Kalkan Turkey Forum - EnjoyKalkan.com
Kalkan Discussion => Holiday Reports and Reviews => Topic started by: Haybo on July 03, 2017, 06:17:18 AM
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Good morning
Sorry for the lack of a blog but my ipad screen has cracked and typing anything takes forever. You will understand if its happened to you......and it's too hot to move anywhere or do anything!
I may have to do this when I get home! Anyway we are hauling our sunburn onto a boat trip today.....mad dogs and english women and all that! We were due on a boat trip last night but as we were the only customers they cancelled it...disappointing but will try again on Wednesday.....
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Have a fab day Haybo. Hope it's a bit cooler out at sea. 8)
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Fab chilled day! Boat prices was 90tl this year...first price hike i've noticed...superb value at twice the price!
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It is hot beyond belief. Going on our third boat trip of the holiday tomorrow. Tonight we're going to the town beach for a swim in the moonlight then a BBQ back at the apartment. Simple but delightful pleasures :D
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itstime........we realised on this trip that the Turkish people have a bit more sense that us 'Mad dogs and Englishmen'. They all seem to go down to the beach after sunset when the weather conditions are much more bearable.
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Certainly many more Turkish visitors here this year, also spotted a couple of vehicles with Russian number plates around the town.
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Funny how the heat plays havoc with your Lilo..I can imagine the pools of Kalkan full of Wilting Walters in need of some pumpery during the heatwave
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Hi
thanks for you patience! I am going to try to do some updates during my lunch breaks now I am back at work >:(
So, Nat and I headed off for your 2nd trip to Kalkan. We thought Birmingham airport was particularly busy for a Friday in term time, but we were able to get through check in and security without too much stress, so headed into departures (picking up a bottle of Baileys and some perfume on the way - it's a legal requirement right??). We set up camp in a restaurant and had a terrible meal, but knew we had better waiting for us at the other end!
Picked up an hours delay in Birmingham which meant that we didn't land in Dalaman to gone 10pm. Thankfully passport control and baggage claim were smooth and before we knew it we could hear Emre calling us and we were off! Really smooth journey, but it meant we didn't hit Kalkan until after midnight and we were starving!!
It was also crazy hot even at that time of night, so a quick change of clothing and we headed down into town...some bag shops were closed it was so late! We bumped into the guys from BSG and they rang round a few places for us to see if they still had a chef and we were dispatched to Aubergine....where we had a delicious mixed mezze and a chicken dish to share! lovely. Great first evening - back up the the apartment and in bed for 2am!!
Needed our beauty sleep to be up in time for a Turkish Bath! Exciting !
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Fab first report :D and so glad you got to eat when you arrived! what restaurant would do that in the UK. Look forward to your next update. :D :D :D :D
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I realised that I missed out the most important factor of Friday 30 June.
Our plan was to arrive - get some food and then pop to the supermarket opposite Aubergine to get our pool floats - the one with netting in the middle. We had talked about how crucial this was to the success of the holiday as Saturday was going to be hot, hot, hot. So, you've heard about the BSG boys sending us towards the harbor...so we though, well, if they can't feed us , we will just get crisps, snacks etc in the supermarket along with our pool floats and all will be well with the world.....but as we approached the lights went off and the shutters came down...NOOOOOOO! how would we cope on Saturday?????
Saturday 1 July
I just love the first morning waking up in Kalkan....when you realise that you're not dreaming and you are ACTUALLY there, its just the best feeling in the world - I love stepping outside into the warmth with a coffee and listening to the sounds of the town waking up.
Our first job of the day was a trip down to Atlantis for a Hamam.....I must confess I felt very sorry for the 2 young lads that were dispatched to deal with us two..they must have felt they pulled the short straw! I can't believe i haven't done this before, it was great - even the bit where they lowered the back of my head into a bowl of freezing water! there must be a good reason for that , but I can't fathom it.
So, newly buffed to within an inch of our lives we stepped out ( with our snazzy shopping trolley - thank you Kalkan Gems) to do a bit of shopping in Yali. I can see what people are talking about now...pretty poor show in there. Let's hope it gets better - we were the only people in there on a Saturday morning - not a good sign.
So, fridge stocked, we lathered on the factor 50 and hit the pool - wowzers it was hot! You could not walk bare foot and it was impossible to hold the pool steps as they were so hot! Needless to say there was a little bit of shoulder burning having spent too much time chatting with other residents!
We headed into town early as we had to meet Jane Niz to do the passport thing , so we had a cheeky drink in Cafe Leon then went looking for a new to us place to eat. We settled on Mey & Mezze (was The Nar) . I hadn't eaten there before - the view is amazing! I had a lovely stuffed seabass dish and Nat had lamb. It was delicious and very reasonably priced - I think we paid about 130TL.
So, bellies filled we went to get our pool floats ( Yes, the holiday would be a success after all) and headed home for an early night in a taxi because remember - taxis are cheaper than ambulances. ( 7.65 TL up to Emir from Pirat)
Will have to see if I can remember anything about Sunday now.......
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Thanks for the reports Haybo.....helps me to remember our recent visit.
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Sunday 2 July
Sunday was a pretty quiet day - it was far to hot to do anything except talk about how hot it was!! We were booked onto an evening cruise with Yildiz3 so at least we knew we would feel some breeze on our burned bodies later on!
I gave up the fight and headed indoors at about 4 for a siesta and thought i would check my email - just as Cpt Osman emailed to say that only Nat and I were booked onto the boat that evening, so could we rearrange! I agreed to go down to the boat later in the evening to sort something out.
Dinner was held at Oz Adana - a first for me and I loved it. WE ate like kings for a total of £13 between us so we will no doubt be heading there in August - it would be rude not to. We then headed into town and spotted K4E and BH sitting ont he balcony in Paprika so i yelled like a fish wife until they heard me and then bellowed some more about it being their last night! Great to see them looking so tanned and refreshed. Shame i lowered the tone so much but Kalkan can take it I think.
I think we might have gone to Cafe Del Mar for drinks and then Fener for Ice ream but its all a blur!! What isn't a blur is the nasty ice cream that tasted like hand soap! Not sure what it was but we both rejected it forcefully. We eventually went to see Yildiz and arranged a day trip for the next day and rearranged the night trip for Wednesday.
Quick trip back up the hill and to bed as we had to be up early......
It is so lovely how we just slipped straight into holiday mode and got on with enjoying
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I bet you're having happy memories recalling what you got up to. Lucky you, you'll be doing it all again soon. 8) 8)
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I would find it so hard to remember what we did each day once we were home..I struggle to recall things I did a couple of days previously when I'm there and very often miss things out. So glad we saw you Haybo..or more to the point you saw us! I never look up when I'm walking down the old town streets for fear of losing my footing and there was absolutely nothing fishwife about your shout :-*
Before you've finished your retrospective blog, you'll back in paradise...lucky you!
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Thank you all for your comments! It is quite lovely having to try to relive it.....but as the Big 5 0 approaches, the old grey matter is really letting me down!! Here goes Monday...
Monday 3 July
Up and about early to get to the boat. It was a really rally hot walk down to the harbour and as usual we had left it to the last minute! We were pleased to see that there were 4 other passengers on the boat - lots of space. Right at the point we were about to leave a turkish family joined the boat but chose to stay at the rear. They seemed to know Adem and Osman's daughter Arrife(?) who joined us for the day and had huge fun with the turkish kids.
We did the trip in reverse to normal , starting in Kalamar bay, then Firnaz, then mud bath, then Mouse. We had a couple on the boat who were non swimmers and it was wonderful to see the guy gain his confidence by wearing a life jacket and after about an hour of holding on for dear life he was able to let go of the steps! By the time we got to Mud bath, he lowered himself into the water and propelled himself to the shore!! His wife on the other hand was a bit less keen but Adem took control and loaded her up with 3 woggles and towed her to the shore! They both looked so chuffed with themselves! i hop eit inspires them to take swimming lessons.
The food as always was awesome and we looked forward to having more on the night cruise on Wednesday.
I can't remember what we did when we got off the boat specifically but i know we threw ourselves in the pool when we got back and went out quite late for a bite to eat. We did a little detour to the Sevgi hotel where we are having an overnighter when we arrive in August - I booked through Booking .com and wanted to check that the booking was successful. All was well and I lookforward to staying the one night with them .
From there we headed down a very spooky alley way and came out by Carrefour. We got convinced to have dinner in Old Friends and it was wonderful. Yusuf came and sat with us and we had a wonderful couple of hours putting the world to rights. I recommend you give them a try. My meal was amazing - Scicillian chicken.
What next??
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Haybo.......I'm well past the 50 mark but really enjoy everyone's posts sharing their holiday experiences in Kalkan. I very much appreciate you sharing your holiday with enjoykalkan followers.
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Tuesday 4 July
Not a great deal to report from Tuesday other than the temperatures returned to something a bit closer to normal! We were able to walk to the pool without flip flips and get out of the pool without leaving a layer of skin on the handles of the steps!
We had a beautiful meal at Mussaka...I finally got to try the Summer Steak and it was delicious. we had great fun watching folks wander into town in their finery (well some of them - there were some scruffs too!!) Nat managed to drag me into the stall opposite - a place I had sworn never to venture into! Needless to say a t-shirt for M ended up in my possession. I did feel they guys were less forceful that in previous years and they said we could take goods now and pay next year! I assume they were joking!
We had a lovely wander through town, with Nat picking up lots of presents for her brood. WE were thrilled when we popped into the tailors to hear that they are the proud parents of a beautiful 10 week old boy. Dad was so so excited to tell us all about it and shared with us some interesting Turkish customs! I think we were in there for over an hour. We then dropped into BSG - they guys are sending my original LV bag to their factory to see if it can be repaired. it is 20 years old and it is too expensive to get it repaired by LV. I look forward to hearing from them in August when i go back.
Popped into Mai Butik and admired the lovely clothes, then headed back to the apartment.... the days were flying past .....
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I'm looking forward to hearing about your evening cruise, we've never done that as normally go in October but am lining it up for next June......have I mentioned we are going next June?? ;D ;D
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Funny Babs we'll be there in October too. Did I mention that well be there next June too.
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;D ;D
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Keep your powder dry ladies...I will get to Wednesday at lunchtime...It was a busy busy day, so I need a good run at it!!!
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Haybo you are doing really well remembering all you did, and it sounds like quite a very enjoyable busy week, and you get to do it all again soon for your special birthday :D :D :D :D. Bet you can't wait!
Where abouts is the Old Friends Restaurant, also did you notice whether Adana Okabasi is open this year, we loved going in there, such a lovely family and fab food.
Babs & Joycie, not sure you did mention you are going in October and June, did I miss that!!!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
J&B
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Wednesday -
So, Wednesday turned out to be a very busy day! The first half was spent lounging around by the pool as usual! The temperature was much more pleasant and it was possible to move from the lounger to the pool without a week in the burns unit.
We hauled ourselves off the beds about noon and headed inside to shower and freshen up as we were heading into town for some lunch ( also to be known as a stomach liner) as we had a cocktail making class at Black&Gold to look forward to. Even though the temperature was better, it was still crazy hot so we decided to head for Cafe Leon to sit in the shade. We walked past Chocolate ( Martyn E) and no one mentioned the table dancing lady, so I think she must have styled it out brilliantly!!
Lunch at Cafe Leon consisted of a chicken goujons for me and can't remember what for Nat....it was really delicious, filling and reasonably priced. We had a giggle though, because half way through our lunch, the well known proprietor received a take away from another well known establishment it the town...and scurried inside to eat it! We called him out on it, but apparently he just fancied something that wasn't on his own menu! Thankfully for him we are giving the endorsements on his Cafe .... if we had seen him do that earlier, we may have been put off !
From there we went up the steps to Black& Gold for our cocktail making session - we went inside to find their little boy trying to have an afternoon nap on a mattress in the corner. i think it had been going well until he saw us and thought 'excellent - new playmates'! What a gorgeous, confident little boy. He thought it was great fun to roar at us and frighten us and then climb up to steal our water. What a cutie...but then in came the 12 week old daughter...oh my goodness. We were in our element and didn't notice that almost hour had passed and we still hadn't started our lesson. At about the same time, I took a wander into Belma's , quickly followed by Nat - and before you could say 'merhaba' we were both in possession of new frocks. I blame Burak for this and tried to insist he bought them for us but it fell on deaf ears!
Burak had been expecting a party of 4 to join but they just didn't turn up, so to our benefit we got a private lesson! So we headed up onto the roof terrace for a lesson in cocktail making history, then it was our turn to get behind the bar. With Burak's guidance, I made a beautiful cocktail he had invented in his baby daughters honor called Tears of Happiness - oh boy it was amazing.
What you have to remember , if I haven't mentioned it before, but I don't really drink alcohol, hence the earlier stomach lining activity! This cocktail had gin, vanilla liquer, ginger syrup, lemon grass syrup and an egg white in it...topped off with lemon and orange rind and black pepper - it truly was to die for!! I think Yvonne White has taken a professional photo of the same cocktail on one of the FB groups - mine looked just as good!!
Nat made a Porn Star Martini which was amazing with all the passion fruit elements to it ( but i liked mine better) We then had to drink them - well it would have been rude not to - before going onto make shots. Now to me a shot was a little glass of something strong, but what I made was like a cocktail in a tiny glass - it was called an Alien and was made of peach schnapps, melon liquer with Baileys floated on the top. You then drip grenadine onto the baileys and the weight of it pulled the baileys down into the green liquid below - making a sort of alien landscape! I then drank that and it nearly blew my head off! Nat hid flaming sambuca which was divine and something I think I will look to do when I have a cold.
We then went into a cocktail 'make-off' - Burak had sneakily set up 2 stations ready to make a mojito and gave us a brief whistle stop run through of how to make it - I've never had one so I didn't have a clue...... the winner was decided on time ( Nat was quicker), presentation ( I forgot to put the mint in) and a blind tasting - well as mine didn't have the mint it was never going to be mine was it!
We were then left to drink it......this is where I failed yet again and Nat, took one for the team and drank mine too! We had a great afternoon all for the princely sum of 100TL.
From here we had an hour to kill before heading off to an evening boat trip.....
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Jayne
Old Friends was Sopranos and before that Han...on the roundabout by Oz Adana. It did look as though things were happening at Adana - but I'm not sure its the same name or even the same people. If Kalkan Regular reads this, I think she has the low down!!
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Its new people at Adana Okabasi...I think it has a new name, but cant remember. I also heard its one of the staff who used to work at Oz Adana when it was actually in that location so talk about coming full circle...
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I think we will try it as well as oz adana! Would be nice to know where the lovely family are now ;D
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It was called yum yums in April. Glad they changed the name. :)
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Right, so armed with our new frocks and a belly full of cocktails, we headed back past Cafe Leon to update Lev on our cocktail making prowess, we found ourselves heading into Kaptan to see Ibo and buy some glasses....
Only he wasn't there - but the shop was open! It was nicely air-conditioned so we lurked in there trying on almost every pair until he wandered back having been up to the PTT. Nat was after a specific pair for her 17 year old and Ibo was able to locate the exact ones - happy Alfie!! She also bought a paif for her 12 year old and loaned me the money to buy a pair that I don't mind wearing in the pool or in the sea. Ibo has had a tough and somewhat unfair year, so we were pleased to be able to support him - i will take my nieces in there for sure!
We did notice on a couple of occasions that shopkeepers had wandered off , leaving their stores completely unattended - cash register and all. This would NEVER happen where I live. It led us to think about the differences in approach to things in Kalkan, there is much more respect and pride in the environment - little in the way of graffiti or vandalism. +No gangs of lads racing around on bikes causing a nuisance etc.
Anyway, we had to nip down to the harbor quick smart to join our BBQ cruise. there were 8 other people on board - a group of 6 (3 couples) who were holidaying together in a villa and a couple from our apartment block. By now I had developed quite a headache and setting sail in what was now a windy evening, did not help!
We headed out to the cold bay nr Kalkan Beach Park - can't remember its name ....... i didn't swim but a lot did, then off to mouse to watch the sunset - it was quite choppy - whilst out there we struggled with the anchor so we were all over the place! one of our group was feeling pretty sea sick so that was a shame. I managed to get some pain killers from Cpt Adem and tried to have a little snooze! Apparently he was quite worried that i was feeling sick too, but a nap helped. The journey over from mouse to Firnaz bay was really really choppy so I was very pleased to arrive there.....as was the other lady!
We had a beautiful BBQ dinner with more food than we could ever expect to tea and then it was time to star gaze. I have to say that this is my absolutely favourite part of a Kalkan stay, but on this occasion it was very disappointing. IT was an almost full moon, so the stars were not that visible...and none of my fellow sailors were keen to look either. I usually find it to be a really emotional and spiritual experience, but they were keener on the other sorts of spirits that were available!!! Still, they were great company and we had a great night with them.
Still be best trip money can buy!
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50 is the new 30 Haybo! I should know......
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today is the big day - relieved that so far everything seems the same.......
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Haybo.........it sounds as though you are having a terrific time. When we were there in June we found IBO looking after the bag shop across the road. I totally agree with your observation that Kalkan has a much different approach to everyday life. I purchased a number of pairs of trousers and shirts from Melissa's and didn't have enough money on me. That was no problem at all and I was able to take away my shopping and pay the next day.