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. ❤

Breakfast with a view..

Posted on July 2, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

On Sunday we went out for breakfast in Fethiye, I hadn’t been out for breakfast in over a year, and this was well worth the wait!

We went to Boğaziçi restaurant along the promenade in Fethiye, who have a big open breakfast buffet every Sunday morning. It cost us 17.50tl each which was a little expensive, but when you consider the amount of food it’s more than worth it. We got free refillable Turkish tea too which is the perfect drink to accompany breakfast.

We sat at a table outside just a few feet from the sea, we had a lovely view of Fethiye and the mountains in the background.

The buffet was HUGE and had almost everything you could think of! First was a selection of Jams, honey and other spreads, I love how you scoop them out into little cups which are like tiny ice-cream cornets.

Next along the buffet table were 6 massive bowls of different kinds of olives – I’m not an olive fan at all so I avoided those! Of course they had plenty of different cheeses on offer, along with salami, cucumber, tomatoes and even some cold spiced potatoes which were delicious.

My favourite part was the pastries – I had one with spinach and white cheese in it and they had some potato filled ones too. Something else that just has to be part of a Turkish breakfast is eggs – they had boiled eggs, fried eggs and my personal choice – fried eggs with sucuk ( a spicy kind of sausage) yum! I just love Turkish breakfast, I love savory breakfasts rather than cereals etc, especially with some slices of fresh bread. I tried not to pile my plate up too high as I was saving myself for all the delicious cakes I had spotted!

There were plates piled full of delicious looking cakes and sweet treats all along the top trays on the buffet stand. Chocolate cake, fruit cake, fairy cakes, chocolate, vanilla and strawberry pudding, biscuits.. there were so many to chose from, we filled a plate with a selection to share and I ended up trying most of them…

We sat for a while and admired the views and done some people-watching while letting our food go down and then Berkay went off to the toilet and came back with another plate full of watermelon!

Needless to say after eating 3 plates of breakfast we were absolutely stuffed so we took a very slow walk along the promenade to Fethiye town centre. It was so hot and we were so full that we had to keep stopping on the shady benches. It’s a beautiful place to walk along – so many palm trees and pretty flowers and I just love seeing all the little fishing boats as well as some of the bigger boats heading out on the day trips.

I recommend this restaurant for breakfast to anyone who is in the area, it’s worth a visit and the food is delicious. I loved it so much I think we’ll be heading back there again next week after payday!

Yakapark, Saklıkent & a Hisarönü water park!

Posted on June 28, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

Last weekend we hired a car for a day again and headed off on another little adventure – this time to Yakapark, Saklıkent and back to Hisarönü.

Berkay had never driven outside of Fethiye before, so we had no idea where we were going. We switched on the GPS on his iPhone, tapped in Yakapark and surprisingly made it there without getting lost!

The drive is one with some beautiful views of the surrounding mountains. To get to Yakapark we had to drive past the ancient ruins of Tlos which look amazing – Turkey has some really interesting history to discover off the beaten track.

With the help of the GPS, we arrived at Yakapark, parked the car and walked through the entrance. As soon as you walk through you can feel the drop in temperature. There are trees everywhere, the entire place is shady and the fresh cold spring water has been diverted strategically all around the area so that all you can see and hear is the force of the cold water from the waterfalls and streams dotted around the place. When we arrived there were a handful of people gathered around one of the little pools – now this is no swimming pool, it’s freezing cold water, literally a few degrees less and it would be icy, it really is that cold! People were gathered around because there were two people shoulder-deep in the water in an attempt to win a free drink. There’s a fun old sign at the bar which states “stay in the water for 5 minutes = free drink, 10 minutes = free food and 15 minutes = free ambulance” – that tells you how cold it is! We stood and watched as these two people struggled through the 5 minutes and managed to earn themselves the free drinks, they’re mental if you ask me!

Around the bar and restaurant area there are authentic seating areas where you can sit on the floor cushions and enjoy a drink or meal taking full advantage of the surroundings, but there’s also a ‘normal’ area with chairs and tables if you’d rather that instead! Perhaps even a hammock, if you’re feeling particularly adventurous!

We walked around past the restaurant and towards the back of the area where there is a very old interesting shaped tree with water pooled inside – I love how they’ve worked around the nature that was already there. There are water fountains springing out of trees all around, stick your hand in and feel how cold it is, or if you’re feeling brave put your whole head under like Berkay! That definitely woke him up after being

The whole place is just so beautiful and there’s so much to see – it’s so green with trees everywhere. All you can hear is the sound of the gushing water, the birds, crickets, ducks, there are beautiful butterflies and dragonflies all around too. I’ll let the photo’s speak for themselves.

My favourite things about this place are the waterfalls – they’re not natural, as I mentioned before the natural spring water is diverted around strategically to create these, but they are truly beautiful regardless.

You can stand and admire from the bottom of the two main waterfalls, or you can walk up the steps and across the stepping stones in front of them to get a better photo – be warned that the stones can get slippery, especially if you’re wearing flip flips as I found out!

I love this place, but you have to time it perfectly so that you’re not there when the many ‘jeep safari’ trucks turn up. They all stop here for a break and tend to be very noisy with lots of pushing people into the water resulting in water fights – it’s great if you enjoy that kind of fun, but not so much if you just want to enjoy the peace and quiet. We left just as the groups started coming in around 11.00 am, but not before stopping back at the bar for a photo with the fish. The bar has a ring of the icy cold water around it which they actually put drinks in and use as a alternative fridge too! The ring has fish swimming in it – they seem happy enough. You can put your hand in and stroke them, which I did – you’d expect fish to be slimy and horrible but these were actually really smooth and velvety – weird!

After we’d finished up here, we headed off back past Tlos again and to Saklıkent – it took around 20-30 minutes and was again a drive with lovely views across the valley with the mountains as a perfect backdrop. We’ve been inside Saklıkent gorge twice before despite it terrifying me, although we didn’t have time to go this time but I definitely do want to again soon. Instead, we drove across the bridge past the entrance to the gorge and stopped at one of the little restaurants on the other side. We knew about this little gem of a restaurant as we’d been a couple of years ago with my mum as part of an organised trip. They had a good-sized buffet of Turkish food along with bbq’d chicken or fish for 10tl, bargain! They certainly made up for the cheap food with the drinks though – they charged us 5tl for a can of coke!

There was the option of sitting at a table, but we chose the more authentic option and sat on the floor cushions on a platform over a stream of water coming from the gorge. The stability of the platform was questionable – everytime someone walked past it wobbled, but it all added to the experience! The view was amazing, water spouting out from the stream, ducks swimming, brightly coloured flowers. It was the perfect spot for lunch.

After lunch we headed back towards Fethiye, but took a detour to Hisarönü. I’d seen a new aquapark advertised online that was giving everyone free entrance for the week as a promotion. Normally we wouldn’t go to these places as they are so expensive, but since it was free we decided we’d make the most of it and we were not disappointed! It was really great fun, and fairly busy. It’s in the grounds of Gurol hotel in Hisarönü. Normal entry fee is 35tl I believe. There were 5 different slides and a great children’s section too. The slides were pretty scary, two in particular – a blue ‘bowl’ slide in which you ended up swirling around a bowl into a pool of water below, much like water going down a drain, and the other being a yellow skateboard ramp-looking slide which was actually very dangerous. You had to sit in a rubber ring and hold on tight while they pushed you down the ramp, where you slide up the other side and back down again until you came to a stop in the middle – I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone, I didn’t try it myself, but Berkay fell out of the ring 3 times, cutting his back and elbow, and another man burned/grazed the entire tops of his legs – ouch. All in all though, it was a fabulous afternoon and we had great fun, if nothing else climbing those steps to the slides 50+ times was great exercise!

After all that driving, walking and climbing up steps to waterslides, we headed off back to Calis and set up a BBQ on the beach. We actually drove to Koca Calis and sat there as we thought it might be quieter – wrong! Although there were no tourists on the beach at that end, there were lots of Turkish families with the same idea, it was very busy with delicious smelling BBQ’s everywhere. By this time it was around 7pm and Berkay had to be at work by 8pm so we had a very rushed, but delightful dinner.
All in all, it was another very hot, busy day. I can’t believe it was a week ago tomorrow. I’ve nearly been here a month already. Time is going by so quickly, but we’re definitely making the most of it this time. ❤

Happiest dog in Fethiye?

Posted on June 23, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

Summer is in full swing in Fethiye now and the weather has finally improved with almost guaranteed sunshine for the next few months! Hotter weather is tough on us all, especially when we have no aircon to rely on, but just think how the heat affects the animals.

I see really fluffy dogs wandering around panting and feel so sorry for them, poor little souls need a haircut and some shade to cool down in! Luckily Boncuk has shade available all times in her kennel and she doesn’t have a ton of big old fluffy fur on her either… but she still feels the heat and is constantly panting during our long walks, even though we always bring her little travel water bowl along with us.

Yesterday, as a little treat, we got her a Twister ice-lolly to help her cool down. I know dogs shouldn’t have ice-cream in large amounts because of the lactose, but this was a one-off treat and we know doesn’t effect her badly as she’s had it before.

As you can tell from the photos, she very much enjoyed the ice-cream and made a big mess, ending up with a very amusing pink and white mustache/beard combination! Just look at that happy, satisfied face, I’m pretty sure I had the happiest dog in Fethiye for a few minutes this afternoon!

After the ice-cream, we carried on with our walk where Boncuk made a new friend – he was so friendly and just wanted to play, but Boncuk wasn’t so keen. She didn’t put him off though, he joined us on the whole walk and ended up following us home afterwards! He’s disappeared now, hopefully he had a home to go to, he looked well fed and was very friendly so I think he probably did. Maybe we’ll bump into him again next time and hopefully Boncuk will be more friendly – she’s definitely very fussy about who sniffs her butt. (;

A Calis Beach Sunset…

Aside

I am loving my new house being so close to the beach – having the freedom to walk the 2 minutes to the beach at any time is great.

Yesterday evening after Berkay had gone to work I decided to go on a stroll to the beach to watch the sunset. It was a fairly cloudy evening and the sunset always looks better through clouds, so off I went with my camera and ended up staying for 45 minutes and taking 147 snaps!!

I thought I’d share a few with you, to show just how beautiful Calis can be.

I edit all my photos with instagram before uploading – like the ones above… but sometimes photos need no editing because they are beautiful enough on their own. The following have not been edited in the slightest and show the true beauty of the sunset, although to be honest, the photos don’t even do it justice. Sitting on the beach alone listening to the waves lapping on the shore and literally seeing the sun go down behind the mountains in front of your eyes isn’t something that is able to be fully captured by a photograph!

Oh how lucky I am to live by the sea. ❤

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!

Last day at the office, passports & baby cows..

Posted on May 23, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

While the summer season may just be starting in Turkey – it appears the 4 days of summer we had here in London last week are well and truly over – we’ve had rain, hail stones, thunderstorms, buildings being hit by lightening and lots and lots of puddles today in the city!

I cannot believe that it is the 22nd of May today. Nor can I believe that I’ve been at my job for 3 and a half months, and that tomorrow is my last day at work in the office.

Come 17:00 tomorrow, I’ll be jobless, through choice of course. I was planning to go to Turkey as soon as possible after I leave, but I’m stuck here at the moment as I haven’t got my passport back yet! I applied 3 weeks ago, have chased them with an email and spent an hour in total on hold to the helpline today – all I got was a stupid robot telling me to hold, and then cutting me off! I guess now is the busy time for passport applications – people wanting to book their holidays and get their passports back in plenty of time. I’ve been dying to book my flight, especially as Monarch and FlyThomasCook have had amazing sales on this week – I saw the flight I wanted for 2nd June for £49,99 + baggage. Bargain! Unfortunately, even £50-70 is a lot to risk on a flight that I may not be able to get if my passport isn’t here in time, so I didn’t book it.

I’m hoping it’ll be back soon. It’s pointless being here not earning any money, I may as well be there! It still doesn’t feel real that I’m going back – I’ve got nothing organised really and it just hasn’t sunk in yet – perhaps it will once I have a flight booked!

In other news – Boncuk is still behaving in the hotel, everyone has fallen in love with her! Fingers crossed she keeps being good so that she can stay. Look how beautiful and elegant she is! ❤

Berkay has been busy at the hotel this week – not with guests, but with helping a cow give birth to a calf … how random. He was walking Boncuk outside the hotel when he saw the mummy cow in the field next door….”I helped born a little cow” he said – he now affectionately calls said calf his ‘daughter’. Haha…bless.

Hopefully the next time I do a post it’ll be say I’ve booked my flight! Hadi passport, HADI!