for a spot of lunch and a lovely place to stop on the way home.
Our challenge today is where to go for our final meal for this year in Kalkan - it's going to be quite a dilemma.
Off shortly to cheer on the swimmers.
Bye for now, my last blog for this holiday will be tomorrow morning before we set off on our journey home.
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Such a wonderful day for the swim, I'm just off there myself to cheer my friend Sarah on. If you are having lunch at Fener, you could do a lot worse than order the tagliatelle with smoked salmon and prawns, in a cream and dill sauce - smothered with Parmesan and black pepper. But I warn you - you will need a little lie down afterwards!
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Heya! I wonder how many times we have passed each other this week?!
Great holiday report! Only 4 days more for us.
See you in Botanik!?
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We all good things come to an end! :(
We've had a brilliant time, the Kalkan newbies love Kalkan now as much as us! I need to work out holiday dates for 2015 so at least I can work out how many sleeps until we're back once again.
Yesterday started off sunny and then became a little overcast. So after a visit to Fenners to share in the excitement of the charity swim we took the opportunity to go for a walk which was lovely. We arrived back just as the heroic swimmers arrived at the Town Beach to huge cheers and applause.
Fenners and Kleos was packed so we walked further down and enjoyed a lovely salad in Aubergines. It was then a quick stop at a shop that sold beatboxes and headphones and after purchasing one of each we ambled back to the house for some final rays of Kalkan sunshine.
The evening started and finished at Kleos, with stops in between at Fountain, Botanik and Fez for dinner. Dinner was George's choice and probably wasn't the best meal we've had, he needs to stick to choosing breakfast locations I think..
Signing off now for the final time in 2014.
Those still here have a wonderful time, I'll enjoy reading your reports.
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aahh janeb. That awful time when you bid your farewells - always makes me a bit emotional leaving Kalkan. Daft really. What a shame you final meal wasn't your favourite of the stay....yes George should have stuck to breakfast reviews - but good to know Fener is is favourite. Fener is my favourite for ice cream ;D
Loved your reports, thank you so much for sharing your holiday with us :)
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Thanks Jane for your fab reports,and sharing your holiday with us.Have a very safe trip home.
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Thanks so much janeb for your lovely reports. I've really enjoyed reading them - how quickly did that holiday fly by ??? It only seems to be a couple of days since your first report. Glad you've all had a fab time. :)
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Thank you for your lovely reports Janeb, sad that it is time to go home, but now you can think about your next holiday in Kalkan, I always look forward to thinking about that when one holiday comes to an end. How lovely being there to see the Charity swim, I bet it was a lovely sight seeing them all swimming back in.
Safe journey home, and so glad you all had a wonderful time.
J&B