Tag: Ovacik

Another slow start today, despite being awake at 6:30am. I think that the pattern has been set & I’m now assuming that nothing is happening here until beyond midday, for the remainder of our hols.

We just keep looking at each other and smiling, as we are constantly being reminded as to what a great holiday we’re having!

I know everyone has had a stressful few years with the pandemic & I’m no different. Certainly hasn’t been helped by working in a business that is dependent upon global hospitality, that’s for sure! So it’s been the first time in a very long while that I’ve relaxed as much as I have this last week or so. It’s a hugely restorative couple of weeks.

We have literally done nothing today, by the way! So this could be the shortest most mundane blog yet!

Up, sit around. Coffee, bread & jam. Bit of a read (struggling with the LEJOG book still – it’s a good book, but an emotional read for me).

A nibble through a few of our snack supplies, including “Turkish Leys”, baharatli (spicy) flavour crisps. Apparently the mixed spices usually contain black pepper, coriander, paprika, cardamom, nutmeg, cumin, cloves, and cinnamon. To be honest, they just taste of lightweight/mild paprika. Still, enough to munch on!

Jane is deliberately buying snacks & sweets that she 100% knows I don’t/won’t like, so I’m having to keep sneaking in Lays Original (plain crisps). The little bugger.

Down to the pool with the Mr Dongle, a cold beer (Efes Malt in can, and yep, I now know about ‘Efes Tummy’, so that bidet contraption is earning its corn), some Cornettos for the bar freezer, & a downloaded BBC podcast about one of Man City’s new signings, Erling Haaland.

A quick dip, followed by a long-pig basting in factor 30, and a snooze. Charlie surfaced just after I’d started the podcast, so around 4:15pm. He’s getting worse!

Cornettos downed, and another quick dip to cool down. Feels hotter today, and that’s even with a slightly stiffer breeze.

Eventually, Jane & I succumbed and retired back to the balcony. Charlie lasted a bit longer, having a bit of a swim before coming back. I have to confess, I was so warm, I just lay on my back on the apartment floor, as the tiles were really cool. Charlie said it looked ridiculous. Which it did.

Having been the first of the pack to hit the showers (& I made sure mine was cold), it meant I ended up sitting on the balcony, waiting for the others, with another Efes Malt, and watching one of the male peacocks strut it’s stuff on the remains of the now-demolished Poseidon Hotel/soon-to-be new apartments.

With once again, almost zero dynamism between us, we plumped for a walk back the the Indian/Thai reataurant, Sandinos as the food we had the other day was magnificent!

This time, Charlie, after learning a valuable lesson last night about ‘being present/in the moment’, managed not to step square-on in dogturd (despite being told seconds earlier to watch out). Still not 100% sure why it was me that ended up jet-washing it off with a hosepipe once we got back to Felix The Goats “crib”, though.

By the time we’d walked down, it was heading towards 8pm – a “dirty stop-outs” evening at this rate! Anyway, we got there! Eventually.

Different choices for some this eve. I had the very nice onion bhaji to start followed by the Thai Ginger Chicken. Which I know is switching styles mid meal, but Jane went a step further – thai green fish curry with garlic naan! She switched it up mid-course! Apparently also very nice!

Hard to tell on Charlie’s choices (hot chicken wings, then the same as he had last time, sorry can’t remember). But basically, he spent as much time on his phone as he did eating. Suspect he’s missing his mates, tbh.

Starting to think this might be the last “all three abroad”. Which is sort of sad, and then I remember that means we can go away whenever we want and don’t have to stick to term times! Or pay for a third adult!

Jane I’m sure will be “don’t say that!”. Which I get & sort of agree with, but when it’s time, it’s time – he’ll only be a couple of months off being 18 this time next year.

A meander back, and weirdly, having done nothing, we’re all tired. I think the more we’ve relaxed, and boy have we relaxed, the more our spent-reserves are showing – I think we’ve been running on fumes.

Time to fill up those tanks again!

Night folks!

Chris x

Todays blog title is brought to you by John The Accountant, who just this morning posted that classic Weather Report sketch from The Fast Show, starring the irreplaceable Caroline Ahearn.

Summary of the sketch is that a cloud is forecast over a tourist destination, where the rest of the country is “Scorchio”. It brings the tourist economy to a halt. A single cloud. We have two. Apocalypse incoming…

A leisurely coffee & cheese butty for breakfast, whilst contemplating that once again we have no plan. Which is fine.

I do suspect however that after Charlie’s chunder exertions from yesterday, he will be keen on doing bugger-all today.

However, taking into account Kurban Bayramı, and the traffic as reported in yesterdays Fethiye Times, particularly the paragraph about disappointment in Fethiye, as it seemed everyone headed to Olu & Hisarönü, and the fact it’s Market tomorrow, I suggested a mid-avo jaunt into Fethiye.

As we’ve not been, and we have loads of recommended bars & restaurants, it would be a shame to go later in our last week, only to find its worth a few trips.

Jane went down to the pool, but due to all of my snorkelling yesterday, and lack of sunblock discipline, my lower back is, to quote Caroline Ahern, “scorchio, scorchio”. Do watch that clip if you get a chance – it’s a classic! I decided to chill on the balcony instead.

Around 3:30pm we headed down, via feeding the goat in a very Gary Neville way, to the Taksi rank & jumped a Joe to Fethiye centre.

Dropped off at ‘Umbrella Street’ we had a mooch around Old Town first. Seemed quiet and a lot more relaxed than down at Oludeniz, which I presume is in part due to everyone heading for the beaches during Beyrami.

After Umbrella Street we ended up on the harbour front. A lovely, yet very hot stroll around meant it didn’t take long to dehydrate, so a pit stop was required. We stopped at Genis, which, having read the menu would be a decent stop-off for food as well.

Sated, we had another wander around and took a walk through the fish market, past the Reis fish restaurant. The dishes being served looked proper tasty! Another trip required here, methinks! Even Charlie said is smelled really nice. We did give a mention to my little Sis, who with one (albeit very large*) nostril of that aroma, would have made Charlie’s upchuck efforts on the boat yesterday, look Vanerama North League level.

* [Edit: since my sister has now read this, I am reliably informed that the preferred term is “generous”]

We then headed to Büyükev Bar & Kitchen, where I’d had a tip-off I’d get some decent craft beer & a steak noodle dish that was tidy.

Craft Beer was indeed available, and I can confirm that the Gara Guzu brewery do a fine saison Mayhos(h) – perfect in this heat!

We screwed up immediately when ordering food however. We ordered two “beer plates” as starters. Both were sharing plates and each would easily feed 3-4 people. Chips were sacrificed at the expense of giving the mains a decent go.

Now seemingly a complimentary amuse bouch, tonight’s feline offering was a mum, with kittens, plus a bashed-up cat with an ear with erectile dysfunction.

Starters finished and the mains were served. Portion sizes seem to be somewhat “American”, meaning one feeds two, two feeds a hungry three.

All the food was once again really well cooked & very tasty. My steak noodles were as per recommendation, and Jane & Charlie’s Chicken & Beef quesadillas were also really nice. Particularly the chicken according to Mum Cat…cheeky sod!

Once done we called for “Hesap, Lütfen”, although I couldn’t resist buying a Gara Guzu glass. Not that I expect it to make it home, as my beer glassware track record is poor at best.

Anyway, hot, full & tired, we returned home early, but we will go back to Fethiye, I’m sure. Tbh, I rate it higher than Oludeniz, mainly because it’s not as touristy & busy though. Each to their own though.

Washing machine on, a cold beer, telescope out and some stargazing and even a little astrophotography on the house telescope, before an early night.

The plan for tomorrow is to plan the planning for tomorrow.

And to the sound of calling peacocks and a Beyrami celebration Spotify playlist in the distance, I bid you adieu for another evening!

Chris x

I’m writing this bit as I wake up. It’s 7:30am, and the room is heating up already. The aircon may get a blast shortly.

All is quiet, all is still. All through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. Outside however, the hoarse Cockrell is clearly pissed off with the peacock, because his piping up has woken the deep-voiced dog. I’m not arsed though, whilst now I’m awake I can hear it, it’s not disturbing anyones sleep, and it’s not even the tiniest bit irritating.

This place has basically zoned me out – I’ve tried CBD oil to help me sleep (didn’t do a thing, it’s a total waste of money, imho), but this holiday is making me feel how I hoped the CBD would have made me feel – I have a zen-like calm.

The only issue with the above is that it’s having the same effect on two of the most laid back people I know. And it’s definitely had the same effect! They are now so laid back there stood up again! There’s not a chance I’ll see Jane awake until at least 10am, and as for Charlie…

Yesterday, as I mentioned before, he only surfaced at about 3:30pm yesterday. We got back after tea at about 10pm, maybe a touch earlier. He went straight to his room & balcony, but I know he was ‘lights out’ at 11pm. Up less than 8 hours in the day! WTFlip!

On the basis that we need to leave the house tomorrow at 9am and will be out for likely over 12 hours, sailing, swimming, snorkelling, island-hopping, beach-combing, turtle-spotting, tea etc, the chances of me getting these folks to leave the locale today are now slim to none!

Oh! Should have put in yesterdays post, we met our neighbour Mustafa yesterday just as he was setting off to work (Taxsi driver), so I dropped him that bottle of Red I’d bought at duty free, and as best as I could explained it was nice to meet him and that the gift was to apologise for any disturbance we cause (we won’t). He was very lovely and wished us a happy holiday, and if we need any help, to just ask.

That was as we left yesterday. On arriving back, there was a large bag of fruit tied to our door handle. Which bearing in mind is surprisingly hard to get in the supermarkets, was a lovely gesture. What a nice chap!

One thing we are aware of that may affect plans so we are taking into account, is that there is an extended public holiday here as many celebrate Kurban Bayramı, or in Arabic, Eid el-Adha, the most important religious festival of the year. This year it starts today, running through to the 12th July, but there are additional public holidays tagged on, so we’ll assume the rest of our time here. It’s likely to be very busy as I’m advised by Google that many wealthier Turks travel here to celebrate, and why wouldn’t you!

So to my Muslim friends & colleagues, I bid you Eid Adha Mubarak!

Anyway, let’s see how today pans out!

[Time passes 😂]

It’s now 11pm and the day is more or less done.

Jane & I went down to the pool at 12.30, just after I’d found out that John Gwynne, the incredibly charismatic Darts & Football commentator, (whom I’ve had the pleasure of being in the company of as he compared the Turkey Supper evenings), had decided he’d shown who’s the boss and after 18 months of bossing, he moved on from his battle with cancer. Rest in peace John, the sports world is poorer without you.

Charlie at least made it to the pool today, albeit at 3:10pm!

By 5:30 we realised we’d enjoyed & relaxed another day away. So the plans (what plans?) evolved into a walk down to a local bar for tea.

We arrived at the ‘K Bar & Gastrolounge’ to another warm welcome. Genuinely can’t think of a more welcoming area/country that I’ve been to!

Beers & food ordered, (steak & chips, pizza for Jane), we settled back and watched the ‘roadies’ set up a stage for live music. Beer came. Then cats came. One floofy one, one sleek & all ‘black panther’. Both with seemingly feline intuition that food was close to arriving.

And it did! Crafty & manipulative as cats are, it took them about 5 seconds to figure out that Charlie was the weak link. And another 5s to suss out you could kill me with cat or rabbit hair.

Defying a certain, slowly-asphyxiated death, I continued my meal despite the constant meowing every time I raised a fork of steak to my mouth. Blimey, were they cocksure little pussies! Most annoyingly, they weren’t actually annoying, and it was quite a laugh. (For those that know me, my allergic reaction means I’m not a cat fan, so this is a big statement).

Food eaten, and the true cat emerged. “No food? No friend. I’m off”.

Live music started up to a Dire Straits “Sultans of Swing” intro as he was tuning up. This chap has cajones to set the bar that high (irrespective of whether you like DS or not, that’s some guitar to try to emulate).

Turns out he’s:

• a) a neighbour,
• b) bloody good at the singing malarkey,
• c) even better at the guitar stuff
• d) plays Oasis…(amongst other things)

“Top, sorted ar kid, Emre”!

He took a break after lots of decent tunes, so we took that as our opportunity to head home. After all, we have to pack for our Moby Dick adventure tomorrow. At 9am. Charlie will be a zombie until minimum midday, I reckon unless I push him overboard.

Oh! And I see clouds. First this hols. They lasted minutes.

Early night required, so “Night, folks”

Chris x

Boy, this will be a short one today! We’ve done loads. But it’s load of one thing. And that thing was doing nothing but chill out…

My turn to hunt and gather today, so it was a walk down to the local shop before anyone else was up, for me.

As I was at the bread cabinet, I noticed what looked like pancakes, one of which had spinach in it. Not quite brave enough for the green flecks, I took one of the plain ones. At least I though it was plain!

On return, and when Jane surfaced I fished out the massive pancake which we split between us. Turned out it had feta & mint in it, and wasn’t even really a pancake – less eggy and a touch on the bready side. It was really nice, really filling & really cheap!

After a while of sitting on the balcony & staring out over the really nice views of the mountains, and doing a bit of birdwatching (some sort of jay, plenty of cheeky collared doves, and a good few housemartin type birdies), we heard the prayer call, which we now observe, by turning it into a pool call.

We packed the pool bag and went and sunbathed. Until I got bored and turned to the GoPro, setting on slow-mo.

One bit of “top-bombing” later, and having checked that Jane survived the tsunami, I began a bit of video editing – “Fatbombing” coming to a Facebook post soon!

More sunbathing before another break. This time behind the pool bar, but only to test my beery knowledge with a found card game. It was a beer identification card game called ‘All the beer, No idea’ – 80 Beers from around the world. 32 identified without clue, 25 should have got, but no one to read clues. 20 not heard of. 3 beers MIA.

Jane retired to the balcony & I had another swim before packing up & heading upstairs.

At one point, the plan had been to go into Fethiye, but on the basis Charlie only surfaced at some time after 3pm, and hadn’t eaten, that got scrubbed for today.

Instead we decided to visit one of the more local bar/restaurants & keep the whole day low key (& lower cost, after Charlie’s fashion shopping yesterday!).

We walked the 15 minutes up to the Turtle Bar on the old road, to suss out their menu first, with the intent of walking a bit further if need be to Karizma Restaurant. Didn’t need to. Menu & prices were really good.

Prawns in a creamy garlic sauce for my starter, followed by a chicken shish served with rice, salad & a few nice chippies! And the obligatory cold beer, of course. Tonight it was a bottle of the Bomonti Filtresiz 5% unfiltered pale lager.

Charlie made a friend, although she dropped him like a stone as soon as he stopped feeding her a couple of little pieces of chicken.

On the way home, we called in for supplies at the local Carrefour Mini, and we stocked up on a few things, including beer. Charlie enjoyed being pack mule, once I’d loaded his rucksack. His reward being a bottle of the Frederik Yakima IPA. Suspect as I’m typing this, he’s on his balcony, in a beanbag, reading & supping his cold beer. He’s had worse holidays!

That’s all f-f-folks!

See you tomorrow!

Chris

x

Well this day started even more slowly! Even I ended up not getting up ‘til after 10:30! Fitful sleep, but an overall higher total.

Anyway, maybe it was all the late night action I got last night. After all wild squealings & enough noise to get the dogs barking, it’s bound to get the heart racing.

At first I couldn’t make them out, but I could hear the wild pigs in the field at the back (front?) of the apartment. A quick blast on the torch, and I saw their shadows, as they moved around though.

It then went quiet for a while, so I thought I wasn’t going to get eyeball contact, but it didn’t take long for the dogs to set off again. This time I went & joined Charlie on his balcony, which overlooks the road at the side of the apartment.

The next thing was realising that in front of me, and just on the fenceline into Mr Retail Moguls gaff, were around 6 or 7 piglet-sized oinkers, just snuffling around. Sadly no ‘insta proof’, so in todays parlance it didn’t happen.

Aye well, today brings more animal encounters, almost to a Steve Irwin level of encounters!

So, bread, thanks this time to Jane’s hunt/gather instinct, topped with jam for ‘Brinner’ (“Brunch” if you choose).

Pool-tang! The weather on the front is going to be hot, hotter than a snakes ass in a wagon rut. So pool time it was. When Charlie eventually joined us, it came with a moment of entrepreneurship…

I introduce you to the new game of PoolPong (tm applied, (c))! Take a lilo, turn upside down, so the ‘holes’ (think golf) face upwards (there’s an up and a downside on most & it’s the bottom we are after, as Mr Pincher would say).

Next, take a waboba ball (Colors May Vary), stand on the poolside or take a lower handicap & throw from eye level, have the opposition steady the lilo at a repeatable location in a pool, and then try & pitch the waboba into one of many lilo holes. For every miss, and there will be many, many misses, take a slurp of cold beer – you need it anyway after the exertion & tension. Winner is the first to be able to shout “poolhole”.

After this excitement, we could only look on in awe as we were graced Poolside by a male Peacock. (GoPro Footage may follow).

Early evening came around too quickly, as we were so immersed in PoolPong & Peacocks, but having done so, we readied ourselves for a bin-mission followed by a tea mission.

Bags of rubbish taken care of at the recycling unit at the bottom of the road, then a Taxsi to Hisaronu. After a 15 minute, unintended site-seeing walk around the town, we headed back to where the Taxsi driver dropped us off, which was directly opposite where we wanted to walk to.

Hidden Gem is a Turkish Tapas restaurant on what I’ve heard referred to as ‘The Strip’. It’s on the first floors and having navigated a sleeping dog in the middle of the road, we were once again made very welcome by the staff, and then served by the owner.

I had reliably been informed that the lamb shank (“ask for mint sauce”) was incredible, so that was my order sorted. It came with plenty of veg, including one of my favourites, Broccoli (which happens to thankfully be high in nitrates). Charlie copied me, but added a needless starter of chicken (needless as in portion sizes were massive). Jane however, went Tapas. And went bonkers by ordering the world largest & possibly strongest Margarita. (Jane is allergic to alcohol, so rarely imbibes).

Food arrived. Was all incredibly good & we are yet to have anything that was as low as ‘average’. Once finished, one of the waiters came over and asked if he could have the two shank bones to give to “Teacher” (can’t remember the Turkish version, sorry), the dog in the road, owned and very well looked after by a business across the road. “Of course”.

The bill (hesap) squared away, we took a walk. During that walk, Charlie & Jane went shopping. I went to Fez Bar. I think I win that one.

They went, they ‘haggled’, they bought! Moncler, Stone Island etc in hand, Charlie & Jane swagger into Fez Bar with their trophies. I was more impressed that Serdal, the owner, as he passed by on a busy evening (quiz night), took the time to say “Hi, Jane, welcome back”, having remembered her name!

Tired, so home is now required, & we supped up the Frederick’s IPA & headed off that way.

Another day of “who knows what” tomorrow, but we do now have an all day boat trip booked (& arranged by our amazing tour guide) for Sunday.

See y’all on the POSTBOJO side.

Chris x

Awake at 6am, I wandered down into the balcony. Just standing there, I realised the error of my ways, writing about that breeze. What breeze? It was a whisper in the ear at most, this morning. Already into the high 20s, today feels like it’s going to be a lounge-lizard day, sloth like in its pace.

That said, now I had been fiscally primed, it did mean I could walk down to the Ovacik Market at the bottom of the slope & hunt & gather.

I hunted “Meats” (for a ‘picky dinner’) to accompany the cheese we brought with us as Turkish cheese is not a patch on Cheddar, Wensleydale or Red Leicester! Oh, and crisps & beer to replace Charlie’s supper consumption.

We may have the cheesy upper hand, but Turkiye slam-dunks us on the bread front!

The bread here is bloody gorgeous! Keen on understanding why it’s so good, I ended up trying to read ‘Ekmek ve ekmek çeşitleri Tebligi. Teblig No. 2012/2’ (a copy of which can be found here for those of a similar bent)

Failing on the reading front, it basically is because they don’t use any preservatives or modified ingredients. It’s just bread. Proper bread. And it’s bloody lovely!

A slow walk back up the slope, passing the recently demolished hotel that is soon to become new apartments, and a sharp ‘sa(g)’ turn up to the gates. The ‘front’ of the apartment faces more or less east, which means the metal door handle directly facing the morning sun, is to be treated with due respect!

I settled in on the balcony for the inevitable multi-hour wait for any other life forms appearing. The good news being that the whisper was turning back to a lovely breeze.

Jane came down at around 11, when we had some of that lovely bread, with a bit of cheese. A coffee & a bottle of water later, and we went downstairs to the pool.

Factor 50 for me & my milk-white skin! Then a sunbathe, a dip, a sunbathe, all whilst listening to one of last weeks 93:20 Podcasts, where Ahsan, Howard and Lloyd discussed the ins and outs of Manchester City’s transfer dealings & rumours. Perfection!

After being joined for a while by Charlie, and playing with a ‘Waboba ball’ in the pool, we eventually made our way in for a late bite to eat, before setting of in a Taxsi to the Babadağ Teleferik cable car.

It was around 5pm, as the driver dropped us at the entrance, where we paid for our tickets (approx £8 each), which would get us up to 1800m AMSL in three stages.

We stayed on the (recently built) cable car, passing through the first stop at 1200m and getting off at Babadag 1700. This is the main attraction here, as it’s the launch pad (literally is a big pad) for the paragliders, and has a very fancy looking wine & dine place. With it’s exceptional views over Oludeniz & the Blue Lagoon, (which also means you can watch the sun set whilst slugging back a glass of Pino-G), it’s unsurprisingly popular, and charging accordingly.

We took in the views, and watched a few tandem launches (one of which was aborted), before Charlie & Jane started to flag. Before they did, I’d remembered to pack the little Leica binocs, so we did a bit of spotting. The apartment was pretty easy to pick out due to the temporary building plot in front of it. I even managed to blag a photo on the iPhone through a binocular lens.

Pressing on, I took the chairlift up the next hundred meters to the yet-to-open burger bar & terminus to the final chairlift to the 1900m summit (which wasn’t running today).

Glad I did, as the view is spectacular! Probably the best view of the Blue Lagoon & coastline, other than if you were the tandem on a paraglider!

Back down to join them (“I’m starving”),before we all returned to the bottom, again taking in views as far as Fethiye harbour & the Dalaman peninsular.

We flagged a cab & headed to Sandinos Restaurant, which is on the way home. It specialises in Thai & Indian cuisine, so had to be given a go.

Thai spring rolls, Thai Prawn rolls, and Charlie on the Chicken Tom Yam soup, which was delicious! Then on to Pad Thai (unsurprisingly Jane), Lamb Dupiaza (unsurprisingly me), and Charlie with a Hariyali Chicken curry (mint & coriander with a dash of fenugreek). All we’re lovely, although portion size was generous enough that finishing was a challenge.

After a “Hesap Lütfen”, we paid up, and began the walk home. Nothing too exciting but we did nip in a quickymart & get some jam for breakfast.

Charlie went straight in the pool after getting back, which on reflection was probably a good call.

Have broached the subject of 6-Island boat trips and Jeep Safaris today, but may need to improve my timing & sales pitch, as the two Sleeping Beauties are seemingly exhausted! Tough life, this relaxing & holidaying!

No idea what tomorrow will bring, as if I push now, I may end up with a ministerial revolt & a vote of no confidence.

So for now it’s a “Night Jim-Bob, Night, Mary Ellen” from me!

C x