Day 13 – Dirty Stopouts

Oof, a late one tonight!

Before I begin, I should have shown you this boat that was in Fethiye harbour last night. No idea if it’s posh or not, but they certainly know how to push kerb/mooring appeal or it’s watery equivalent! I also liked the resourcefulness of a) the bait fisherman using the light to guide his rod, and b) the cats that casually sat around him, looking for his cast-offs.

An early-ish stroll down to the shop and again, a lovely, friendly welcome from the chap that runs it – a very cheery “good morning”, followed by a wholesome handshake & a quick chat about the holiday.

Bread and more horrible Haribos for Jane. Vicious!

Another day practicing for our return to the UK Heatwave, having now had 13 days consecutively of 31C plus heat, although it’s somewhat conflicting for me today.

Sitting here on a sunbed, slapped up in Factor 30, and dipping in the pool before getting back to sunbathing. And as I type that, my mum is being picked up by my sister to get taken to St Helens Hospital for a skin cancer operation & resulting skin graft. Her op is 2pm UK time so hoping to get updates later today.

Various discussions were had about where to venture for tea, given tomorrow (our last night) is booked at Shiraz, a short walk from the apartment, and we’d been to Fethiye the previous evening. Hisaronu seemed the easy, logical choice, but there’s a village we’d yet to visit, Kayaköy.

Jane, having now joined every possible Facebook group relating to this area, had seen a few really good reviews of a restaurant down there, called Rokka.

Automatically fulfilling my ‘organiser’ duties, I went on their Facebook page, clicked the WhatsApp link, and messaged them asking for a copy of the menu, and their availability this evening.

Within minutes, I was sent the full menu & pricing, along with confirmation that they had space. We had a look through the menu (extensive, varied, decent enough pricing, nice views), and agreed it was worth a punt.

Messaging them back to confirm a booking, we were asked our hotel. I sent them a WhatsApp ‘location’ link with an address, stating it was an apartment. They messaged back saying they could also pick us up at 6:30 if we liked. Which we did.

A WhatsApp call at 6:30 from the restaurant was a bit garbled but basically the driver couldn’t identify where we were. This call was interrupted by another call, showing a similar name (including the restaurant name), so I answered that. A subtle midlands accent , female said thought she was nearby but a chap was helping her find us.

Bless, turned out our neighbour, Mr Retail, was in the car trying to work out the WhatsApp link. They were a street down from where we were, and it clicked when she asked about a goat, dog & peacock. “That’s the one”, I replied.

Moments later, we thanked our neighbour for his help, and jumped in. Had a good chat with her on the drive, but missed getting her name, doh!

Her & her other half used to run one of the beaches on the Blue Lagoon, but when their lease ran out, they decided to try something else & took on the restaurant. Frustratingly for them that was December 2019. Refurb sorted, we went into lockdown. Devastating.

Anyway, we arrived in this beautiful little ‘village’ of Kayaköy and turned into the restaurant carpark to an amazing view (my photo does it no justice).

Above the village is a ghost town, an abandoned hillside full of houses, all now part of a museum, because of the history. The village dates back over a thousand years, but it’s relatively modern history is the more relevant.

Although I don’t remember the “good old days” before the ghost town, I do know that it’s ancient Greek in origin, so is also known as ‘Livissi’, the religious leanings shifted to Christianity, or rather ‘Greek Orthodox’ and their Turkish, Ottoman governors got on for many hundreds of years.

Then it kicked off a bit! The Turks massacred the Greek Orthodox Christian’s during World War 1, including a chunk of the Kayaköy locals, and almost all of the rest fled or were kicked out. A Greco-Turkish war in 1919-1922, didn’t help! Basically the outcome was that Turks got booted out of Greece & Greeks got booted out of Turkiye.

It was about his time that the Turkish field marshal, and revolutionary Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was quoted as saying that “this town, is coming like a ghost town”, after which it was redeveloped as a sort of poor-man’s Busch’s Gardens. So I’m told by those ITK.

Anyway, back to present times.

We were greeted by (presumably) the lady’s incredibly charismatic partner., who asked us to relax, take a look around or just sit and enjoy the view.

We chose to sit & chill for a while before going to our table, and watched a horse have a dust bath, revelled in the bush next to us because we were sure it had fruiting pomegranate on it, and debated as to whether Riyad Mahrez is a valued player or a show-pony.

A beer (shocker!) was served and after a while, to our table we went. The menu is pretty big, but eventually we made our decisions, and albeit Mr Charisma declined Janes order of Hummus, and suggested instead on the Mezze Platter, food was served and all of it was lovely.

Main course, I went with a traditional Shepherds (no, not pie) clay-fired, sort of lamb stew. It was bloody tasty, if a touch too physically hot for me for about half an hour!

Then the cats arrived. A white one with a hole in its back end, and not the one it’s supposed to have., was quickly followed by a massive chunky Ginger, and a couple more. Cheeky buggers!

A couple more beers, with Charlie seemingly now looking to prove his maturity, my matching me bottle for bottle. Oh, dear. Never going to end well. The upside to this was he said more in the next hour that he had done all holiday. A bit of ‘beervado’ kicking in.

After the food, we paid up & the owners sorted us with a ‘cab’, one of their vehicles, who took us to Hisaronu.

Duly tipped, we left and walked into the pedestrianised zone & headed for Fez Bar. No wonder it’s a favourite for a few of my friends that have been before us. A chat with most of the staff/team & Serdal, the owner, some birthday cake (a lad around the corner, who was celebrating his 16th birthday & Serdal sorted out a surprise cake for him), and a beer, although we called time on Charlie’s libations. He’s still yet to realise that when you stop drinking, you still get an increase in effects as the alcohol slowly enters the bloodstream. He’ll learn as we all did/do.

We bid Fez Bar farewell for the last time, and headed back up the strip. Jane managed to get a selection of ’Evil Eyes’, and I got her to get me one for the brewshed.

A short taksi ride later, and we were home – for well beyond 12am! Dirty stop outs!

Final full day tomorrow, before a Sunday of chilling, then Airport etc.

So it’s a goodnight from him…and a goodnight from me!

Chris x

Ps. Mums op went well & plastic surgeon is happy, so we’re happy…