22 July 2010 Thursday

 

We head home today.

We spend the morning by the pool,getting that final tan top up!

We are leaving for the airport at 3pm and they let us keep our room until 2pm which is great.

Its then a late lunch & pay our bill for the hotel room £100 each including the transfer today & air con. We will have to reclaim this from ABTA, as we already paid as part of our package.

Even with the problems with Gold trail,we have both enjoyed this holiday.

I would seriously consider coming here again,even on my own. The hotel has everything you need and in the summer you are almost guaranteed sunshine,

However next time I would book direct with the hotel. They give a good price for B&B & transfer only.http://www.hotelkaan.com/

At the airport ,as we expected, the “girls with attitude” are on our flight,so Debs asks at check in if we can have seats as far away as possible!

Even getting onto the plane they are making loads of noise,the guy in front mutters to himself “ I hope we aren’t sitting near them!

We aren’t,so have a peaceful flight home.

21 July 2010 Wednesday

 

Today we will mainly be sitting by the pool…

View from my sun lounger

…no actually it should read, ,today we will just be sitting by the pool,as that is all we did all day,well that & a bit of swimming.

But we did get a phone call in the afternoon from the CAA to confirm that our flight details were unchanged which was good to know.

20 July 2010 Tuesday

 

Its Tuesday and out trip to Fethyie market…which turns out very disappointing.

For some reason I was expecting more of a craft market,but it was mainly tat… designer handbags, designer t-shirts & football shirts but all genuine fakes! The signs on the stalls and slogans shouted out by the market traders were laughable “cheap as chips” “cheaper than Asda” “cheaper than shoplifting” and everything was priced up in pounds rather than lira.

Doesn’t look like Turkey does it?

You are still expected to haggle for everything,unless its 5 l or less, but then if you want more than one you should still haggle.

There is a fruit & veg section of the market where the locals are shopping,but it is really hot in the market as it is covered to keep off the sun,so we head off for a beer.

Soft cheese sold from sacks

Watermelons

Chillies & peppers

The day goes from bad to worse. We get back on the minibus expecting to be taken directly to the tombs & ghost town,but instead we are told today is a ‘shopping day’ and we are taken to the Gold Centre-where laughably they want £180 for a 14ct gold thin chain and then to what was essentially a sweet shop selling more tat. It feels like we have been kidnapped,but eventually we head off to the ghost town

The road to the ghost town is very steep with hairpin bends. We are ok in our minibus,but the coach with us has to take it very easy.

 

When we get to the Ghost Town it is 3pm,so when the guide says there is a buffet lunch for 10l he is met by silence from our minibus-I don’t think any of us were expecting the detours and we are all a bit pissed off!

Debs & I find a quiet bar,yep you guessed it ,to have a beer and whilst we lounge on the seated area a little ginger kitten comes over to play & skitter about!

There is then a short walk & talk on the Ghost town,but it is just too hot,so we don’t join it but just take photos. Its quite a bizarre sight-there’s about 3,500 deserted houses scattered over the hillside. it was a Greek settlement that was vacated after a population exchange treated signed between Greece & turkey in 1922.

We eventually get back to the hotel about 5.30y ,exhausted and hot after a not very enjoyable day.

We make the decision that we are going to blow out our planned 12 Island tour tomorrow & just lounge around the pool area.

This turns out to be a good decision,as poor Debs gets a dodgy tummy later on in the evening,so would not have been able to sail anyway.

I have dinner on my own. The last few days there have been more Turkish families staying in the hotel on half board,so they offer a 4 course set meal for 15l.

Tonight's dinner is lovely-chicken soup, cold starter of salad,fried cheese,and some delicacy that looks like a scotch egg but has really fragrant mince in the middle. I  mistake the main for chicken joints so take two bits,but it turns out to be stuffed chicken fillets with a gorgeous rice & dried fruit stuffing & i really struggle to eat it! Pudding is watermelon.

I sit and chat to 2 other single ladies, both who have been caught up in the Gold travel fiasco, Judith is from Hawaii & Eileen from Belfast.

19 July 2010 Monday

 

Today we go on Jeep Safari.

We have been warned it will be wet and dirty ,but other than that we are not sure what to expect.

We meet up with 3 other jeeps at a garage and the water fights start!

We are TOTALLY unprepared on our Jeep,whilst others have come armed with giant water blasters & spare bottles of water.

Our Jeep consists of two Turkish couples,a single older Turk from UK, two young scouser girls and a family of 4 from Wales. It turns out to be a good combination. We soon bond with one of the Turkish girls when she manages to get back someone on one of the other jeeps who has soaked us –the joy of the international thumbs up!

We don’t stop laughing from the word go!

First,its water squirted from the other jeeps, then as we drive along the road,children & adults throw water or use their hose pipes to drench us!

Its fine when you spot them,but if you don’t, the cold water hitting you makes you scream!

There are also  a few set points with sprinklers which the drivers driver under VERY slowly,ensuring we are all suitably drenched!

An overhead sprinkler

The first stop is at a Turkish Carpet factory. Here the process of making a carpet by hand is explained and we watch one of the workers in action. The guide gets her to slow down so that we can see in full detail each step of the process.

It is a labourious process and some carpets can take up to a year to weave.

Each thread is knotted,then cut to give the pile

We are then shown the range of carpets they make , with the hope that we will decide to purchase

We then wind our way up a narrow & bumpy road, with amazing views

Next stop is the trout farm. not really sure what this was all about-it appeared to be a place to chill out for a while & more importantly re-stock the water fight bottles!

The bar had a moat going round it filled with live trout

Relaxing with our beers

Back to the jeep-we now have a water bottle to use and our resident sure shot Turk makes a hole in the cap for additional fire power!

Wherever they can,when the roads allow the jeeps draw up alongside each other so that battle can commence

 

We stop to look at Tlos. This is one of the oldest residential areas of Lycia  & was inhabited until the 19th century.  Tlos was the home of the Lycean tombs and have the history of this ancient city explained to us

The local kids use this as a chance to sell figs and offer sprigs of oregano for a lira or two

                              

As the jeeps have no roofs we are unprotected from the rays of the sun…well that is until we buy these attractive giant t-towel style wraps to put across our shoulders

We stop for lunch at a secluded hotel in the hills, We had a choice of chicken fillet or trout,both of which unfortunately had been overcooked.

The ride continues to  Saklikent Canyon

We are advised to hire plastic jelly shoes for the walk in the gorge

and to leave our bags in the jeeps and just take some money.camera & water.

Debs finds a novel way to carry her water

The canyon is 300 meters deep 18km long

We wade across the rushing water-its quite tricky,but there are plenty of young lads willing to help you across, although they expect a tip when you get to the other side.

  

A mug tree!

When we get back to the jeeps the Turkish couples have stocked up on ammunition. Although we didn’t do as well as another jeep who had managed to get hold of a bucket…and guess who got the full force of that on the journey to the mud baths!

The group in front of us were very organised…

…but our group just couldn’t wait to get deep & dirty in the mud…

…which is meant to make you look 10 years younger

Group photo-the little boy in the front was covered head to toe-he was actually swimming in the mud face down!

On leaving the mud bath-having washed off  all the mud in the cold river-everyone filled up their water bottles,but very soon we were on main roads so no chance to continue our water fight with the other jeeps,so what do we do with all this water? Well ,we have a fight amongst ourselves in the jeep-which makes everyone very wet!

Drying off shirts

The next stop is quite bizarre-its at a garage,but one with a pool area! It also has a very expensive cafe 18l for two canned drinks and two cakes.

Whilst here the jeeps are washed, and our photographer for the day flogs us the cd of piccies he has taken. Debs & I agreed that we wouldn’t pay more than 40 l,but when he says the price is 50l we cave in. It is a rip off, but where else will we get photos of us in a mud bath!

Petrol station swimming pool…weird!

Our final stop is for a swim at Chalis Beach-as this is our local beach we do think about walking back to the hotel,but as we are at the far end of the beach it will be a long walk. So we decide to have a beer in the shade instead.

 

The Turkish equivalent of beach donkey rides

The bar on the beach starts playing Turkish music and our guide & one of the drivers start dancing, then the scouser girls join in doing their own dance routine-which is amazing-it turns out they both study at dance college.

  

A short clip of the final dance of the day

With that we are taken back to the hotel,where we have a light meal in the hotel restaurant before falling into bed exhausted-its been a great day & I would highly recommend the Jeep Safari to anyone.