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.

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