July 2022 – Page 2

Day 5 – Animals & Nitrate

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.

Part of ‘The Strip’ (pedestrianised after around 7:30pm)

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

Day 4 – Getting High, Turkish Style

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

Day 3 – Falling Chunder

[just as an fyi, I genuinely do only write this guff, because I like writing. It’s aimed to be nothing other than cathartic, in a non-medical sense. Reader discretion advised!]

Slept way better last night, which was probably down to a combo of all the walking, followed by a big meal, and a few Tuborg Golds, but I’ll take that! Also started by falling asleep on the beanbags on the balcony – it’s just so comfortable.

Because the apartment is just over 1200ft (390m) above sea level, we’re blessed with a lovely breeze most of the time, and that means sitting out on the balcony, even when it’s above 30C, is a joy.

Which is handy when you have to sit around waiting for Lurchio to get out of his pit. I suspect he’s regretting yesterdays badly-applied suncream (leaving him burned) and likely one more Tuborg than was wise (leaving him a little dehydrated). Life lessons…

Whilst we wait, it led me to think about the animals around us. Next doors have a Cockrell with a sore throat, a big dog, and what sounds like a peacock. We on the other hand trump that by having a goat, as previously mentioned.

We have yet to set eyes on a tortoise or a wild pig however, but my mission will continue. If I’m lucky and we ever get to The Blue Lagoon today, I may even see a Turtle. Fingers crossed on both counts!

Finally got moving, so jumped a Taxsi to Fez Bar in Hisarönü, to grab something for dinner (“lunch” for non-locals). Chicken kebab for me & a half-decent 5.2% Frederick IPA, a Türk Tuborg ‘craft’ offering.

We met the owner, Serdal, who is good friends with Gareth. After a good chinwag, he suggested sending a photo of us & to say ‘Merhaba!’. So I did!

Serdal showing what my head looks like from the front and the back…

We wandered back around to the Taxsi rank & ‘blew’ a whole £3.50 on a ride to Billy’s Beach, on the Blue Lagoon, rather than walk a very circuitous dog-day* hour.

(*technically not a dog day yet, for the pedants).

Around £3.50 in each, to the private beach “including sand, sunbed & umbrella”. Have to laugh that on some of the FB groups we’ve joined, people talk about prices going up. It’s gone from a pre-pandemic 8TL to the £, to 20TL, whilst 40-50TL can get you a pint.

Apparently I spent around an hour slow-pickling myself in the lagoon, snorkelled up, albeit I didn’t see any wildlife, but did nearly fall asleep face down it was so relaxing! No turtles today, not even a turtles head.

After the swim, a brief stint on sunbeds ensued, until Jane wanted a “Cornetto, not pistachio” & a coke. A bar trip, and an inevitable first taste of the Efes (“100cl jug & 2 glasses, so I don’t look like a pisspot, Lütfen”).

As we watched all the tandem parasailers come down from the top of the mountain, ( of which, at some points there were over 15 in the sky above us), I happened upon a Facebook post that made me chuckle – it wasn’t salami, it was Turkish sausage, the fools!

From there we took a (free) dolmus back to Oludeniz beachfront bus station, and had a quick wander. It was busy, quite touristy, and glancing at prices is a touch higher priced that Hisarönü & Ovacik, for good reason being on the seafront.

We decided a taxsi back to the nearer end of Hisarönü suited us more and hunted down our snacky tea. Again on good recommendation, we went for a quick (Chicago style) pizza at Pizza Pepino. The usual friendly welcome & impeccable service awaits, and Charlie popped his “first beer order” cherry, in that when asked if he wanted a beer, he said “yes”. His first served pint!

From there, a quick stroll past a few shops selling Stone Island/Moncler/Ahmed’s (Stockport, 1980s reference) etc, before picking up “drugs” from a pharmacy for a neighbour.

Finally a nip up the road to the apartment, during which I got to use the Turkish Salsa (Sol & Sa, left & right) & we made it right to the gate. Opposite the chap who owns a posh retail chain in the UK, who’s apartment I wish I’d taken a picture of yesterday. It it seems empty now, but has previously been lit up with colour-shifting LEDs but in a very tastefully done manner imho!

Game over for today. No clouds at all again. Lots of good people met. Great food, relaxed atmosphere.

Tomorrow will (and without wishing to disappoint this may be a trajectory) likely be a quieter one. May just leave the apartment to get up the Babadag cable car to the summit & watch someone throw themselves over a mountainside and then throw their breakfast over a hotel pool complex. You never know!

Until tomorrow!

Day 2 – Bidet & B’Night

Usual C. J. Airey Senior start to a holiday, with almost zero sleep. I swear it’s because Charlie is the Yang to my Hypnos Ying, with him able to sleep 14h a day! The closer our proximity the stronger the insomnia effect.

Benefits to it however, were:

1. I had a ‘Number 2’ & abluted for the first time here. Not unexpected in its own right, but the ‘clean up’ afterwards was from revolution to revelation! Skipping the toilet roll phase, I remained fully seated & used the right-hand tap.

After a minute of pressure-washing my ring and surrounding lowlands, 3 small sheets of bog roll, a drying dab or two and clean as a whistle!

Impossible for me to now understand how we don’t have this feature as standard in the UK!

2. I faintly heard the 5:30am Güneş Ezan (pre-sunrise prayer calls), which was quite relaxing actually, and a gentle reminder to be respectful of the people & their belief.

3. I got up, put some shorts on, went downstairs, out onto the big balcony (it’s big!), flopped into and across the big beanbags & dozed in the 24C dawn & watched the sun come up over the mountains.

Time passed. More time passed. The boss hadn’t doled out any TLira, so wasn’t sure it was worth an early trip to the local (mini)Market.

Instead, I donned the Speedos, then donned swim shorts, and given no-one else was up, so I couldn’t offend them, I headed down to “our pool”, which as I understand, has recently been upgraded to include a DJ booth, fridge, glass wash facilites & as I discovered, some of the loveliest beer mats.

Cool, but refreshing! Not the pool, the Baileys Birthday Cake liqueur that I had been encouraged to try. A teaspoon full was had, to be clear – it was only 8am, I’m not an animal you know! It really does do it’s job – it tastes of a Jammy Victoria sponge with icing on!

The pool happened to give off the same vibe though – a few strokes & I felt alive!

I then started reading a physical book, something I’ve not done in a while, with my last read being the very enjoyable Kindle version of The Twelfth Man, by the venerable Howard Hockin.

This physical book though…it’s been staring me down since Jane bought it me. ‘End to End’ by Paul Jones is a book about an ex-head teachers attempt on a Lands End to John O’Groats record attempt. 15 pages in, and it’s already punching mental buttons. I think I’m still suffering LEJOG-PTSD. See earlier blog posts from 2012, if you’re a real masochist for ‘holiday diaries’.

Finally Mrs A stirred, a full 5 hours after I first got up. Operation ‘Recon’ went into full pelt, leveraging off my 3 hours of googling info and geotagging all of our recommended bars & restaurants. If only I had a spreadsheet setup so I could plot average walk times, based on local altitude & temperature!

Jane & I had a really nice, albeit hot walk down the main Ataturk Cd. road, heading towards Hisarönü & Oludeniz. Immediately noticeable how friendly people are here. I know the shop staff have a job to do in terms of selling their services, but nothing pushy, and more just a welcoming smile and or wave.

One required stop was to see the very charismatic Mr Dongle, who explained he was sure that Jane would like to rent his black dongle whist on holiday. Unlimited data later for the next 13 days, and that’s Charlie & Jane now sorted whilst we’re out and about.

Once you get down into Hisarönü as the road splits, there’s puerile humour of sorts to be found in the shop names – Harrools, Mark Spengler, Adli, Sainsdurys or other such name twists.

This is where the grey/somewhat dodge clothing, shoes & bags can be bought. An area that Charlie will investigate further I suspect whilst we’re here. Pretty sure he’ll have his head turned by the BayRan sunglasses or the Air Gordon trainers…

At 3.6km of walking later and we succumbed to the heat, grabbing a Taksi back up to near the Apartment, and stopping off at the ÇEŞ Market just down the road. We took the lighter stuff, but they delivered the heavy stuff (water, “Orijinal Tat” Cokes etc) to our apartment later in the afternoon. All good!

Rest of the afternoon was spent by the spotlessly clean pool, sunbathing and cooling off. Repeat to fade.

Eventually, it was back inside, cool showers & freshen ups before we headed to the nearby Shiraz Restaurant for tea (& a beer).

[In advance of ordering, I’m expecting Charlie to find, then order the biggest, most expensive steak, then end up getting meat sweats and not finishing it, as a side bet].

Was great to be served by Suat, a friend of Gareth’s, who was incredibly welcoming. Charlie did pick a steak, but not the massive T-Bone, and did leave some of his chips, but in the main, did well.

Jane and I had mozzarella sticks and breaded crab claw to start, and both had the mixed (chicken & lamb) Turkish Shish kebabs. Bloody lovely!

A couple of Tuborg Golds, for me, and non-drinking Jane even had a (very strong) pink gin & tonic. Which led me to tell Charlie that the next thing you know, she’ll be impersonating ‘Tits Out Jackie’ from City.

Back to the apartment, sat on the balcony, with a slab of beer now installed in the fridge & cooling. The view at night from our main balcony, down towards Oludeniz is great!

I reckon after today, it’ll be another slow start, but with the aim of heading down to Olu for lunch, then a bit of time around the beach & Blue Lagoon, before eating out somewhere for tea. But who knows!

So for now, I bid you ‘İyi geceler’!

Day 1 – Turkiye Supper

A leisurely start this morning, readying ourselves for the 11:30am taxi to the Airport, involved “ditching the dog”.

The worst part of going away is watching Toby getting stressy as he realises there’s something afoot. Hopefully he’ll be ok, once he realises he’s also on his holidays, having a sleepover with his mates Denbeigh & Sadie across the road.

The look on Anthony’s face when Jane left a ‘birthday bag’ and explained it was for Toby, as he turns 7 whilst we are away. The bag contains some doggie treats for him and his buddies.

Sammi arrived on time in his Prius, and a few minutes later, we were checking in our bags at EasyJet, Terminal 1. We’d already had an update from EasyJet saying the flight was delayed by half an hour, which is better than a cancellation, given what’s been going on over the last few weeks.

After the chaos & disruption that’s been occurring at Manchester, we weren’t sure what to expect, but as it turned out, we breezed through a relatively quiet security area & ended up through & in the concourse within about 30 minutes.

A nip to Duty Free to buy a bottle of Red for our soon-to-be neighbour, Mustafa & then into the concourse for some Fanny’s (Kebabs).

Actually, we didn’t end up eating the Fanny’s, instead plumping for a veggie breakfast, two chicken burgers, and three drinks – all for the princely sum of just over £60! Whilst the service was slow (over half hour wait), it was a good job that the food was actually really good, & a decent portion size.

Next stop, Gate 3D & boarding our Airbus A320. Some shambolic boarding ensued due to a lady who decided to sit where she pleased rather than her allocated seat, and being asked to move, kicked up a fuss as she was now away from her hand luggage which had been stored a few rows back.

Pushback at 2:40, and out via 24-Right, over Ashley/Mobberley, through the steel grey clouds, and into the Blue at just after 3pm.

An hour later Bag Lady kicked up a fuss again, getting her travel bag out of the overhead locker & putting it between her legs at her window seat, causing a combination of disruption and entertainment for us & the other nearby passengers. It took around 3 minutes before the Head Stewardess explained it couldn’t be left there as it was a safety hazard. Begrudgingly, she put it back in the overheads after bartering for a space that was 4ft from to her seat as opposed to the previous 6ft, breaking her nail & then kicking up a fuss for Nail Repair glue!

Otherwise it was a great flight! It’s around a 4 hour flight from Manchester to Dalaman, and with wonderful clear skies, it meant a decent bit of watching the world fly by.

We’ve been really lucky with this holiday, having been able to use a friends Apartment in Ovacik, Turkey, a place and a country we’ve never been to before. Noz has been amazingly generous with his time & knowledge, having not only left us with pages of maps, lists of bars, restaurants, beers, beaches & other such recommendations, he’s even pre-arranged the Airport transfers us.

Arriving at Dalaman, we switched from Manchesters 17C afternoon to a balmy 27C Turkish evening. Bags collected, we made our way down to Blue Lagoon Transfers to meet up with our Driver.

It’s just shy of an hour transfer door to door, as we got our first (in the dark) look at the “Turkish Riviera”/Muğla region & head off up the valley towards Fethiye, then Ovacik.

Arriving at the apartment, we were greeted by the neighbourhood dog & the apartments Goat (No, not greatest of all time, an actual goat)!

Following Noz’s very sensible advice we followed his “4 B’s” instruction – boiler on, bedroom choice, balcony & then beer!

Oh, I’m now officially the furthest East I’ve ever been, having really only headed West for previous holidays!

Tomorrow? Well, we’ll orient ourselves and have a wander down through Ovacik to Hisarönü, maybe down to Oludeniz & see what takes our fancy! That’s assuming we can coax Charlie out of his bed!

Yarın görüşürüz, as they say!