Oludeniz in the winter sun…

Posted on January 22, 2017 by livingtheturkishdream

Everyone knows that Turkey in summer is beautiful, but not everyone has the experience of visiting in the winter months and appreciating it’s beauty in a slightly different way!

It’s hard to believe that it was almost a year ago that Berkay & I were reunited after his army service. At the end of January 2016 I boarded a plane and went to Fethiye, fully prepared for cold January weather.

Obviously I’d lived there for 3 years and 3 winters so I was fully prepared with jeans, jumpers, jackets and warm things.. however, apart from two very rainy days and some cold nights, the weather was suprisingly warm.

We went to Oludeniz one day to do some fishing, and it was really warm, around 23oc, definitely unusually warm for that time of year in my experience!

Normally, I don’t like Oludeniz at all. I’ve said this before and usually get shocked reactions, but I think it’s really disappointing. Oludeniz looks absolutely beautiful from above but once you’re on ground level its not as impressive, especially the lagoon. I find the water murky, and the rows and rows of sunbeds packed on to the beach really puts me off. However, on this occasion it really was beautiful. We almost had the beach to ourselves, with just a few other people fishing and a couple of ladies actually in bikinis sunbathing! The sea had its usual stunning turquoise colour and it looked so natural without the many sunbeds occupying the beach.

I wasn’t really prepared for the beach and had jeans on. If anyone told me I’d be stood on the beach with my feet in the water in January I would have laughed at them, but it was lovely. We went to the furthest left hand side of the beach where Berkay set up his fishing rod while I kept snapping photos of the scenery. Unfortunately, he didn’t catch much – just a puffer fish and a tiny fish!

We took a bottle of coke and some popcorn with us and sat in a little natural opening in the rocks which made for a good seat. It was lovely to sit and watch the waves roll in and enjoy the peace.

Don’t be fooled by the lovely warm sunshine of this particular day though, winter in this part of Turkey is usually cold. January and February are the coldest months with snow pretty low down the mountains. This year in particular I have seen many people saying how cold it is. Honestly I do not miss those winters, Turkish houses are not made for cold temperatures, with their cold tiled floors, draughty doors and windows, damp rooms and no heating. When we lived there we didn’t even have running hot water in winter because we relied on the solar panels to heat it up – I remember many a cold January day having to warm up water on the gas in a saucepan and taking it into the bathroom with a jug and bucket to have the best ‘shower’ I could – I’m an expert at that now!

People always ask me how Berkay is settling in in the UK and coping with the cold weather, the answer is he is fairly used to it! When he was doing his army service in Kayseri it was -25oc !!!

It’s certainly a difference experience visiting Fethiye in winter but still lovely – it just depends if you have luck on your side and get a clear sunny day, or a wet, rainy, stormy one – but then again, even their storms are impressive with the huge cracks of thunder and lightening flashing like a disco in the sky.

I love the atmosphere in winter with everyone relaxing ahead of the imminent arrival of the summer season and the chaos and hard work that comes with it – what better way to spend a sunny January day than on the beach fishing for dinner!

A quiet afternoon in Calis..

Posted on June 12, 2016 by livingtheturkishdream

Berkay works nights in summer so he sleeps most of the day and often wakes up mid-afternoon and goes for a stroll around Calis – he likes to send me lots of photos to make me jealous, which they certainly do!

The clear sky, the blue sea and the beautiful long promenade full of shops, bars and restaurants – they all look just as wonderful as ever, but definitely a lot quieter than usual.

There seems to be a lot less tourists visiting this year, which is sad to see. When I was there in April it appeared to be fairly ‘busy’ for the time of year, but numbers should be increasing the further into the season we get, and that doesn’t appear to be happening. Since it opened a month ago, the hotel Berkay works in hasn’t had more than 30 customers in per night, and it’s been more like 15 on average! For whatever reasons, fear of terrorism, negative media representation or perhaps just the price of flights, a lot of resorts seem to be quieter than normal and we can only hope that things improve once the school holidays start in the UK as July and August are always the months with highest tourist numbers.

On his walk, Berkay walked all the way from the start of the promenade, outside the lovely sea front apartments we stayed in in April, to the main part where all the restaurants are. He then walked down the road where the canal runs, to where the water taxis go back and forth to Fethiye – these 30minute mini-boat trips always go down a treat, it makes a nice change from the dolmus and is much more relaxing.

I love how the multi-coloured umbrellas look on the beach, they really stand out against the blue of the sky, I wonder if they were inspired by the famous floating multicoloured umbrellas in Fethiye? It is sad to see it so empty though, the beach should be full of sunbathers, not only a handful.

I really hope that the season picks up and everyone visiting the area makes the trip to Calis and sees how peaceful and beautiful it is. It’s always a lot quieter than the other main resorts in the area, not as loud as Oludeniz and Hisaronu, but just a short dolmus ride away. It’s really beautiful with a lot of picture perfect scenery, a huge array of delicious restaurants and who could forget those amazing sunsets.

You just can’t beat it, even if I am biased!

Reminiscing – Calis 2010

Posted on October 25, 2015 by livingtheturkishdream

I’ve been looking back at old photos recently and reminiscing on ‘the good old days’. Although my first visit to Calis was only in 2010, a lot has changed in the past 5 years, and yet still so much stays the same.

I was on holiday in Calis staying in a hotel Berkay worked in, and it’s so funny now looking back on photos I took around that time, totally unaware how things would pan out in the future. It was Grand Vizon hotel in Calis where I stayed, and where we met. I remember sitting on the balcony taking photos of our view over the pool just to remember the place by – little did I know I’d end up living around the corner to this hotel for 3 years, or be walking around the hotel grounds in winter playing fetch with our dog, Boncuk, or having weekly winter BBQ’s with Berkay, sat next to the empty pool long after the tourists had gone home and the summer season finished.

It’s also funny to think that one of the other waiters who worked in the hotel when I met Berkay would become one of our best friends and that I’d be sitting in the house of him and his wife every week for tea and biscuits and playing with their baby son!

Whilst some things have changed, some things never do. This photo of me walking down the road leading to the hotel just sums me up perfectly… animal mad, ever so slightly crazy cat lady. This was taken just on a daytime stroll back to the hotel, where I seemed to attract a small army of kittens. 5 years on this still happens – if there’s a stray cat or dog somewhere I’ll normally end up sat on the floor playing with it! I still do this now in England on my way to work, there’s a cat who wanders around the bottom of our road and on my way to the train station everyday if I see him I stop and talk to him (yes, talk) in fact, I even missed my train once because I stopped to stroke this cat…

Calis itself is of course just as beautiful as ever, apart from a lick of paint on the umbrellas which are now multicoloured, the wide uncrowded beach, the gentle waves of the sea and the backdrop of Babadağ mountain remains much the same. Tourists still come and go every summer and thousands of people fall in love with the place every year.

I wonder how many other tourists like me have sat their bottoms on the stoney beach of Calis and not realised how much the place would change their lives? Or not realised that the place they were visiting for a week’s holiday would turn into a place they’d call home? Do you have any stories of how this place changed you forever?

Happy Christmas!

Posted on December 24, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

Although I still can’t quite believe it’s Christmas eve already and I still doesn’t feel very festive at all, I’d like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.

My Turkish friends and family don’t celebrate Christmas, but trees, decorations and Father Christmas’ can be seen in shops and restaurants as they have begun to associate these festive things with new yeear rather than Christmas itself. Before I left Turkey, we had one last trip to Erasta shopping centre and was surprised to see a fully decorated Christmas tree!

Berkay isn’t here with me for Christmas this year and having spent the last 3 together, it’s going to be hard. Still, I’m grateful I have family to spend it with, especially my over-excited 3 year old sister who is a very good distraction – I can’t wait to see her face on Christmas morning and embrace my inner child by playing with her toys!

For Berkay, Christmas doesn’t mean much, it will just be like any other day, he’ll be working and spending the evening alone with Boncuk. Before I left Turkey I dressed her up in a Santa hat and tinsel, my very own little Santa Paws, she wasn’t too impressed though.

Thank you all for reading, sharing, liking and commenting on my blog, it is much appreciated. Once the busy festive period is over I shall be back posting regularly hopefully, and although I’m already wishing 2015 to be over with and 2016 to arrive, I hope it’s a happy, healthy one for us all.

Happy holidays.

Autumn in Calis – waggy tails, pretty flowers & cold pools..

Posted on November 16, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

I’m sat writing this watching the lightening flash through my windows and the rain pelting down on the roof, but yesterday was the first day of bad weather we’ve had for 3 weeks, November has been spoiling us with daytime temperatures of around 24oc, although the evenings are very cool, I’ve even managed to get tan lines back!

November meant the hotel Berkay worked in closed, so he has been looking for work since, he’s found a temporary job at the moment but the pay is so bad and unreliable, I don’t think he’ll stay there long. We’ve been spending some much needed time together and alot of that time has been spent at the closed hotel, playing with Boncuk!

As soon as she sees us approaching the hotel she comes running over to us with a fast wagging tail. We sit for ages with her and play ball, she’s begun to love the water and has been running in and out of the shallow pool although all this rain we’ve had today probably means it will be slimy and green very soon as its not cleaned during the winter season …

We even braved the pool ourselves last week, I don’t know what possessed us, it was absolutely freezing! It was a particularly warm day for November, around 25oc, but the pool water was definitely not warm. It was the first time we’ve been swimming in over a month, Berkay jumped straight in but his face said it all, I eased myself in and after about 20 minutes ended up in the deep end although only for a couple of minutes as it really was so cold, it made my head hurt!

The hotel grounds aren’t very well kept in the winter, although there are still some beautiful flowers around at the moment keeping the place looking summery and cheerful.

Boncuk absolutely loves it there, when we walk past to get the bus to Fethiye we can see her through the fence wandering around and enjoying herself, although it breaks my heart everytime we leave her she runs up and down the length of the fence poking her face through the holes and crying for us. She knows now when it’s time to leave and runs in front of us trying to stop us getting to the exit, bless her! She’s being really spoilt with attention at the moment.

Just before I started writing this post, we popped down to the hotel to feed Boncuk and place her back in her kennel as she’s safer in there during this bad weather. The underneath of the hotel was all flooded and Berkay had to turn pumps on to get rid of all the water, it’s funny how quickly the weather changes, I hope the sun arrives back on Monday as forecast!

Fethiye, waffles & saying goodbye to summer..

Posted on November 2, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

It was Berkay’s last day at his summer job on Thursday and although he is already looking for work elsewhere, we are enjoying a well earned few days together.

The hotel is now closed which means Boncuk has taken up residence inside the grounds once again, she absolutely loves being free to wander around, explore and keep the hotel guard company. After breakfast this morning we went to visit her and spent an hour playing fetch and running around, she even had a little swim. She was so happy and kept doing excited little bunny hops. I made a short 1 minute video of clips of her bouncing around and having a dip, click HERE if you want to watch that. I just love how she’s sitting on me with her paws crossed, so elegant!

In the afternoon we caught the bus to Fethiye and headed straight to a place I’d been wanting to try for a few weeks. One of my friends mentioned a few weeks ago how she loves the waffles they sell in Turkey, and I never even realised they existed here or were so popular. Then I saw a new waffle cafe had opened in Fethiye and I knew I had to pay a visit! It’s near the blue culture centre in the Fethiye town square area, and is called ‘Renk Waffle’. They had a small menu to chose from but I’m sure you could adapt the toppings to suit your taste. Berkay chose a waffle covered in chocolate spread with kiwi, banana, strawberries and chopped hazelnuts, drizzled in chocolate sauce, and I had one covered with pistachio spread, banana, kiwi, walnuts, pistachio nuts and drizzled in caramel sauce. They were absolutely huge but delicious, and very unhealthy, probably a lot more than half a days recommended calorie intake! They were priced at 8tl and 8.50tl, which was reasonable considering the size of them. We washed them down with a glass of freshly made lemonade/limonata, and then sat for a while with a glass of Turkish tea. We had a lovely view of the town square where children were playing and people were skateboarding and rollerblading.

After recovering from our huge calorie intake slightly, we thought we best work some of it off so we went for a walk around the marina and through the Paspatur area of Fethiye, along all the little back streets. We once again found ourselves looking up at the brightly coloured umbrellas and taking photos, they are just so beautiful even if they are now a bit faded and battered from recent storms. Some of the umbrellas had even been closed up, I suspect they’ll take them all down soon, sadly – they really brighten up the place.

We made a quick stop off in LC Waikiki as I was in desperate need of some warm clothes as I have none here with me. I only bought a long sleeved jumper and a pair of jogging bottoms, but both will be very useful as I am definitely feeling the change in weather lately, especially in the evenings. Brr. We then took another detour, this time through the fish market where Berkay was hoping to find work in one of the restaurants. He didn’t have much luck, although he did hand out his name and number to some of the bosses, so fingers crossed a position opens up, unsurprisingly nobody really wants to take on new staff during the winter period. While we were there they were unloading some new crates of fish, check out the size of this one! It had the most beautiful, shiny scales, I felt quite sorry for it really… but not too much as we bought a few of his friends for our dinner.

The trees have started to change colour here now, yellow and orange leaves are starting to form and drop, they made a perfect frame for the mosque and I couldn’t resist taking a photo as we were walking back to the bus station.

I say this at the start of every month, but I really can’t believe it’s November already. This time next month I’ll probably be back in England, and in just 3 months time Berkay will be heading off to the army. Let’s just hope the next year passes as quickly as this past one has eh? I suspect it won’t.

Sarigerme beach..

Posted on October 22, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

A couple of weeks ago we hired a car again (for the 6th time this summer!) and just drove. We didn’t really have a plan, we considered going to Dalyan but when we saw the signpost for Sarigerme, we decided to go there instead.

I’d heard of Sarigerme before but never actually been, I knew there was a beach and some fancy all inclusive hotels, but had never looked into it further as I’d never planned to visit. We followed the signpost and drove for about 20 minutes, getting further and further into small villages and farm land, often getting stuck behind tractors. There were beautiful orange tree orchards on either side of the road for as far as I could see – quite impressive! Eventually we arrived at a small town, which I now know to be the main area of the resort. We asked for directions to the beach, and drove straight down a road where we arrived at a small cabin with a sign outside stating they charged a fee for entry to the beach (which goes towards maintaining it). Now, we’re cheapskates, and if we can find a cheaper alternative we will. Berkay spoke to the lady and said we only wanted to drive to the car park to take a photo, turn around and come back, so she took a note of the numberplate and let us in for free. We stuck to our promise and literally only stayed for 10 minutes – we got out of the car, walked along the first section of the beach, took a photo and left. I wish we could have spent more time there and I do hope to go back again because it was just so beautiful, I was really very pleasantly surprised!

The impression I got was that this area was a sort of hidden gem, I don’t think many people holidaying in the Fethiye area will have heard of Sarigerme and probably never been there, just as I hadn’t. It definitely seemed very quiet when we were there, but this was at the beginning of October so that’s not too surprising.

I researched the area online and found that Sarigerme is actually the name of the beach, not the small neigbhourhood close by. The neighbourhood is actually called Osmaniye, but is listed under the beach name in the holiday brochures – it is very small, so small it recently lost its ‘village’ status! The resort is near Dalaman, just a 20 minute drive to the airport. and is home to 8 large, 5* all inclusive hotels such as ‘Holiday Village’ and ‘Hilton resort and spa’ who work with travel agents such as First Choice and Thomson. These massive all inclusive hotels are my idea of hell honestly, I think it’s so sad that these hotel grounds are so large and have so many pools, restaurants, bars, spas and entertainment options that the people holidaying in them will never experience the real Turkey, or see anything more of the country than the mountains in the distance past the grounds gates. Perhaps this explains why the beach was so empty?

I definitely wouldn’t want to use Sarigerme as a base for a holiday as there really isn’t much to do at all, there is a small town which consists of one road lined with a few restaurants and shops selling the usual ‘genuine fakes’, and obviously the beautiful beach is just a 20 minute stroll away which offers watersports. I suppose it would be perfect for people wanting to centre their holiday around an all inclusive luxury hotel within easy reach of the beach. I read that a few of the hotels have private spots on the beach so that would be a big plus too, along with the very short transfer time from Dalaman airport. Towns such as Marmaris, Fethiye, Dalyan and Ortaca are reachable from the resort, and I saw advertisements for excursions to all of these places.

I would definitely recommend a day trip to Sarigerme just for the beach, because it was absolutely beautiful. There are very few sandy beaches in this area of Turkey; Marmaris, Icmeler, Calis and even Olu Deniz beaches are all stony. This beach was lovely with 7km of soft golden sand and the blue, calm sea. There was also another section of sea water slightly inland and labelled as a ‘pool safe for children’, there was even a lifeguard on duty which is rare here. I was so tempted to go in for a swim because it looked so inviting! If the weather is still nice next week I think we’ll go back here, pay the entrance fee and spend a little longer exploring, even if it’s too cold for swim you can’t beat a good walk along a sandy beach. How romantic!