Fethiye & Çaliş sunsets..

Posted on September 2, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

Çaliş beach is known for it’s amazing sunsets. I’m willing to bet that anyone who has ever visited Çaliş will have at least one sunset photo stored in their camera amongst their holiday snaps!

The view of the sunsets in Çaliş are amazing, I’ve posted photos of them a few times in the past, but now that autumn is on the way the sunsets are even more spectacular. In the height of winter the sun sets right in the middle of the horizon alongside ‘Red island’and it makes for fabulous photos! We’re not at that stage yet, the sun still sets slightly behind the mountains, but it’s beautiful all the same.

When we were walking along the promenade a few days ago I captured the sun just before it set around 19.15 – the photos came out so well I didn’t even need to edit them at all. I love how it looks with the silhouette of the palm tree in the foreground.

On Sunday we were in Fethiye around the time the sun started to go down as Berkay arranged to go into work later than usual. He went off to the shop to buy some sunflower seeds ready for the Fethiyespor match we went to and I walked around the park by the marina. The photos of the sun setting behind the bay reflecting off the water looked impressive, especially with the boats. It shone through the water fountains giving them a beautiful red glow too.

If you’re in the Fethiye area, perhaps Olu Deniz, Ovacik or Hisaronu, please take a day trip to Çaliş and experience the sunset for yourself, you won’t be disappointed. You could even get the water taxi boat across from/to Fethiye and get an even better view if you time it just right.

While we’re on the subject of sunsets, this is my favourite photo ever. I took it back in February 2013 when Boncuk was just 4-5 months old, look how fluffy and small she was, I can’t believe how short and stumpy her legs were, they are so long now! This is the best photo I have ever taken and I will be getting it printed on a canvas to put up on my wall when I’m back in England. It’s just perfect.

I will be writing and uploading a new blog post every day this week, I have them all planned out. I’m hoping to reach 200,000 views soon too!
Don’t forget to like my Facebook page to see more from us. I update it daily with photos and videos – www.facebook.com/livingtheturkishdream

Kalkan, Kaputaş, Kaş & Fethiye..

Posted on August 14, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

A few days ago we hired a car and went off exploring once again – this time following the D400 road that stretches the length of the southern coast of Turkey, to Kalkan, Kaputaş and Kaş.
I’ve been to Kalkan before on holiday long before I met Berkay and we’d been for a day trip together, but never driven, and driving is definitely all part of the fun because the views from the road are stunning.

It took just over an hour to reach Kalkan, we pulled over at the side of the mountain side road overlooking the bay to admire the view, honestly photographs do not do it justice, it’s breathtaking – I bet watching the sunset would be beautiful from there.

We then drove down to Kalkan in the hope of getting some lunch. It was only 11.30am, so we went for a walk around town first. It really is pretty – lots of little backstreets, boutique shops and restaurants with rooftop terraces overlooking the sea. The only problem is it is a town on a mountain side, so walking down to the sea and harbour area means walking down very steep and very slippery stones and pavements. When we got to the bottom we headed towards the town’s tiny beach, although we didn’t actually go for a swim it did look very inviting. The whole of Kalkan is sheltered from wind as it’s a bay, which means the water is clear, calm and very beautiful.

We walked along past the VERY expensive restaurants over looking the harbour (31-39tl for a pizza!) and to the otherside, along the breakwater towards the lighthouse. There were people doing watersports, swimming and snorkelling on the sea side, and on the harbour side although all the boats were out on their day trips and it looked very empty, the view of the town going up the mountain side was lovely.

Kalkan is a much classier, upmarket resort than others. There are no cheap hotels, you won’t find a ’50p English breakfast’ and there aren’t many loud bars. There are very few hotels at all, the town consists mainly of apartments and villas with sea views. The atmosphere is very different to other resorts I’ve been to, it’s a quaint town perfect for couples, it’s definitely not a party place, nor is there much entertainment for small children. There are many small restaurants with rooftop terraces overlooking the sea, perfect for sitting and watching the sunset over dinner with a glass of wine or two! The beautiful views and more upmarket feel comes at a price, everything is more expensive here. We looked at a few menus and found prices were significantly more expensive than we’re used to, I joked that if we lived here, we’d be stick thin as we’d never be able to afford to eat and the steep uphill roads would be brilliant exercise!

When it was time to head back up to the car, which was parked at the top of a very steep hill, we definitely chose the wrong way up. Instead of choosing the shady, steep but relatively easy walk up through the backstreets the way we came, we walked up a big, ridiculously steep road next to ‘Foto’s Pizza’. I wish I’d taken a photo of how steep it was… we underestimated it, and the midday sun along with the fact we had no water with us and had not eaten a single thing all morning made it so much harder, we suddenly realised how unfit we are!

We stopped at a little Migros on the way out of the town, as we decided it was too expensive to eat anything in Kalkan and we were starving! Refreshed and fed with mini chocolate croissants, we blasted out the aircon in the car and drove back to the main road high up in the mountain side heading towards Kaş. This stretch of road is beautiful but a little scary! The views are stunning, blue sea, islands in the distance, waves crashing on the rocks below… We drove for around 20 minutes and then saw the sign for Kaputaş beach. I’ve been a few times before but never seen it so busy, there were so many cars parked on the edge of the road that it was difficult to pass through, we had to park a good few minutes walk away from the entrance as there were just too many cars!

I guess Kaputaş is very popular with local people, rather than tourists. It’s kind of a hidden gem, at the bottom of a mountain gorge. When we parked up we climbed over the crash barriers on the mountain edge and admired the view, the sea is SO blue, these photos are an accurate representation of just how turquoise the water is.

The only way to access the beach is either by boat or by walking down ALOT of steps – in fact Berkay counted 191 in total. Going down the steps isn’t so bad – climbing back up nearly 200 steps to back to your car afterwards is the hard part! When you’re at the bottom you can see the bridge that joins the mountain side together, with Kaputaş canyon behind. I believe you can access the canyon by walking towards the back of the beach, but we’ve never tried.

I’m not sure if we picked a particularly busy day, but the beach was full! I could understand if it were a Sunday when lots of locals have the day off, but it was only Friday! The beach is free, but there’s not many facilities. There was an old man at the top of the steps selling fruit, and a stall at the bottom where they were selling traditional Turkish pancakes – I’m not sure if this is a new thing as I’d never noticed it before. There were also umbrellas and sun-cushions to rent, but no sunbeds. There were 4 small cubicles to change clothes in, and a hose pipe on the floor behind some bushes which people seemed to be using as a shower. There were also 2 toilet cubicles (which I didn’t even notice until we were back at the top of the steps looking down) but I’m puzzled at how anyone is supposed to access them as they were higher up on some rocks, blocked off by bushes, plants, pipes and more rocks… quite comical really!

We went for a swim in the sea, but it was very wavy as it’s not sheltered at all – just open water. We could hear people screaming everytime a large wave approached, and they were pretty powerful too, definitely not a place for non-confident swimmers to float and relax. It was beautiful nonetheless, the clean turquoise water is much nicer than the murky looking water here in Calis.

We stayed at the beach for around an hour then got back in the car and carried on driving to Kaş. Neither of us had ever been there before so we didn’t really know what to expect to where to go! We ended up parking in the main town which reminded me a lot of Fethiye actually, just a smaller version. We found a cheap-ish (but still more expensive than good old Fethiye!) Turkish lokanta and got some lunch. Berkay had rice and beans and I had some kind of mixed dish with potatoes, green beans, tomatoes and aubergine all cooked together in a tomato sauce – it was lovely.

We didn’t do as much exploring as I hoped, we really didn’t know where we were going! We wandered to the small harbour area and down a few back streets where there were lots of small boutiques, jewellery shops and more traditional shops selling carpets and rugs. One shop name in particular stood out, ‘Kaş and carry’. (Kaş is pronounced ‘Kash’). When walking around different towns and cities in Turkey one thing I love to do is spot the statues of Ataturk – the founder of the Republic of Turkey as we know it. There are statues of him in every single town in the country, something I find really impressive. Can you imagine having a statue of the same person in every single town in the UK? You’ve got to love their pride. I love seeing Turkish flags flying high everywhere too.

Berkay was tired as he’d been working all night and hadn’t slept all day, and he’d had enough of walking around in the heat, so at around 3.30pm we got back in the car and started the journey back to Fethiye. The views from the road are just stunning, photos don’t do it justice at all. The gorgeous blue sea, the waves, the boats sailing, the view across to several islands, including the Greek Meis… The only part which is a little frustrating is getting stuck behind tractors or big trucks carrying concrete etc, especially when you’re driving up steep sections of mountain side road – I felt as if if we were going any slower we’d end up going backwards – literally!

We arrived back in Calis at around 5pm and after a quick stop at home to get BBQ supplies we jumped back in the car and drove to Fethiye. There are so many lovely bays around there to stop and have a swim and a picnic, but one of my favourites is Aksazlar Koyu – it’s not ideal for swimming as it’s relatively close to the dock yard and all the boats mean the water is not the cleanest, however, for BBQ picnics, it’s brilliant. Pine trees cover the whole area so it’s always shady, it’s often empty and there are picnic tables which means we can bypass the typical Turkish method of eating a BBQ – sitting on a rug on the floor. The only thing I’m not a fan of is the bees – lots appear when they sense the food, but luckily we were there later in the evening this time and as it started to cool down there were hardly any at all.
Apart from realising we’d forgotten the plates and Berkay having to speed off in the car to borrow some from a local shop while leaving me in charge of the BBQ (which meant everything took twice as long) we had a lovely time and a lovely dinner.

By the time we had finished it was nearly 8.30pm, the sun had gone down and it was getting dark. Berkay had arranged to go into work an hour later than normal at 9pm as he was owed some time, so we made the most of being together out of daylight hours and drove up to the ‘hill of the lovers’ (Asiklar Tepesi) to get a better look at Fethiye. I never see Fethiye at night, the last time I did was on my last night here last September before heading to the airport (how was that nearly a year ago?!) as Berkay is always working, so I’d forgotten how beautiful it looks. Once again, my photos don’t do it justice. We also took the scenic route home past the town centre fountains, I’d not seen them lit up since last September either, unfortunately I couldn’t get any photos as I only had a glimpse through the car window, but it was nice nonetheless!

As you can tell, we had another busy day. I’m so glad Berkay got his driving liscene so we’ve been able to hire cars and drive to places we’d never normally go to. Although it’s using money we don’t really have to spend, it’s worth it.

There’s a short video of clips of our day over on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/livingtheturkishdream 🙂

Mountain scenery…

Posted on July 26, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

This evening we went for another walk – this time along the whole of Calis promenade to the furthest point of the beach.

In all the years I’ve lived here I’ve never been so far along the beach – we had been to Şat restaurant at the end once way back in October 2010, but it’s expensive so we never bothered going so far again – what a mistake that was!

I thought there must be something past Şat as I’d seen photos previously, so I convinced Berkay to carry on walking. “There’s nothing there, you can’t walk there it’s just the restaurant” he said… he was wrong!

Calis beach is quite long, it starts off wide in Koca Calis and the further along the beach you get, the more narrow it becomes. Eventually, near Şat restaurant, the beach becomes a narrow strip, with the sea one side and the canal the other. When we reached the end, just before the restaurant, we found a cute wooden bench on a platform over the water – it was so peaceful. We sat down and admired the views. The water was murky, it’s where the canal meets the sea so it’s not the cleanest.. it wasn’t very deep and I could see to the bottom – I even saw a few crabs waddling sideways under the water checking us out – I tried to take a photo but the water was so murky it was too difficult. It was such a lovely place to sit and chill out.

It was around 18.45 at this point and we had to walk home in time for Berkay to go to work, but I was determined to walk to the very furthest point of the ‘beach’, so we got up and walked further around. There were signs everywhere saying that fishing was forbidden, yet we saw several people fishing for both fish, and crabs – they had bags full so were obviously quite successful!

We made it to the very furthest point where it was impossible to go any further without getting wet. It’s where the water taxi’s from Calis – Fethiye travel and where the canal meets the sea. It’s sheltered so the water was very calm, so still it was almost like a mirror, I bet it’d be beautiful to walk along there just after sunrise in the early morning.

The most impressive thing for me was the view across to the mountains. I’ve mentioned before that when you’re on your way back to Fethyie and see those mountains you just know you’re ‘home’ – they’re part of the backdrop we see everyday, but seeing them from here made them look even more beautiful. In fact, I thought one of these photos was so beautiful I made it my new blog header, as you may have noticed!

Unfortunately we couldn’t stay and admire the view for too long, I’m not even 100% sure we should have been walking there in the first place, but we had to head back home for Berkay to go to work. As we were walking back some boats were boarding passengers at the jetty, and the sun was just beginning to go down.

I’ve really noticed how much earlier the sun is beginning to set now – at the start of Ramadan it was around 20.45, now it’s more like 20.20 – I wonder why the sun sets so early here, even in summer? It will soon be winter!

Marmaris & İçmeler..

Posted on July 13, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

On Tuesday, to celebrate our 4 year anniversary, Berkay hired a car for the day again and we went off on a day trip to Marmaris & İçmeler.

It’s great now that Berkay has his driving license – we’ve hired a car 3 times in the past 6 weeks. His friend lets us have the car cheap and it runs on gas so it’s not expensive to travel far with it either. I’m loving going out and exploring other places.

We were either going to go to Patara & Kas, or Marmaris & İçmeler and decided on the latter as neither of us had been before. I was really curious to see if Marmaris was as bad as I’d imagined, I see lots of people saying it’s like Blackpool, which doesn’t appeal to me at all. It’s certainly a million miles away from what I’m used to here in Fethiye & Calis.

Berkay came home at 9am after a long night at work, had a quick shower then off we headed. It took us around 2 hours in total, with a quick stop off for brunch. We got to Marmaris around 11.45am and spent AGES driving around trying to find a parking space. It was clear that Marmaris was huge and we had no idea which end or where was best to start from.

We ended up parking at the end by the Marina & castle. I really loved this end of Marmaris, it reminded me of Fethiye a lot. We wandered around the corner and along the fish water fountains that I had spotted while driving past and wanted to check out.

I loved this little area with the water features, gardens, statues and clock tower. It was really pretty.

After taking lots of photos there and a quick look in LC Wakiki we walked towards the Marina & castle. We walked through an area of undercover shops which I now know is the Grand Bazaar. It felt like one big giant maze, it was crazy, literally hundreds of shops pretty much all almost identical, selling the same things etc, it felt like we were going around in circles! I have no idea how any of them make any money, it was empty when we were walking around and there are so many shops the same how do you chose which one to give your custom to? It was all a bit weird, I just can’t understand the point of having so many similar shops next to each other – but it must work I guess! We didn’t go in any, we were just concentrating on trying to find a way out, but I did see some cute t-shirts with Frozen and Despicable Me characters on, they’d be perfect for my little sister, she was the first person I thought of when I saw them!

When we eventually found our way out we walked towards Marmaris Castle, which I really wanted to look at, but didn’t have time. We walked through all the little back streets past small, quiet cafes, I loved it. We saw signs for ‘Bar street’ so I’m assuming it was around there somewhere – but it looks like loud, obnoxious bars wouldn’t fit in there at all, perhaps it’s one of those places that is quiet and lovely during the day and a whole different place during the night? I don’t know. We reached the main marina and had a wander around there, the restaurants looked fancy and there were some very nice looking yachts and boats in the harbour. We reached a certain point then turned around and came back, walking along the promenade and past the normal day-trip type boats, we were CONSTANTLY pulled over and hassled to look and chat to them, Berkay is far too polite and instead of just ignoring them like I would, he let them all speak for a minute about how wonderful and amazing their boat trip was and then hit them with the fact that we were only there for a day – I bet they were cursing us for wasting their time! I found it quite funny how they automatically spoke to us in English, normally when we’re home they can tell Berkay is Turkish, and even when I’m out alone they assume I am – I guess we must’ve really looked like tourists in Marmaris that day!

We walked all the way back to the car and drove further along the beach towards the old Point Centre/Blue port. We parked literally right outside and went inside to get into the aircon as quickly as possible. One thing we really noticed about Marmaris was how ridiculously hot it was, there was no air! It was just hot. I was sweating in places I didn’t even know possible, it was awful! People have since told me that it’s because Marmaris is sheltered by the mountains so there is no wind. That’s something I’m so grateful that Calis has – wind! It’s always windy here and I’m always moaning that the sea is too wavy as a result.. I won’t complain anymore that’s for sure!

We had a look around Blue Port, it’s like a smaller version of Erasta in Fethiye. I did laugh to myself, we drove 2 hours to go to Marmaris where most people go to have fun, swim, sunbathe and drink lots of alcohol, and what were we doing? Walking around the Turkish version of B&Q looking at plant pots and paint for no reason! We’re such old souls, it really did make me chuckle. The best part about this little shopping centre was the fact it had a real KFC! We didn’t actually eat in there because it’s expensive, but it looked like a really fancy KFC, not like the minging ones in the UK – I’m guessing it was new. There was a Burger King too, but that wasn’t quite as exciting as there’s one of those in Fethiye too. You know what Turkey really, really needs? A NANDOS!

When we’d recovered from the heat and made the most of the aircon, we headed back outside and just walked along the promenade. This was the first we saw of the beach, which I didn’t really think much of. It was really narrow, with sunbeds crammed in here, there and everywhere. It was the same when we went to Gumbet. Here in Calis there’s one single row of sunbeds which are mostly unused. It’s a totally different place and atmosphere. I thought it was weird how they had buckets of dirty water for people to use and rinse their sandy/dusty feet in – gross. I did love the paved floor and huge, tall palm trees, they looked really lovely.

Another thing I noticed was just how many big 5* hotels there are in Marmaris, it seems the place is definitely more focused on big, all inclusive hotels rather than the smaller 3* bed and breakfast types here in Calis. There’s not a single 5* hotel here.

Up until this point I was really surprised at how much I liked Marmaris. The marina end looked lovely and the right hand side of the beach going towards İçmeler was nice with all the big hotels. When we started walking back and went past Point Centre, we came to the smaller hotels, bars and restaurants in the middle section of the beach that we’d missed out – and this was where things began to get a bit.. tacky. The cheap hotels and football bars. This was the part I’d previously seen photos of and based my opinion of the whole area on. Honestly, I didn’t like it – and I can only imagine it gets worse at night, I’m so glad I wasn’t there to see it, not my cup of tea at all. All in all, Marmaris was a lot better than I imagined, but I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that I only visited during the day, I’m not sure my opinion would be the same if I saw it at night… I did like how there seemed to be something for everyone, all inclusive 5* hotels and cheaper, smaller apart-hotels for those who prefer that. Loud, busy bars for some, and quiet little cafe’s for others. I was amazed at how big it was, it’s 100x bigger than the main area’s of Fethiye, Calis and Ölüdeniz – It’s huge. I was only there for a couple of hours, so there’s a whole lot more to see, I’d like to go back again and experience it all a bit more. I should add here, that these are just my opinions based on observations I made in the very few hours I was there.

After all the walking around, we were hot, tired and grumpy, and got back in the car to drive to İçmeler where we were going for a swim. Honestly I can’t really comment on İçmeler as we didn’t explore, we literally only drove through a road, parked up and walked a few meters to the beach, but it did look more ‘personal’ and slightly more quiet there.

We paid 10tl for 2 sunbeds and an umbrella which I thought was really reasonable, stripped off to our swimsuits and took a dip in the sea, which was freezing. I love how calm the sea is there, it reminds me of the lagoon at Ölüdeniz, I guess İçmeler is sheltered like Marmaris, although it seemed a lot cooler there. There were no waves, it was just nice and calm which made swimming much more relaxing as whenever we’re swimming in the sea at Calis i’m constantly worrying about the waves and trying to stop myself getting a mouthful of salty water- gag! The beach was much like the one at Marmaris, hundreds of sunbeds and umbrellas all crammed together with barely an inch to move – weird. It’s also not really stoney like the ones here, it was more just dusty, muddy, sand, which I’m not sure if I preferred or not really – why are there no pure golden sandy beaches around here? Patara is the best one I’ve come across so far.

I did really like the views from the beach – it was beautiful.

At around 4.30pm we drove back to Marmaris and stopped for dinner – I’d asked for recommendations on Facebook and was trying to find a couple of the restaurants suggested but we couldn’t, we were really hungry, hot and had to leave as quickly as possible so that Berkay could get back in time for work, so we just settled on a random one that we came across – Natalies Steak House.

I’d heard about it from Facebook groups in the past, so thought it would be good to try, but I wish we hadn’t – everything was SO expensive. We did look at the menu outside first, but we were in a rush, so didn’t really look hard enough. I know it’s recommended for its steaks, hence it’s name I guess, but we couldn’t afford those so settled on chicken dishes – I had chili chicken, and Berkay had plank chicken, I found that the waiter kept pushing us to have something more expensive, which was annoying. There was no free ‘puffy’ bread that we normally get for starters either – perhaps that’s not the norm in Marmaris? I’m not sure. When the food arrived, it was nice, no complaints about that at all. When we got the bill though, we were amazed to see that the two large cokes (watered down with a lot of ice!) had been charged at 9tl each – 18tl for two cokes?! That’s just totally crazy to me – I don’t know if we just picked a silly restaurant or if Marmaris is expensive compared to Calis?

After all that, we left Marmaris at 5.30pm, were back in Fethiye at 7.45pm and Berkay was back at work at 8pm! Good timing or what? Even though he was grumpy and tired by the end of the day after having no sleep, I love it that he works nights as it means we can do things during the day together sometimes.

All in all, It was a good day and my opinion of Marmaris did change, it wasn’t as bad as I thought. İçmeler looked lovely but I need to explore them more, maybe we’ll get a chance another day. Both places were in beautiful locations with amazing views of the mountains, sea and islands – Turkey is a truely beautiful country.

I have to say though, after going away somewhere else, whether it be for a day, a week or a year, I just absolutely love driving back through the mountains on the Dalaman road, turning the corner and seeing Babadağ mountain, that’s when I know I’m home. Fethiye is my most favourite place.

Just a little note to apologise for neglecting my blog, I’ve not been in the mood for writing lately, and I have just been so busy. I do have a couple of posts planned for next week so hopefully I’ll get my motivation back and start posting more regularly again soon. Thank you for reading as always ❤

Settling in?

Posted on July 6, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

So, I’ve been here in Turkey for 5 weeks now, where on earth has the time gone?

It’s been a while since I done a personal thoughts & feelings post, I’ve been focusing more on writing about days out and things to do and see. When I started this blog it was just going to be something personal, a kind of diary to look back on, but as time has gone on, more and more people read and as grateful as I am for the nearly 160,000 views I have, I’m less comfortable with sharing now, you can’t trust anyone on the internet and writing posts sharing personal thoughts and feelings gives people a lot of information to judge you on.

I do want to be as honest and as real as possible though. That being said, I thought it was time to do a post about how I’ve settled back into life here in Turkey and what I’m missing about England.

The first night I was here alone as Berkay had to work, and it hit me that I’d be spending a lot of my time alone again, I started to question whether I’d done the right thing and that maybe the grass is always greener on the other side… I also didn’t feel as ‘safe’ in this house, it’s much more central than our old one and there are more people around, it’s not as private.

The first few weeks I was here, I didn’t want to be in the house much, I was always bugging Berkay so we could go out and do something, walking, swimming, pointless trips to Fethiye… I think I wanted to spend as little time as possible in our house so that I didn’t get attached again, if it feels like home it’ll be harder to leave…

Well after being here 5 weeks I’m well and truly settled, our house DOES feel like home, there’s nothing I like more than sitting on the balcony with Berkay after dinner and just playing backgammon or watching a film. It’s just like the old days. I feel totally safe in our house and love it here. It took some getting used to living in a basic house again, no bath, no walk in shower, just a wet room with a tap and shower on the wall that makes the entire room and toilet seat soaking wet after each use! Not being able to flush the toilet paper took some getting use to again too!

I honestly do not miss England. I miss my family sometimes obviously, but I speak to my mum and grandparents everyday on Facetime without fail. I miss my little sister the most because we’re so close, no matter my mood she always cheers me up – I’ve been facetiming with Dad and seeing her, she always says ‘are you coming home yet Dan’ or mentions something about me coming back so I think she misses me too (:

I thought I might miss English food, a nice roast dinner, Cadbury’s chocolate, Monster Munch, ham sandwiches but I don’t really – although I am now drooling at the thought of all of the aforementioned! I love a lot of Turkish food so it doesn’t bother me much – perhaps the only thing I do miss is being able to chuck a ready made jar of sauce on the pasta or get some easy to cook, ready flavored Birdseye chicken out of the freezer. Everything has to be made from scratch – not much frozen food exists here!

I do not miss work at all, but I do miss having structure to my days. Anyone who knows me knows I have to have plans, I have to know what I’m doing and at what time, I’m not very spontaneous!

I’ve fallen into the habit of adapting to Berkay’s work/sleep pattern again. He works from 8pm – 9am everyday and sleeps either during the morning or the afternoon. I’ve started following that and not sleeping all night which is really bad – I’m still awake the same amount of time as anyone else, just all night instead of all day, which sometimes is a blessing as I don’t feel the unbearable heat. I’m still reliant on Berkay most of the time, when I lived here before I never went out without him. This time I walk the dog on my own and walk along Calis seafront a couple of times a week when he’s gone to work and just sit on the beach alone and watch the sunset. I love that.

All in all, I’ve settled back in and am still determined to make the most of every minute here. On Tuesday 8th Berkay and I have been together for 4 years. That’s really crazy, it seems like just yesterday we met, but then again sometimes it feels like we’ve been together so much longer, we’re like an old married couple, yet we’re not old and we’re not married. (;

I cannot believe it’s July already, how scary. More than half way through the year and I only have a few more months in Turkey… it’s not going to be any easier leaving this time than the last.
I’ll leave you with a few photos of the beautiful sunsets I witnessed in Calis last week. ❤

A little adventure – Hisarönü, Ölüdeniz, Kayaköy & Fethiye!

Posted on June 15, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

On Wednesday Berkay rented a car and we went on a little adventure – visiting Hisarönü, Ölüdeniz, Kayaköy and a little bay in Fethiye for a BBQ picnic!

Berkay managed to rent a car from a friend from one of the hotels along the seafront in Çaliş for a good price – 60tl – but as we only wanted the car from 9am til 9pm, we got an even better deal and got it for 40tl. Bargain! I know nothing about cars, but Berkay tells me it was running on gas – which is apparently a lot cheaper than diesel/petrol so it didn’t cost us much to keep it going even though he did a lot of driving!

Berkay had a long nap while working the night before so he wouldn’t be too tired – and picked up the car on his way home. By 10 o clock we were on our way – first stop Hisarönü!

I’d only been to Hisarönü twice before – not a fan at all – way too cheesy for me – quiet little cafe’s and restaurants by day and loud, obnoxious bars by night – but each to their own. It was good to walk around though and no matter how cheesy I thought it was, it got my attention, I just had to stop and take photos of these shops… you’ve got to love their sense of humor – brillant! Driving past it looked like there were some lovely hotels in the area – I guess it’d be a good base, easy access to the beach on the dolmus and plenty of entertainment at night time with an easy walk home 😉 I also loved how much cooler it was up there. I found myself getting cold shivers! We stopped at “The Turkish Ivy” restaurant for breakfast – we walked through the whole main street and this was the busiest one of them all. The waiter came over to ask what we wanted and Berkay answered for me “ingiliz kahvaltisi” (English breakfast) the waiter then looked at me like I had two heads “ingiliz kahvaltisinda domuz eti var” (there’s pig meat in that) Berkay then informed him that I’m English so it didn’t matter. The waiter was shocked and insisted on telling me how I look Turkish and how he can’t believe I’m a ‘yabanci’ (foreigner). I hear this ALL the time. I should just permanently walk around in an England shirt or something. Regardless, breakfast was lovely – It’ll probably be the last time I have pork while I’m here so I was enjoying it! It was only 9tl and they even had real HP sauce. HP sauce is the one thing that is always well stocked in my house, whether in England or here! After breakfast and a brief walk around we headed to our next stop – Ölüdeniz.

I’ve only been to Ölüdeniz a handful of times too and only ever via buses packed full of people so I never noticed how amazing the view on the drive down the mountain side is – the water looked so beautiful. We parked the car, got out and headed straight to the beach which was suprisingly really empty. We didn’t pay to go to the lagoon part – just the normal beach which is still really pretty – the sea is so turquoise. The only issue with the beaches around the Fethiye area is how stoney they are – I need to invest in some good rubber sea shoes as it’s impossible to enter or climb out of the sea elegantly with all those stones and rocks under your bare feet!

We only stayed for around 45 minutes as we could see the clouds rolling in over the mountains and wanted to get home and have our BBQ before the forecast rain and thunderstorms started, but we had a nice little swim, it’s a much better beach than the one in Calis as the sea is so much clearer. As you can see, I took my camera in the sea and we had some fun with that, it’s not that I trust myself not to drop the thing in the water , because that is something that my clumsy self would definitely do – but I do have a waterproof little case for my iPod, which is what I was using. It’s brilliant, really secure and it means we can take photos in the sea without forking out for an expensive waterproof camera, it’s definitely a great invention.

We made the 40 ish minute drive back to Calis and stopped off at home to get changed and get our BBQ supplies. On the way we stopped at our old house to borrow a portable BBQ from our old landlord. Him and his wife both gave me a big hug and told me to go back for dinner, tea and biscuits some time. It was weird seeing our old house – it was the first time I’d actually seen it since I’d been back. It’s occupied now and apparently they’ve made lots of changes like knocking walls down and making the tiny cupboard toilet we had into a bigger one! We got the BBQ, packed up the car and headed off to a little bay on the other side of Fethiye town centre.

We picked a table, parked up and unpacked. I noticed there was a cute bear sat next to the table – I thought it had been left there and was planning on taking it with us if it was still there when we left – I couldn’t bear the thought of it being stuck out in the rain and alone! (I know, I’m weird) Later on though, a little Turkish girl from a family sitting on a nearby table came and got it – I’m not sure if it was hers or she just spotted it and grabbed it like I planned to… but either way I missed my chance and I’m glad the little orange bear now has a home.

The view from the the bench we chose was lovely – because it was a bay the sea was almost still and we could just hear the tiny waves lapping on the water’s edge. Berkay got the BBQ started and I prepared the salad… before I came here I never liked aubergine, actually I’d never tried it but assumed I wouldn’t like it anyway! Since experiencing these Turkish BBQ’s I’ve learned to always try new things – it’s so good when it’s put whole into the coals of the BBQ, cooked, peeled and chopped up into a salad with olive oil and lemon juice. Yummy. Along with the salad we had beef skewers, chicken and jacket potatoes. Somehow we actually managed to eat it all!

It was nice to just be able to go somewhere alone, just me and Berkay, and have a BBQ. It was the first time we’d ever had one alone as we normally only go with friends as we can’t get to these places without a car. We used to be able to have BBQ’s on our balcony but now we can’t as there’s not enough room – so we’re definitely going to have to go out to these bays more often. You can’t beat a good BBQ , they’re cheap, they save on the gas bottle at home and they’re so tasty and filling in beautiful surroundings! As it happens, the day after this we went on another BBQ trip, this time with friends, but a blog post about that will be coming later!

While we were eating we heard thunder rumbling over Fethiye and huge grey clouds sweeping across Calis – heavy thunderstorms were forecast but luckily we only felt a few drops of rain.

Our next stop of the day was the hill over-looking Fethiye . It’s known as ‘hill of the lovers’. It was really cloudy by this point, so the view wasn’t as spectacular as normal, but it was still impressive. I’ve written about this place in a blog post before, click HERE to see an unedited panoramic view from the top on a sunnier day!

At this point it was around 5pm and we decided to carry on our little adventure and drive to Kayaköy. We got a bit lost – but found it eventually and ended up parked up in a little farm place with a restaurant and gift shops surrounding it – I have no idea what it was called or if we were supposed to just park up and look at the animals, but that’s what we did. They had chickens, donkeys, a camel, horses, ponies and even a peacock, which I have never seen here in Turkey before. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m an animal lover so I couldn’t resist taking a ‘selfie’ with the donkey – he was really friendly and seemed to quite enjoy it haha!

We didn’t pay the fee to enter and walk around the old buildings – we have done before and would again if we had more time, but we just took photos from the outside. It’s quite eerie being there – it’s sad seeing all the empty, abandoned ruined homes, it’s a really interesting place to look around.

After all that driving around poor Berkay was really tired and had to go back to work at 8pm, so it was time to head home. We made one final stop on the way as we carried on driving along Calis beach into Koca Çalış. It was really quiet at that end of the beach – I’d never been that far along before.

After making it home, Berkay had a shower and got changed ready for work, then we both got back in the car to return it and walked back along the promenade just as the sun was setting through the clouds. You can’t beat a sunset on a cloudy day!

We had a really busy day and it was just great to be free to go anywhere we wanted in the car, a luxury we don’t normally have. We’re planning to rent a car once a month and do this more often so that we can do something different and see new places – Berkay is wanting to drive to Pamukkale one day but I’m not sure I trust him to get us all the way there in one piece without getting lost! We’re really determined to make the most of the few months we have together and do as much as possible rather than just sleep the days away like before.

First week back in Turkey!

Posted on June 10, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

I’ve been back in Turkey for over a week now – it’s gone quick, yet somehow it still feels like I’ve been here forever. Weird! I failed at my plan to post daily updates, but I’ve decided to get my butt into gear and fully concentrate on my blog from now on, so as of tomorrow, I will hopefully be back on track and posting everyday.

Here’s what I got up to in my first week back in Turkey!

Tuesday.
Tuesdays are my favourite days, why? Because its Fethiye market day! I live in Calis, a 20 minute bus ride away from Fethiye, but Fethiye town really is my favourite place around here. I love walking around the markets, although it’s not so fun in summer when it’s absolutely boiling and the sweat just drips off you. On Tuesday we hopped on the bus to Fethiye in the morning as soon as Berkay had finished work, it was the first time I’d been there in 9 months, so it was really great to be back. Seeing the mosque opposite the bus stop and the street view as I walked around the corner was great, it felt like I was finally home!

We were really hungry so our first stop for breakfast was a tiny cafe opposite Is bank – I had Kiymali borek, which is basically mince in a puff pastry type pie – it might sound like a weird thing to have for breakfast but I love it, I love the potato ones too, mmmmm. Next we headed to the bank and then went for a little stroll along the seafront.

After doing some shopping for the boring stuff, tinned things and cleaning products, we went to the market. It was REALLY busy, which was surprising, as I hadn’t seen many people around until this point. There were coach load’s of tourists turning up for the market and wandering around, I guess the weather helped, it was raining so it wouldn’t be much fun sitting around a hotel pool trying to get a tan! 😉 We bought the essentials for our weekly shop – tomatoes, lettuce, melon, strawberries, blackberries, onions, peppers, potatoes, chicken and eggs. We never go to the supermarket for a weekly shop here – most things we eat are made from scratch. Walking around the market I really noticed the price of vegetables had gone up, last time I was here potatoes were 50krs – 75krs per kilo, now they’re 3tl/kg, what is that all about?!

After stocking up on it all, we went to Berkay’s friend’s little pancake van and shared a tomato, cheese and chili flake bazlama, yummy. I’ve previously written about all the other food you can find at the market if you’re interested, click HERE to read.
After all the shopping we got the bus home and went for a walk with Boncuk, she’s far too big to be cuddled like this nowadays!

Wednesday.
On Wednesday we went to the second hand market held on the first Wednesday of every month in the same area as the food section of the Tuesday weekly market. Our friend had a stall so we used her table and managed to sell some old clothes, shoes, bags, hats, nail varnish etc. It’s amazing what people will buy. Some of the stuff you see really is crap, teddies with missing eyes, clothes with holes in, used, dirty, holey shoes… but people are happy enough to buy as they only pay 50krs- 2tl for each item. Our clothes were all in good condition and we managed to make around 20tl – not much, but those things were just sitting in a cupboard taking up space at home, so it was better than nothing! We gave the bag of clothes that we didn’t sell to Berkay’s mum to take back to their village and hand out to the needy. The lady who’s table we were using is good friends of ours – Berkay works with her husband and last year we always used to go on picnic’s etc with them, they have a little boy, Cinar, who was only 9-10 months old last time I saw him, now he’s over 18months and going through the terrible 2’s! He didn’t remember me, wouldn’t come over to me or let me hold him without kicking and hitting me, what a nice welcome! Haha. He loves Berkay though. After the market had finished, we headed to the fish market and spent our profits on dinner, we picked out our fish and took them to one of the surrounding restaurants who cooked and served it for us – lovely. (:

Thursday.
On Thursday we had no plans to do anything as the weather was bad. I was woken up at 5am by huge cracks of thunder and lightening which led to the customary mad dash around the house unplugging all electricals before the power surge blows them up (I’ve learnt this from experience!!) Berkay slept in the morning, woke up at 3, and we planned to cook dinner and stay at home – that plan was altered a bit when we realised our gas bottle had ran out. Berkay’s friend works in the place that delivers the gas bottles on their little scooters, so a quick phonecall to him and the crisis was averted, however, the inevitable happened and we ended up being invited around to his friends house, so we went after dinner. Last August I posted about these friends and congratulated them on being pregnant with twins (click here to read), well these twins are now 3 months old so I met them for the first time, they are so, so, cute. One of them took a liking to me and found me hilarious! It’s funny how one has light, fine hair and the other a full mop of black, fluffy hair! Sweet. Their names are Emir and Emre but I’m not entirely sure which is which, so for now I know them as ‘hairy baby’ and ‘non hairy baby’!! Although incredibly cute, they were incredibly hard work, the mum didn’t have a minute to herself the whole time we were there, and both the grandparents were there helping non stop too! These are spoilt babies, never out of someones arms and they only slept on a blanket for 10 minutes the whole time we were there – life lesson = don’t have twins! At one point both babies were screaming so they laid each of them down on a white blanket, lifted up the edges and formed a kind of hammock and began swinging them back and forth. ”Turkish!” their grandad said to me with a big grin on his face. Crazy was my opinion on the matter, so I couldn’t help taking a photo. They were stood rocking them both for at least 30 minutes each, and this took 4 people… goodness knows what would happen if the mum was ever alone with them both!

Friday.
I woke up early Friday morning and headed off to the hotel Berkay works in as the boss needed me to help with something, an hour and a half and a free buffet breakfast later, we were still there. This was the first really sunny morning I’d had since I was there, it was really hot so the pool looked really tempting! Boncuk was really happy to see me at the hotel and came running up to me then proceeded to run around me in circles for 5minutes not letting any of us get her to put her back inside, she’s crazy! After we’d finished helping at the hotel, we went for a walk with Boncuk along the seafront where I managed to get sunburnt. It was really hot!

Berkay must have thought it was hot too, as when we were in the middle of walking Boncuk he turned around and said ‘Do you want to go for a swim?’ – Berkay NEVER says this, its always me bugging him to come to the beach with me! So off we went to get changed and have a dip in the sea. It’s so lovely now we live a 60 second walk away from the beach. The sea was a bit wavy, and kept knocking me over which I hate as it means I end up swallowing a mouthful of salty water, gag! It wasn’t too cold, just nice, we only stayed for 30 minutes or so but it was nice to cool off. When we came home we both had a sleep and woke up to another thunderstorm and heavy rain, it’s crazy to think that in the morning it was boiling and clear blue skies, then a few hours later, pouring with rain and stormy – in June! Madness.

Saturday.
On Saturday we had no plans so just caught the Dolmus to Fethiye for lunch – we had Doner. Mmmm. You can’t beat a good chicken doner, especially with chips inside and a side helping of tiny hot pickled chili peppers. Much better than the greasy kebabs back in England! I also got a slice of this amazing cake for my dinner – banana cake with cream and lots of layers. Mmmm. Are you sensing a food theme here on my blog?!

Sunday.
There are no photos from Sunday – at 11pm Thursday night Berkay came home from work to pick up some change of clothes for his brother who was rushed into hospital to have his appendix out. Berkay’s boss covered for him so he stayed all night at the hospital with his brother and didn’t come home til 4pm on Sunday. Then his Dad and Stepmum traveled from Denizli so that his brother wouldn’t be alone at the hospital. She popped into our house to say hi and bought us some goodies from their village – homemade butter and yogurt, a leg of lamb, chickpeas, lentils, corn kernels, onions… His brother is still in hospital at the moment recovering, hopefully he’ll be back to himself and at work in Hisaronu again soon!

Monday.
Today Berkay wasn’t home again until 5pm as he had to go and do a one day course to get his food hygiene certifcate. I had dinner waiting for him when he came home and then we went off for a stroll along the seafront – it was lovely and warm but very quiet. It seems like the season still isn’t in full swing yet. Hopefully when we get into July/August things will start to get busier!

As you can see, we had a pretty busy week. Berkay works night’s so he’s been having a couple of hours sleep in the hotel then either staying awake til 3-4pm so we get all morning and lunchtime together, or going to sleep when he comes home and waking up at 3pm so we get the afternoon and dinner together. I much prefer him working night’s to days, or I’d never see him.

Sorry for the long, photo heavy and overdue post. I WILL be back tomorrow with another! ❤

Back in Turkey!

Posted on June 6, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

So, I’ve been back in Turkey for 3 days now and still haven’t had a chance to post about it yet!

I got up at 6am on Monday morning, finished packing last minute things, said my goodbye’s and got in the car with Dad and Mum who took me to the airport. My flight was at 11.20am, and we arrived at the airport around 3 hours before. There was a huge queue of people waiting to check in, but I finally got to the check-in desk and waved my suitcase off down the baggage ramp, I was worried it was going to be too heavy and over my 20kg allowance, but luckily it was bang on 20kg, good judgment eh? (:

We went up the escalators to departures and that’s where I had to leave Mum and Dad and go through security. After faffing around having to unpack my entire hand luggage so they could scan my laptop, and take my shoes off, I eventually made it through and came out the other side where I looked back and saw Mum and Dad still waving at me ❤ Later on I realised she’d written a Facebook status about that moment : “Took Dan to airport this morning with her Dad…. waved her off (once again) as she heads back to Turkey & Berkay…..all smiles, I can see her smiley face as she waved to us at departures…..priceless….Love you BIG as the Sky” – sweet. (:

After getting through the maze that is Gatwick South’s duty free shop leading to the main departure hall, I had a look around, sat down and started to get excited. It took ages for the gate information to pop up on the screen, so I was getting rather impatient! Once the number showed up and I took the long walk to the departure gate, it all became rather real as I could see my plane outside the window, eeeek!

We didn’t have to wait very long after that, almost as soon as I got to the gate people began boarding. I was in row 14 so I was the second from last lot of passengers to board. I flew with Pegasus (for the first time!) so when I stepped on the plane all I could see were Turkish signs, and hear the stewards speaking Turkish amongst themselves. “Welcome” one air steward said to everyone else boarding, then he turned to me and said “hosgeldin!” (that’s Turkish for Welcome) – he must’ve thought I was Turkish, so that made me smile. I found my seat, sat down, got comfortable with my blanket out and my cow slippers on, and waited for take off.

We took off 40 minutes late, but the flight was only due to be 3hours and 30 minutes (instead of around 4) due to tail wind so I didn’t mind! One thing I really loved about Pegasus was the fact they had little tv screens on board showing exactly where we were in the air, the altitude, which countries we were flying over and how long left until arrival at our destination.

After a bumpy end to the flight which meant having our seat belts fastened for 40 minutes – we landed safe and sound at Dalaman. I went through passport control, who didn’t even look at my evisa (honestly, I’ve never been through immigration so quick!) and went downstairs to locate my baggage.. Around the carousel it came, and off I went to find my transfer bus. I wish Berkay was there to meet me but it would have been to expensive to hire or borrow a friends car as the petrol is just so expensive out here. Instead I booked the transfer bus which only cost me £8. It was ready waiting for me when I arrived and only took 45minutes to get to Calis. I can’t tell you how excited I was when I realised we were getting close. Around 7pm, the driver turned off down the road Berkay’s hotel is and stopped outside, where Berkay was waiting with Boncuk for me. Off I hopped and they both gave me a welcome hug!

After saying Hello to them both, we put Boncuk back in her kennel and headed off to my new house, which I was excited and nervous to see. I like the house, it’s in a much more convenient location than the last one, although that one will always be more special to me as it was my first house away from England. I’ll do a post about my new house in the next few days if anyone is interested to see it! (:

We quickly got the internet set up and eventually managed to get it working so that I could Facetime family and let them known I’d arrived. By the time all this was done it was around 8pm and Berkay had arranged to go into work an hour later than usual at 9pm – we had no food in the house at all, so decided to go out to a restaurant along the sea front for something to eat instead. We went to Letoon hotel, which I knew had a new rooftop restaurant which looked really good. The view from there was lovely. It was cold though. The weather has been so weird since I’ve been here, wet, cloudy and windy. Honestly it was warmer in England the day before I left! Crazy.

We ate our dinner in record time, and got back home just after 9pm. Berkay made sure I got home OK then went straight out to work. Might as well get used to those long working hours alone again!

I was tired but didn’t want to go to bed, so spent a couple of hours unpacking everything. The house has definitely been Danni-ed now. Nail varnish bottles now surround the bedroom mirror and my two favourite bears sit on the bed. (:

After all that travelling and packing, I went to bed around 2am, and knew I had to be up early ready to go to Fethiye market. A post about that will follow tomorrow! ❤

It’s good to be home, but it will take some getting used to again!

Passport arrived, flight is booked!…

Posted on May 29, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

After spending 40 minutes on hold to the passport office in Durham last week, at 04.30 Sunday morning I got an email from them saying my passport had been approved and sent for printing on 23rd May and that I should receive it in 4-5 working days.

At 1pm on Tuesday I heard a knock at the door, opened it and could have kissed the man! My passport had arrived! When I saw the red, shiny passport in my hand I realised it was all getting rather real!

I was starting to get worried, having left my job last week I won’t get anymore money after pay day on Friday so I was hoping I’d get my passport back and be able to go as soon as possible. I’ve earned my money, saved my money, and would rather spend it there where I’m happiest.

All along I planned to book my flight for 2nd June, but held off booking as I didn’t want to risk my passport not coming in time. It’s a good job I held off as last night when I finally did book it, it ended up being “£12 cheaper. It cost me £95, baggage included, and is with Pegasus, I’ve never flown with them before but Berkay has and says they were better than flythomascook and easyjet.

So that’s it, as of this Monday, 11am, I’ll be on that plane to Turkey (fingers crossed there’s no delays!) I’ll arrive at Dalaman at 17.30, be in Calis by 19:00 ish, and reunited with Berkay and Boncuk, well, temporarily for a few minutes until he goes to work at 8pm! Better get used to that again, an hour is always better than nothing 🙂

I’m not really organised at all, I’ve got most of the stuff I need, but haven’t started packing my case yet and I’m at my mums house for a few days. I’ll be back at dad’s on Saturday and will have just Saturday evening and Sunday to get packed and organised! I done some last minute shopping yesterday and got a hand luggage bag which is all ready to fill up, and my step mum got me a little wheely trolley bag to take to the markets out there and fill with our fruit and veg, which I thought was really sweet!

I’m really going to miss my little sister the most, we’re so close – we spent the whole day Tuesday having a pajama day watching Disney princess films, she’s always using someone else’s iPhone/iPad/iPod so I’ll be able to facetime her, no doubt she’ll be helping me by looking after all my bears and things in my bedroom while I’m away, haha!

Berkay has arranged for internet to be put in, so I should be connected within a few days and I’ll be able to keep you all updated on my blog – I’ll try my hardest to go back to posting everyday.

Thanks all for continuing to read, I’m just off to pay for and print my evisa and see what the fuss is all about! (Edit: DONE and it was a piece of cake!)

4 more sleeps and counting 🙂

xxx

Turkish goodies giveaway!

Posted on May 24, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

When I started my blog back in August 2013, 9 months ago, I never expected many people to read it, it was more of a personal thing for me to look back on, so when I reached 1,000 views I was amazed. Time went on, and it became more popular, more people read including some very loyal members who comment on every post, and then I got to 10,000 views… then 50,000….. then 100,000 and I really was flabbergasted.

I also created a Facebook page for my blog a few days ago, and have over 400 likes on that – which is also amazing! 🙂 Click HERE to go to the page and please like it if you haven’t already so that you won’t miss any blog updates!

Four months ago I done a little thank you giveaway to celebrate 70,000 views. Now I have almost double that, with 136,000+ so I think another giveaway is well overdue. It’s not much, just another little something to say THANK YOU to my readers. Although there will only be one winner, I’m so thankful to each and everyone of you for reading, liking, sharing and commenting on my posts – I really do feel like I’ve made some friends through doing this. The comments I get always make me smile, I read every single one. Just knowing people click onto my blog to read what little-old-me is saying is a weird feeling – but a good one. I feel like you’re all on a little journey with me, from when I first started and was living in Turkey, to the challenges and emotions I faced when moving back to England, the stress of visas and excitement when Berkay comes to visit me, the sadness when he goes home again, and now of course all the excitement of moving back to Turkey again for the summer. I hope to keep my blog posts up while I’m there, even if I don’t have internet access at home to enable me to post regularly, I’ll continue to write posts occasionally using a wifi spot elsewhere. I hope you’ll all carry on reading and carry on going on this little journey with me!

Enough of the soppy stuff – now for the details of the giveaway! I was struggling to think of something to give, but I wanted it to be Turkey-related. I decided to take a trip to the Turkish Food Centre to buy some goodies to put together a little package. Here’s what it will include:

Apple Tea – good hot or left to cool with ice cubes in – yum!
Turkish delight – rose and lemon flavour. This is really, really good. I took a box into work yesterday and it was all eaten! It’s better than the normal pre-packed boxes.
Cin biscuits – biscuits with orange jelly and chocolate sprinkles – a bit like Jaffa cakes.
Tutku biscuits – biscuits with chocolate cream in the middle.
Kombo biscuits – biscuits half dipped in chocolate and coconut- my favourites!
A sachet of Salep – just add hot milk, it’s a thick, milky drink with cinnamon. Mmmm.
A Turkish Eye keyring.

To enter, all you have to do is comment on THIS blog post – it has to be on here directly, not on a facebook comment – and say what your favourite thing to eat in Turkey is – it can be anything, even an English breakfast 😉 I’ll choose the winner at random using a random number/name generator. It’s only open for people in the UK/ROI I’m afraid, as I don’t know the customs rules for sending food to other countries. Winner will be chosen after 8pm on Monday 26th May and will be announced on here via a new post.

A little disclaimer, I paid for this with my own money, it was not given to me. I also earn no money at all from my blog, I do not get paid per view or receive any income from adverts, I blog entirely for fun, and just wanted to do a little giveaway to say a huge thanks for helping me reach over 136,000 views, and 400+ on Facebook!

Thank you all so much once again, and good luck.