Kalkan Turkey Forum - EnjoyKalkan.com
Kalkan Discussion => Holiday Reports and Reviews => Topic started by: Haybo on August 14, 2016, 09:42:01 PM
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Me again! Very very fortunate to be making my second trip in 6 weeks! You may recall I visited in July with a friend who LOVED Kalkan. She has not stopped hounding me to visit again so a trip next June is currently on the cards!
Anyhow, a different friend (yes, I have more than one!) asked me to help her book a holiday in Kalkan and you beautiful people offered such amazing accomodation prices that me ' D and M decided we would come out after all! So, we head out on Wednesday and my friend and her family on Saturday. They have a gorgeous villa up near the market and we are in our usual digs! Sorted.
We are travelling out with just hand luggage as i left loads of stuff there in July, so i have done a trial pack and we are in good shape! We are flying home with Turkish Airlines so have massive luggage allowance on the way home.
2 days at work to endure...see you on the other side!
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Left luggage will be waiting in the apartment for your arrival. Wish I was going to Kalkan on Wednesday.
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Thanks KR...i wish you were too!
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Not long now Hayley, am sure those 2 days at work will fly by. Safe journey, and bring your Factor 50, it's very hot out here! :D :D :D
J&B x
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Ooh I bet you're excited Haybo. Well done on packing light. Maybe it's easier with blokes but I can't imagine me and my girls managing with just hand luggage. Well done! :) :)
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No, there's absolutely no way I could pack for a fortnight with hand luggage....I'm in awe :)
Not long now Haybo...
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All Hayley's clothes, toiletries, water hammock, etc are already in Kalkan, she didn't take them home when she left in July. It's her family that are managing with hand luggage!
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Oh, well I could do it that way...hahaha :laugh: :laugh:
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Well..in my defence.........either i brought most of my clothes home OR i might have picked up the odd new item in the last few weeks! I still have a decent pile of stuff! Hopefully i will be surprised to be reunited with some things!
But yes, flippers, snorkels, toiletries, wash powder, dishwasher tabs, sun cream, filter coffee, medicines, towels etc are languishing under the pool! I can't wait to meet up with my water hammock! 2 sleeps x
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Well done and excellent planning Haybo!
K4E, I'm sorry to say but I don't think you could manage it.....you'd need one bag for all your blingy sandals! :laugh:
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My mother in law is going on a cruise and they have 60kg luggage allowance - BH thinks I could fill this no problem, so perhaps you're right Babs :-*
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60kg! Thats a lot...are they gone for months?
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So, today's the day! Woke at 6 and leapt out of bed in a bit of a panic. When I went out in July, I decided to lock my cases....never normally do that, and then decided to lock the bag i was leaving behind. I had a big wobble about whether I would remember to bring them back with me...but thought. "How hard can it be to remember a set of keys" ? Anywho, a week or so ago, I thought " better put those keys in a safe place" buy yes, you've guessed it I couldn't find the blessed things! I rang my friend to see if she remembered what l'd done with them, I contacted a friend who is at Emir to get her to look in the bag to see if I had actually locked it......then I found the keys EXACTLY where they should have been...where i had checked 3 times!!!
But this morning I had no idea where they were, so I crashed about a bit until D decided to get involved! Thankfully He found them under the bed in the spare room , where I was packing...he is now in charge of the keys as they are my Nemesis!
So today....bit of last minute housework, drop the dog at his digs for the next week or so, chivvy D abp d M to get ready, then we will be on our way!
This time tomorrow me and my water hammock will be bobbing around in the Emir pool...unless I score a nail appointment early!
Later people!
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Yay! Safe journey!
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A-a-a-a-h, keys that slip through wormholes in the space-time continuum and reappear later in the same place, a familiar tale to us all.
We cured it by buying a lockable key case/box thing that goes on the wall somewhere (available from locksmiths, Amazon and that bloke on the market!). Apart from preventing someone unauthorised nicking the car keys, it provides a single, identifiable place where the keys will be (once you get in the habit).
I suspect it prevents quantum physics from taking place, a bit like a Faraday Cage.
I commend it to the forum.
19 days and counting…
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What happens if you lose the key to the lockable key case/box???!!!!
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So glad you found your keys, and imagine those cases are unlocked and unpacked now. Welcome to paradise and day 1 of your holiday :D :D :D :D :D
J&B
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Welcome to kalkan haybo and family. See you soon. :)
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Only one key and as part of a ritual, it always has the same home (not saying where…)
You can get combination ones - all you have to do is remember the number.
They will probably have one you can open by smartphone app soon, just like doorbells!
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Is it inside another lockable key box? :angel:
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We're here!
After the dramas with the keys on day one ( by the way, what have I started on this thread! ), my friend Nat very kindly dropped us to the airport. As we were hand luggage only, we went straight to departures and through security. All good til they sent Dave's rucksack to be checked.....not happy with some hydrocortisone cream in a clear bag it seems...but they let us keep it so all good.
Bit of lunch in Pret a Manger and soon we were boarding.....flight only about half full so people spread out and the trolley services were plentiful so the time passed nicely!
Straight off the plane, 10 minutes through visa control, no bags to collect and we were out looking for our driver 15 minutes after touchdown! Great journey down to Kalkan, Emre is providing wifi in the cars so that was great for D and M.
Dropped our bags at Emir and headed straight to Ata Okabasi....we hadn't got as far as Yali when we bumped into one of the Ata guys Erküt who greeted us like family! Great first meal as ever .
Thursday meant a trip to the market for D&M to get dvds while I got reaquainted with the water hammocks! Oh how great to be back!
The boys got back, joined me i the pool and we had a couple of hours splasing about before heading into town to get some jobs done. Dave went into the tailors to order a couple of shirts, I took my bag into BSG to get the zip replaced and then down to the opticians to get new sunglasses frames. Jobs all done we headed to Fener for a sit and a bit of lunch. We shared a chicken burger and green salad. All going well til, we found a moving critter in the salad. Didn't make a fuss as it was really tiny and its just one of those things when yiu use fresh produce.
M was gutted that their blender was broken so he coukdn't have a milkshake so we did a detour to cafe leon where normality was restored!
Then we headed back to spend more time in the pool and get ready for our night out with the gang....Bob &jayne, Lizilu20, Automan and thir daughter, Kalkan gems and thir extended family...13 folks in all . We ate at At Alternatif and it was as usual awesome. I had chicken Florence which was delicious, M had the Alternatif feast which is a seafood platter and D had steak as usual...there was a bit of alcohol involved so our bill was 245tl. Great evening with some big giggles!
I seem to remeber hearing Automan telling the waiter not to worry about drinks for Jayne and Lizilu as they wouldn't notice if they were drinking battery acid! I also recall telling Mr kalkan gems that Max clifford won olympic gold in the gymnastics! Not an image I want in my head really...and I wasn't drinking!
Sorry for any typos...havent got time to check....off to Kekova!
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You see once you've pictured Max Clifford in a leotard, the image doesn't readily leave you :P
Glad you are safely there and already getting about. Enjoy Kekova...hope you've packed your inhaler if you're heading up to the Fort
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right, where was I? We were just about to be picked up for Kekova. What a lovely day out! The scenery is magnificent and the water so warm and clear. D managed to walk to the fort whilst M and I ate ice cream!
The only down side to the trip was that we were the only English on the boat and we weren't kept informed what was happening, so we didn't know when we were going over the sunken city...it was obvious that we had slowed down but we thought it was to look at the stuff on shore. We also didn't know when snack/lunch was because no one e told us! We just noticed the sun deck become empty.
I suffered with motion sickness for most of the afternoon aswell...I would love to do the trip n a Kalkan boat!
Anyway, a lovely day. Tea at Hünkar.....even though they had run out of doner meat by 20:30!
Yesterday we had a pool day, well I did! D had some work to do and M didnt surface until 11:30 so I had the pool to myself! We had some lovely soft boiled eggs for lunch and then spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool chatting with our neighbours. We only have a short overlap, they go home today.
Decided to head to cafe Leon for dinner as we needed to see if Lev would put on the Moto GP for D today. Lovely meal, only 135 for the 3 of us. We then went and picked up my new glasses and had a nice chat with Barbaras.
It is curious to see how folks move around from restaurant to restaurant.....last year we spent a lot of time in Cafe del Mar and our usual guy hasn't been there this year, but we found him in Flamingo bar! Great to see him!
Today I am due to give a guided tour to a friend from home who arrived last night! Exciting!
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Sunday
I have taken to waking up like I've been shot at 6:30.... Whats that all about? Anyway, up nice and early for that sit on the terrace soaking up the beauty of the start of the day.
I heard from my friends who had arrived overnight and arranged to go up to their villa. d and M were off to Cafe Leon to watch the moto gp race so I headed up the hill to my friends on my own. They're staying in Felicity's place...it is beautiful. I think they will be very happy there.
We walked down into town with me giving them a critique of the restraunts, prices etc. We had a lovely breakfast in Chillies...Jayne you were spotted hauling your trolley past! D and M wandered past too on their way to cafe leon so came and said hi.
We then headed into the main town and down to the harbour..stopping in a couple of bag shops on the way! My friend has already spotted her prey..... I collected my bag that had the zip replaced, which they did for free so I was thrilled and very grateful.
I joined D and M for a while whilst my friends headed back. I wasn't long before i headed back myself for a quiet afternoon by the pool. Little did I know that several families had snuck in overnight so quiet was not on the agenda!great to see the place busy though. Our other friends were off home so I got to spend a nice afternoon chatting before they left.
D booked a table at Vanilya bistro on the strength of a chip recommendation, but when we got there she hadn't been able to buy good potatoes (who knew that was a thing) so we rearranged! Starving, we hit Hünkar. Nice but not up to usual standard Methinks.
Monday
Jeep day - D picked up our wheels from Alper and we set off for Pinara and Kayaköy. Blimey it was hot! Pinara is so peaceful and beautiful. If you haven't visited, its about 30 minutes up the d400 and is the ruins of an acropilis. It is in a pine forest with the odd goat wandering about..oh and tortoises! Or crunchy meat pies as D calls them!
We had a lovely peaceful hour there just chatting and then set off for Kayaköy..it was even hotter by now. We missed a turn and had to set up the sat nav. We were taken through a very built up area on the edge of fethiye...didn't like it much.......anyhow, Kayaköy was lovely and we had lunch in the resteraunt Jayne recommended...Cin bal.....lovely way to spend a couple of hours. M still doesn't get the attraction of going to a restraunt and having to cook your own food, but I enjoyed it!
For the way home we out the roof on the jeep as it was SO hot. We saw a sign saying 40 deg. Toasty!
We were planning to stop at patara but it was too hot, so we stopped by my frieinds to confirm arrangements for boat trip and had a nice hour with them in the shade. Their daughter painted my nails do that was nice!
We headed home and really struggled to pull ourselves together...I think it was 9 before we set off. We bumped into Lizilu on the way down the hill and were invited to Marleys for cocktails later. We Saw my friends in Hünkar, but we were headed to Vanilya for the chips. We had a lovely snack meal with AWESOME chips. 3 of the ladies from the kekova trip were in there...speaking perfect english...
Headed into town after supper as the 2 shirts D had made were ready so he went for a fitting..they looked awesom so he ordered 2 more!
M then wanted to go to Cafe Leon as the Poke Stop is right there so he had some fun luring pokemon whilst I facetimed my friend who came here with me in July...i am getting more shirts for her hubby so we discussed that....before we knew it it was 23:40 and we have a boat trip in the morning! So, sorry Jayne and Lizilu...the taxi sped past Marleys...didn't think it was a good plan to get caught up in the Ab Fab crew! The sad thing is I think i would be Saffy in this relationship as I am a bit boring and don't really drink!
Just to prove how boring I am, put on a load of washing and went to bed!
So Looking firward to the boat trip today...will report all soon!
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Have a fab day saffy ;)
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Fab post, and so glad you found Cinbal and enjoyed it! Not so glad I was spotted with the trolley though ha ha! Enjoy your day today and look forward to hearing all about it.
Jx
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Now see, I had you as Bubble :laugh: :laugh:
Have a great day out at sea - best place to be when its hot!
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Bubble! Love it, boat trip was awesome. Will post in morning .
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Looking forward to hearing about it too.
Just a bit of useless information - bubble or Jane horrocks comes from the area we live and I'm afraid her accent is very like mine! I used to work with her mum at the local hospital - she was our ward clerk. :)
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I will work on the accent....
Forgot to mention in my earlier post...when we were in the tailors yesterday getting the shurts, one of the restraunts let off a series of fireworks that were bangers. Most of the shop keepers and hosts in the street were very concerned and looked quite frightened as were we....whilst I Love to see the firework fountains, I see no need, in the current climate, to be letting of bangers that sound like gunshot to the untrained ear. I was genuinely scared so my plea to the restraunteurs od Kalkan is please have fun, but think about the bigger picture!
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Looking forward to hearing about your boat trip, come on it's morning now!! :D
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First lie in of the holiday! Didn't wake until 8:30. yay!
Tuesday....Yildiz 3
So, we were up and at it with the usual boat trip enthusiasm...well I nagged alot to get the bags packed!! If boys want to take fins and snorkels, then they have to sort them out!
We set of with plenty of time to pop into Yali and stop at the cash point so were thrilled when we bumped into our fellow sailors just by Yali so we could walk down together. Th e 8'of us were first on the boat so we had the pick of beds. We chose the shady beds as you might expect. Another english couple arrived and headed to the top area and then a turkish family boarded who wanted us all to move so that they could have beds together in the shade. Adem negotiated like Kissinger and eventually rigged up more shade for them. With boat trips its a "you snooze you lose" situation i'm afraid!
That sorted, Adem came over to welcome me back on board and I asked if it was nice enough to go to Kaputas and he said he would see what it looked like. First stop...wake up bay for a cool dip! Pretty much everyone got in the water..we had a girl who was afraid of fish and took alot of coaxing in! My group were straight in as expected...not sure M even waited for the steps to be lowered!
All back on board and off we went....turning left at the headland not right! yay. kaputas!
After about 10 minutes Adem checked with everyone to see if they were alright with the choppiness....everyone was fine! We trundled on past Kaputas to the far side of the little islands and moored up for a couple if hours , had lunch etc. Unfortunately my friends step mum had started to feel a bit seasick in the last part of the cruise and couldnt really face lunch.
Adem gave her a sickness tablet and she went for a snooze. I was surprised also that 3 other boats followed us out there...Whisper, Pina x and emir1.
Lunch done we set off to the blue cave...awesome! Adam tethered us to the rocks, clambering up high like a mountain goat and did his signature somersault into the sea...Tom Daly watch out!
It was really choppy but we all swam in right to the back of the caves with bats flying over head..only the "fish fearer" didnt come in! It isnt as blue as Meis but a great experience none the less.
Bizarrely we then trundled past Kaputas (what was that all about) and straight over to Camel Stone where we had fruit and Firneze(?) where we had our last stop before heading in. I had thought Adem had said we were going to mud bath but he must have changed his mind.
Sea sickness did not really pass for our lady but they are considering joining us for the night cruise on Saturday. My friend , her husband and daughter have signed up so that will be awesome.
Taxi home for us...late out to dinner..had a nice chat with the guy at Teras, he was at Ata when we first came here and then at Kosk. May go there thursday. i spoke with the guy at Celik who used to work at the Morrisons my mum and dad shop in. And we then headed to Olive Garden.
We were quite late so we didn't get the best table in The house, but we had a great view over other rooftops. The mixes mezze complimentary starter was awesome. Loved the feta with cherry sauce. The boys pretty much polished off everything in sight! M and I had filleted seabass which was lovely..the veg was really good. D had lamb shank which he enjoyed. We looked at the dessert menu knowing we would get some anyway so politely declined! The host asked if we wouldn't mind moving tables as they had a big party of 12 coming in..now we had the best table in the house!
As a thankyou they bought us an extra round of drinks and extra comlimentay dessert! So we has 2 bowls of choc chip and orange icecream, lemon cake, loads of donut balls and a plate of warm fruit. Mmmmmmmm! Then the complimentary ammaretto. Wow! So for all that, plus water, 2 fanta's and 2 beers, total of 184tl. £15 each. could spend that in the harvester and eat rubbish!
Having a quiet day today a d hopefully have a table at Adama tonight!
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Fab post Haybo, your boat trip sounded fantastic. We watched Adem and his youngest son jump from the highest rocks on Mouse Island when we were on Yildiz 2 on Monday, we couldn't believe how high they climbed! Shame you didn't stop at Kapatus, we did a couple of weeks back, and thought great we can swim to the beach, but in actual fact it is a long way, although looks very close!
Enjoy your evening and look forward to your next post. :D
Jx
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Wednesday...
Not alot to report today...it was a hang around the pool and do nothing day today. D has needed to work pretty much every day because of something big going on at work, so he was up and about early geting that done and I managed to lie in until 08:30 which is pretty much unheard of.
So, my day was spent in and out of the pool. The chukle brothers joined me at around noon when we got a break from the high heat and humidity when some thick dark cloud came over. Didn't last long though and normality was resumed. I Face-timed my Mum in Weymouth and it was 30'degrees there...will it still be hot when we get home?
Spent some time chatting with a lady in our pool who, partway through our conversation asked "are you Thelma without louise?".....which I Owned up to...her father had been reading my blog out...so good Morning J's Dad! Sorry todays effort is so dull, but it's good to have a quiet day.
We had a table booked at Adams so needed to be ready for 19:30. Our friends were walking down from their 4 bed villa to check out our digs and get picked up by Adam. He was bang on time anf whisked us out to his place.
Sadly and quite astonishingly, we were his only customers ALL night. He is a lovely guy and the food is pretty amazing. It is such a shame that people have stopped going out there, so please, if you have a night spare, get your property manager to book you a table, or call him on +90 242 844 3232. He comes to pick you up and drives you home when you are ready to leave. Beautiful people in a stunning location.
Today...my plan is to avoid the market at all costs, go into town with the boys and sort out some purchases my friend who was here in July has asked me to make and work on getting me legs brown! Maybe a short trip to a beach club...M wants to go the cafe leon...pokemon stuff I think!
Waiting to hear Gcse results from a few friends kids so will be checking messenger alot today!
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Thursday
Total market avoidance achieved! Result! After a slow start, which included a nice chat with J's dad who has rumbled me as the author of this report (better watch what I say!!
)we spent a bit of time dipping in and out of the pool, reading, doing some washing etc, before having a wander into town. We popped into Ege rentals to see if we could get the jeep for Friday...we could but from thu evening to fri evening so we agreed to pop back and pick it up later.
We carried on into town as I wanted tomorder some necklaces for my friend Who was here in July. she saw the personalised necklaces that they do in the shop the other side of the square from Yali bar and thought they would be perfect for her nieces in Australia for christmas as they will be easy to post. She hadn't got around to writing messages for each girl so i had to pick from their stock words.....it became a bit complicated as the guy who runs it (who looks like a slimmer David Emmanuel) wasn't there and his assistant had to call in the help of some suited and booted chap who spoke english! I left thinking that it was not going to go well........
D had gone to the barbers and M was chugging milkshakes in Cafe
Leon whilst playing pokemon so I joined him for a drink until D arrived and we headed back up with a brief stop at Yali. Be clear when I say headed back that i am referring to a Taxi as my catchphrase is " a taxi is cheaper than an ambulance"!
The rest if the afternoon was spent in the pool, working on leg tanning and chatting with our fellow Emir residents. I love that end of day catch up with people, finding out what they've been up to, impressions of things, where they ate last night, where they're going tonight etc. Its this that puts me off having a villa.
D picked up the jeep and we headed up to Bodamye Tepe in Islamlar. We had been there last year and had a beautiful curry dish that D has developed his own version of and we have regularly so we thought one of us could order it to see how well his memory was! We ended up both ordering it Only to find it was completely different. They have a different chef who made His own version. It was delicious but a shame we couldn't do the comparison. A couple of hair raising moments on the journey home when the lights failed on the jeep but we got home in one piece. It looked like there was a big wedding celebration up near the bus station! Lots of dancing and lively music that we could still hear at Emir.
Friday
I got up feeling "meh" so our plans to hit patara were,put on hold. We took the jeep out to Adams for a turkish breakfast...wow! What a spread...,fried potatoes, fried eggs, grilled cheese, boreks, tomatoes, cucumber, soft cheese, strong cheese, jams, honey, breads...it just kept coming! Oh forgot to mention the roadblock...as we hit Bezirgen, the Jandarma were pulling cars over and I hadn't picked up our passports ...this was going to get messy quickly...thankfully they took one look at us...Brits abroad in an open top jeep in 35 degrees...you could see them think of the paperwork involved if they stopped us,so waved us on! Phew!
After brekkie we headed back into Kalkan and popped in to see our friends. Their daughter has picked up an ear infection so they were just back from the docs with arm fulls of drops, medicine and ear plugs. Such a shame.
We arranged to meet later to do some bag shopping so we left them to it and headed home. After a short swim I felt the need for a nap so made a cup of tea and settled in for a snooze whilst the boys watched a dvd. The snooze didn't go too well as the aircon has sensors that turn it off after 20 mins if it senses no movement so i kept getting hot. Got up and got back in the pool where we had our end of day catch up's.
Someone wanted to tell me all his Grandmothers secrets so I could put them in this blog...but don't worry G your secrets are safe with me! good morning to you all!
I was still in the pool at 20 to 7 and we needed to drop the jeep back at 19:30 so I had to leg it, but they then turned up to collect. Still, i was meeting my friend st 9 so we had to get a move on if we wanted dinner first!
We ate at Akin..it was delicious. I headed up to BSG to meet My friend and was sat on the ledge waiting when I spotted a movement over to my left and Jayne was sat there "bobby no mates" waving to me..so I joined her for a drink and a catch up..it was lovely as we hadn't had any opportunity at all to meet up with them!
After about half an hour she thought she should go in search of Bob as he'd been nearly an hour getting his hair cut!
My friend arrived soon after and the shopping commenced..........
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The shopping trip...oh how I love spending other people's money! I Think I can say my friend has done her very best to put the Kalkan economy back on its feet single handedly!
So, Jayne skipped off in search of the missing Bob and I was joined by C and her family for a quick drink in Merkez before we got started. First stop for me was the tailors where I Ordered 2 shirts for Nat's husband. She bought him 2 in the July and they have been such a success that she wanted more. I don't think I mentioned that I Had photographed all the fabrics and messaged them to her, then had a long face time conflab about it in Cafe Leon! You have got to love technology!
So from there, we completely avoided the bag shop and went to Just Silver (?) where she had already purchased some earrings and wanted a bracelet to match and needed to select stones etc. We then went to pick up the necklaces I had ordered for Nat and they had all turned out perfectly...oh ye of little faith! C's daughter bought a ring and something else. Then it was my turn to buy something...but as a gift for my mums birthday..can't say too much in case she's reading......
Then I got C in the bag shop...talk about kid in a sweet shop! At one point I think she had about 10 bags on her shortlist! At about 23:20 I got a text fromD saying if they had 't heard from me by 23:30 they would head home, so I left C in the capable hands of the lovely chaps in BSG and headed to Cafe Leon to scrape D up after his 4, yes 4 Alabama Slammers. Oh dear.
I understand the boys did C a great deal and she is having one of the bags made specially. So between Nat and C I think the best part of £700 was added to the Kalkan coffers in about an hour! Oh, i bought myself a little Longchamps as I have really been enjoying using the one I got in July. £13 ...every little helps!
Saturday
Spent the most part of the day lazing by the pool and ignoring the fact we were going home tomorrow! The Chuckle brothers went into town mid afternoon to pick up D's shirts and to look at a large Longchamps i liked as I didn't have e the cash on me to buy it.....and saw a mulberry they wanted me to have...bless them! So I agreed to go with them and have a look before we went on our night boat trip.
The morning had been very cloudy, with some of the clouds very black indeed so I was worried about the trip.....no need, Kalkan never lets us down. We has a wonderful evening on Yildiz 3, just us and C, her husband and daughter. We saw lots of shooting stars and lay on the beds singing daft space/star/moon songs. Apologies to any other boats that had to listen to that din! I had selected the bag they wanted to get me but didn't take it on the boat trip...they would collect on Sunday. I am very spoiled.
We popped into Fener afterwards for icecream and for M to ensure he still owned the Pokegym that is in the Lighthouse (just nod and pretend you know what i'm talking about)
We could hear Aklan singing next door so I knew the Ab Fab crowd would not be far away so we wandered in To say our hellos and goodbye's before heading up the hill to start our final day.
This has turned into a long post so, G and D at Emir...there will be one more post at least about the last day and trip home, as I am flagging a bit as I've been awake about 36 hours....
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Great report
Thanks for sharing with us all
Jon
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Great post Haybo, 4 Alabama Slammers for D, that has just made me chuckle. Hope he was okay!
Jx
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Sunday.....
Up at 6:30 as usual as I needed this has to be a sun-day in all senses of the words! Did a bit of packing but coukdn't really crack on til the boys had collected last bits from town, so after some pool and sun time they headed off whilst I did my impression of a sun-sponge!
We had decided that we would have our last meal in Alternatif so despite me still being in the pool at 6 we managed to be sat for dinner at 7:30! I Had chicken scnitzel and the boys had steak. Mustafa sold us a couple of bottles of the ammeretto like liquer from Fethiye....just a bit extra for me to pack! Cheers!
Had a lovely last walk down through the town, including a lovely greeting and farewell from the BSG guys who were making me laugh by saying " see you when you come back next year to celebrate your 15th birthday!"
Lots of hugs and a final taxi ( remember....cheaper than an ambulance) and we were back in the apt doing the final bits.... I ran our final bits of food up to friends in another apt and we dragged our cases out to the steps. Other guests came out to wish us bon voyage and at 10:40 we were on our way!
I must say leaving in the dark is much less sad than straining your neck for the last glimpses of the sea!
We dozed most of the way to the airport...important as we were travelling through the night, via Istanbul...a first for us. In tge airport queue we met the wife and kids of the co-owner of Indigo who were heading back to Dublin.
The 02:35 flight up to Istanbul wad fine...bit odd being given a snack on a flight that was only an hour long! Plodded our way through from domestic to international terminals as we now had a 4 hr lay over to fill......security was tight and the place was buzzing all the time....you would not have known it was the early hours.
We found a Carluccio's and settled in! Boarded the flight to Birmingham...it was packed! Who knew so many people wanted to travel to Brum from Istanbul.
It was nice to be on a proper flight where you get drinks and food and an entertainment system. Tried to doze but it wasn't happening! Arrived back into Birmingham on time and we were home 10:30, had the dog home by 11.
Washing all done, first day back at work complete and some time spent looking at flight prices for next year.....
Thanks for reading.....know it hasn't been the most exciting trip ever, but its still nice to share it with you! Til next time!
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Love reading the holiday reports. So much of the holidays are so like ours but different if you see what I mean.
We're out of Birmingham airport on Monday winging our way to Kalkan for three weeks. We're meeting up with dear friends that first introduced us to Kalkan in the days of Tapestry holidays and other dear friends that we met at the Nur apartments when we stopped there and have been lucky enough to keep in touch with and indeed celebrated a couple of landmark birthdays with up North. I'm in the what shall we pack mood or rather what won't we pack. Trying to colour co ordinate Bri is nigh on impossible and as for gel on his hair well there ought to be an Olympic sport in catching him unawares. Oh well only six more days and we'll be underway all the trials and tribulations forgotten and a life of sheer Kalkan bliss underway.
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Thank you so much for your lovely posts. I've enjoyed reading each one. :)
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Loved reading your reports especially as you were staying at Emir!
Sounds like you all had the best time :)
We will be there on Friday, 2 more sleeps and counting!!
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Thanks everyone!
Sallyjane are you at Emir oo?
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Fab reports Haybo, glad your flights were okay, we are very impressed with Turkish Airlines, although our connecting flight was bit of a rush to make it, all went very smoothly and agree free food and drink is definitely an added bonus, and of course the free 23kg baggage allowance and 8 kg hand luggage!
Until next year, sounds such a long time, but am sure it will go quickly. Can't wait to be back in Paradise!
J&B
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Yes we are back at he emir it was the first place we ever stayed so it's been a while! :)
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Thanks Haybo (Bubble)...loved reading your reports and hearing about your holiday. Just think this time last year you didnt think you'd be coming to Kalkan in 2016 and now you've been twice - you lucky thing!!
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Hope you're settled back in at home ok Haybo. I must admit I'm struggling. So glad your lovely boys treated you to that bag. You deserve it. Hope to see you again next year. :)
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K4e....thats a point well brought out! I have been very fortunate to go twice and I hope to be doing the same next year.....met some HanInn friends of yours at Emir this year !
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Holiday roundup
I usually end with a set of thoughts observations which I hope you might find interestion ir useful
1. Still love Kalkan
2. Prices have definitely gone up....especially drinks. Any sort of spirit is looking very pricey.
3. It was very quiet everywhere..... Disturbingly so sometimes
4. The people are still wonderful and charming even though times are tough
5. The guys in BSG are awesome!
6. Not feeling Hünkar since the expansion. Always busy, run out os doner quickly and felt the food was a bit lower quality
7. 2 sets of rose sellers in town....not necessary and becomes a bit tiresome.
8. Tried new places...Vanilya Bistro was particularly good
9. fab meeting new people who love the place. My 5 newbies got bitten by the bug!
10. Boat trips are still the best day money can buy!
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Love your observations Haybo.....our very own top ten tips.....lets hope 2017 picks up massively in terms of tourism to Kalkan,because although it is great to keep Kalkan as " the secret Gem of Turkey " ( which it is ) we need people to return to help the local folk's livlihoods and it does add to the atmosphere for all of us......................so come on everyone,Kalkan feels like the safest place in the world so book up to come
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o direct http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/accommodation/p8154298
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Thanks for posting :) I'm counting down the days now until our fourth visit to celebrate a very significant Birthday on my part! I will attempt to post but not sure how interesting it will be......
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Let us worry about how interesting it is Mrs M - You won't please everyone, so do it to please yourself and those that enjoy reading it.
I'm sure it will be vying for the MAN-Booker prize like the other blogs (mine excepted - coming soon… - this last part said with that deep bass-baritone beloved of Hollywood film trailers >:D).
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Yes Mrs M......we want to hear all about it!
My holiday posts will be tedious in five weeks time but that won't stop me! ;D ;D
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I love to read every bodies holiday reports. I always envy everybody that's in Kalkan when I'm not and there often moments when I think must try that or I remember going there and of course the fun and relaxation people report just prove what a fabulous place Kalkan is for a holiday.
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Agree completely Joycie...we needed at least another 14 days to do the things we set out to do.....its the restraunts that we cant fit in that is the biggest let down. We love the gyus at Ata Kebab but only got there once. Didnt make it to Wapiano, blue marlin, marina, terazza, gourmet, teras, begonvil, salonika, sade, bahrat........i could go on!