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| Endless summer |
Sticking with my idea of trying to provide some
‘informative’ blogs rather than only having simple bantering (which I intend to
continue don’t you worry) why not shed a little light on Turkey. It is fair to
say there will be some gross generalisation here and let it be known if I
mention “in the whole of Turkey”, I only mean the few places I have been. In
short…pinch of salt needed folks.
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| Me and Ali Baba |
So I was in Turkey this time last year in fact, we spent a
week in Istanbul, cruised over to Bodrum and its possible even Marmaras (it
could have been my laundry day). I enjoyed it last year, found the Bizarre far
from it and besides from a million Pashmina and Turkish carpet stores it wasn’t
exactly a ‘bargain’, but fun for a visit. The big domey thing (I believe its
called the Hagia Sofia, did I ever mention I wasn’t good with the important
stuff), was larger than life for a mere 3 minutes then I was out the door
posing with all the buskers, most importantly – Ali baba.
Bodrum was a lot like any town I guess; fun, vibe-y, a main
street riddled with bars, clubs and restaurants, stray cats and mean looking
dogs. I did enjoy it there, got some serious mid night shopping done here – yip
the shops are open till mid night which makes for some tipsy shopping which I
found could get expensive. Came home with a few gorgeous dresses that only
lasted 3 rounds with ye ol tumble dryer so perhaps its closer to Thailand
quality of clothes than say France.
Now I’m in a small little town of only 7200 people and
probably the equivalent of cats and dogs, a quaint little place called Kas. Now
don’t get me wrong when I say this but I feel it could be a good retirement
spot, how do I know this you ask? Well we managed to make some friends around
here, some lovely Belgiums who are all over 65, and these guys can kick it!
They are up most nights till 3 am then head over for a lazy soup at the soup
kitchen – yes…soup kitchen. This is no lie (not even a generalisation, we have
spent a few nights with them and have crawled home). They act more like I was
back in the under aged clubbing days of climbing in boots packing the car to
the roof (check), speeding up for every hump so someone would hit their head on
the roof (check), hand brake turns on the gravel parking lot (check) and then
only making it to our beds at 5am.
I have massive respect for these ‘mature rebels’, I just giggle that we
weren’t able to make friends our own age but rather 3 times our age –
priceless.
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| Fireworks in the town centre on most nights |
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| A dolmades a day keeps the doctor away |
The town itself is much better at night, full of character;
unlike during daytime work hours where tumbleweeds roll through the town and
its heat will literally melt your soul. It isn’t however cheap, which is very
surprising to me as I figured it to be a lot like the Thailand of Europe, but
we find ourselves paying €40 for a shitty bottle of wine which no amount of ice
could have helped – and for me to pay more than €1.59 – breaks my heart.
Unfortunately for Turkey (salt), the service is a shocker,
in short … there is none? And when you find someone good, say Ali my taxi
driver who I used for 4 days religiously and probably putting his kids through
school due to our patronage (salt sprinkling perhaps) after a few days charged me 5 times the normal -already
elevated price due to being dropped off at a yacht. When I refused he just
asked how much then, the best answer there was nothing you slimy sleaze ball
(salt please). This wasn’t just a once off occurrence, it was on all levels,
from the shops in town – a carpet guy quoting me €400 on day one then a week
later it some how went up to €1400. Now that’s some inflation.
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| Kalkan town |
Even the technical services people here at the marina sent
over the king of all sleaze balls to fix a blocked loo (it was day two onboard
we had no idea whose or how old the shit stuck in there was – it was definitely
an outsourced requirement). This guy spent the entire day staring at my bum
while scratching his crotch – great image huh? Needless to say he didn’t even
fix our plumbing problem but kept asking if he could leave?
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| Friday market goodies |
Here they seem to see tourists and try draw them in with
helpful smiles and cheap prices to ensure you return (you think) but really
they don’t care how much they charge you the next time, it’s a number plucked
from the sky. I think to be honest…the heat must get to them.
If your sensing I’m not pleased with Turkeys people – its
true and I find people make or break a place. It is beautiful all around
turkey, no lie there but when your fighting every inch of everything (maybe a
bit more salt) it becomes exhausting.
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| Mezze...my favourite |
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| The friday market is just too much fun |
Back to some silver polishing mixed with jumping off the fly
bridge for me…stay smiling, no matter the situation to quote my dad, “its just
damn fab, damn fab”
xxx
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| Blue-er than blue |
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| A few of our new friends! |
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