David and Sue in Yesilkent - the beginning (2005 - 2006)

Autumn thro' to Christmas 2006

Life here carried on in much the same vein through October. Shopping, sipping coffee, wine or what-have-you, socialising and generally having a good time.

We also continued to water gardens of a few friends while we waited for the rain to come and give the plants a good soaking. We had agreed to find someone to sink Don and Pat's reserve water tank. Most of us here have a reserve tank, as the water pressure here drops to zero in the height of the summer season, when the population soars, and creates a demand for the services which the current infrastructure can't possibly cope with. Their tank, being above ground, was getting warm in the sunlight and also gathering algae. We asked two or three people we knew here for a quote on Don and Pat's behalf, and they accepted one from a plumber.

Well we chased that plumber for a starting date and he agreed to come out on a Friday. Little did we know that the Seahorse complex currently being built directly opposite D & P's villa had chosen that day to dig up the entire road to lay power lines and sewers. We had to phone our man and postpone until that work was finished. The next date that was agreed upon was washed away by a heavy storm. After that, our man was continuously tied up with other work. With Pat and Don's next visit getting closer and closer, and this work needed to be completed before they arrived, we had to change tack. We asked our friend Ilhan if he could do the job for the same price as the other chap and he said he could, and he could start in a weeks time.

True to his word, Ilhan turned up with a plumber and an electrician and some people to dig the hole and the work was completed over two days after which it was difficult to see where they had been. A great job!!

Well when Don and Pat arrived they were so pleased they commissioned Ilhan to lay patio over much of their garden, a much bigger job, but Ilhan was equal to it. Don also wanted to lay an automatic watering system as well as make a start on a new terrace at the back of the property. No holiday for them then!!

It was Sue's birthday during their stay and she was able to celebrate this year by swimming in the sea ... this was not possible last year as the water was much colder.

After nearly two weeks of hard graft, they decided they'd had enough and planned an overnight trip to Datcia, a beautiful peninsular, to the south of Bodrum towards Marmaris. They were kind enough to invite us to join them, which of course we did.

We drove down, the peninsular is very mountainous, so the views were incredible. We found a lovely little hotel in the town of Datcia with a sea view and newly refurbished rooms, all for 40 YTL per room per night.



Although the day time was still warm, the evenings were cool, so we found a cosy little restaurant with a beautiful log fire to have our evening meal. Unusually, the food was rubbish, but the fire was a bonus we all appreciated.

Just to prove that the days were a lot warmer, here we are having breakfast the next morning.
We were much luckier with the food here and wasn't the view great? And this, would you believe was the 29th November.

Breakfast over, we made our way to the end of the peninsular, where, we are told, is the exact point where the Aegean and the Mediterranean seas meet. Can't say we could see the join, but it was a spectacular area, and littered with the ancient artefacts of former occupants, Greeks, Romans and others. This was the city of Knidos, and in former times a very important and large city.

We were very impressed, but, as we all agreed, we needed a lot more time to explore properly .... somewhere to earmark for a future visit.

Just after this, Pat and Don went home, leaving us to oversee the final stages of their patio project. When Ilhan finally completed, we sent photos to them and they were extremely pleased with the result.

Gradually, through December, we waved goodbye to several other friends who were going to UK for Christmas until finally it was our turn, and on December 23rd we flew back to a very gloomy and damp UK. to spend the festive season with our family in Colchester, Chelmsford and Ipswich. It was lovely to see everyone and catch up on all the gossip. It was also great to hit the sales. That's one thing we do miss about the UK ... the vast choice of goods available, and the large shopping complexes dedicated to the retail junkies like us. Sue certainly got her fix!! We did a great deal of travelling in our hire car before we boarded our flight back home. When we landed, we thought we were still in Gatwick; the weather was cold, wet, windy and dull. But this is Turkey, so by the following afternoon, normal service had resumed and the sun was shining brightly in blue skies and our brush with the SAD syndrome of England was over.

posted by David and Sue @ 3:46 pm