Talking of excellence...

Into October and the season is finishing.  The two rooms that came in yesterday are our last arrivals – unless there are any more last minute bookings.  It is early – some years it ticks along through October and there are usually a few rooms in for the last week when there is a half-term holiday in the UK.  But this year, whether due to economic situation, the ridiculous price of flights or what, October is very quiet.

The weather is still glorious – 30 degrees or so in the day and only a little cooler in the evenings.  Even I haven’t worn my jeans or a jumper yet, and only put on a cardigan to go to Dalaman at 3am to collect Grant and Dawn.  They had a bit of a delay on their Thomas Cook flight – not as bad as the Andy, or as bad as the flight they had in March when the plane turned back to Manchester after nearly 2 hours in the air!  There was a rep at the airport greeting customers with a screeched ‘Thomas Cook!  Anyone travelling with Thomas Cook?’ which got rather irritating after half an hour.  I also felt like pointing out that they had all been travelling with Thomas Cook which was why they were two hours late!

They arrived with the usual piles of things for us, including four pairs of trainers I bought from Sports Direct (including two pairs of size 14s for Emre), chocolate for me, cheese for Cem, sliced bread for Emre and doughnuts for Kaan.  The diet starts next week!  It’s funny the things people miss when they live away from home.  I know some people who have heaps of stuff brought over, although it’s possible to buy many things here now as there are shops selling all those things that Brits might be looking for including bacon, sausages, scampi, bisto, marmite, Heinz beans, Weetabix, custard powder and much more.

Turkish people living abroad will miss their favourite dishes.  We have several times travelled to England with ‘food parcels’ of stuffed vine leaves, pastries and other home-made offerings for friends living over there.  It’s OK, but they tend to be large, heavy bags full and you get some funny looks at customs!

The situation on the border with Syria is bad at the moment with Turkish forces shelling in retaliation for attacks by Syria which have killed a number of civilians.  I feel sorry for the people trying to carry on their daily routines in the area and for the troops moved there – some of whom will be young boys doing their National Service.  On a selfish level, I hope it doesn’t affect tourism in Turkey; the border is more than 1,000km away from Fethiye (roughly the same distance as London to Prague) but we know from past experience that the press at home like to talk up any bad press about Turkey.

just another sunset!

 But to finish on a lighter note – I laughed a lot yesterday when I went to my post box and found that we have also received a ‘Certificate of Excellence’ from Trip Advisor (see last post).  This DESPITE the recent bad comment.  So let’s just take a look at this……

Trip Advisor posts comments written by people who could have NOTHING in common with you, who can write a pack of lies which will never be checked, who may never even have stayed at the hotel; the apparently all-knowing but completely unreachable staff at Trip Advisor will pull comments that THEY believe are invented (we experienced this – they weren’t!) while unscrupulous people will demand a free stay or cheap rates at a hotel with the threat of a bad review if they do not get it (I read about that in the newspaper).  Do we think it may have outlived its usefulness?  I am grateful for all the guests who have written lovely things about us and I hope that we can continue to make some people happy on their holiday..... but I rather fancy getting my certificate framed and hanging it in the toilets!

Animals galore

September has been – as usual – a nice month – full but without the rush, or the extreme heat, of August.  The weather is lovely, even a little chilly in the evenings – though I realise that it is nothing compared to the UK where I hear there have been frosts.  And it’s not even October yet!

We have had many returning guests – and some very nice new ones.  Also one not-so-happy guests who I put in the roof apartment and who has written complaining about it on Trip Advisor.  I might put a reply on – though I prefer not to get too involved.  But his view is just that – I have several guests who like to have that apartment every time; not to mention that the guest immediately before him and the one immediately after both loved it.  He (apparently – I haven’t read it myself as I get too stressed) says you would need a megaphone to communicate from there.  Why would you need to communicate from your room?  And actually the guests before him got very friendly with the ladies in the apartment opposite – from talking to them while he sat on the balcony.

More importantly this guest NEVER came to me and said anything.  The only communication I had with them was to greet them when they first arrived and one morning when I gave him a lighter to light the cooker; other than that they went in and out without speaking to anyone.  Had he asked me, I probably could have given him an apartment on a lower floor. As it is they moved out 2 days early, trundling their cases up the road and no doubt already composing what they were going to write on Trip Advisor!  He has even commented that I spoke to Emre in Turkish and assumes I was saying something about him.  Most people laugh at the way the boys and I speak a mixture of Turkish and English and many of them have sussed that I usually use Turkish when I am telling them off for something, but quite honestly this IS Turkey and what language I speak with my children is really not a subject for complaint.

Kaan is back at school – and the school day now starts at 7.30am, and finishes at 12.30.  In the afternoon a second set of students use the classrooms.  This used to happen quite a lot when there weren’t enough places in schools for the growing number of pupils, but recently it has become much less common and my two have never had to do it before.  Now it is the result of the government making changes to the education system, without really having the facilities in place first.  I am not happy about it; Kaan, though he complains about having to get up early, of course is happy to get the whole afternoon off!

I had a lovely day in Kalkan on Friday visiting my sis and brother-in-law who are on holiday there.  Their hotel is very nice with great views and a lovely pool area and we had a fantastic meal out.  I stayed in a small but clean and neat little pension.  It had a framed certificate on the wall saying it has a five-star rating from Trip Advisor which made me smile.  Though I was quite happy with the room, I could, if I were that way inclined, write a comment that I couldn’t lock the balcony door (despite being pretty experienced with tricky turkish doors), the light above the bed was too weak to read by, the sink was cracked and there was a pretty bad smell coming from the drain in the bathroom.  Needless-to-say I am not going to!

Have been feeling a little like I am running a zoo as the number of animals round here seems to be increasing.  The little black kitten that has been hanging around for a couple of months is now a half-grown, very hansome cat who is missing Matt who fed her sausages all last week!  The puppy who turned up a few weeks ago is growing fast; I am trying to find her a home, but most of the guests think she will still be here when they come next year.  She is very sweet, but getting naughtier as she settles in; she barks at the tortoises and can even flip them over, the other afternoon she cornered the rabbit and she has run off with the solar panel for the garden lights.  But it’s hard to stay cross for long with something this cute….!

More sneaky tricks

I am beginning to get suspicious that Hotels4u – part of Thomas Cook and a company you would trust to play fair – are not!  If you read my blogs in the winter you will know that we had a lot of trouble with this year’s contract.  Having spent a couple of hours discussing and agreeing prices and other details, they then said they wouldn’t honour the contract because they were working out more expensive than their rival company (despite the fact that I had given them the same prices).  We did agree a new contract but I still think they are not happy with the price for peak season.  Their solution – tell people Poppy is full and flog them something else that is cheaper for them.  I can’t prove this, but I have had several families who have previously stayed with us pop in and say they tried to book for Poppy but were told it was full.  At first I didn’t question it as since my return from the UK (mid July) we have been full from 11th September for a few days.  But the latest group said they were trying to book back in MAY.

Having just done my accounts for August it seems a bit surprising that Hotels4u made 17 reservations in June, 12 in July and for August – just one booking.  The other company we work with – Low Cost Holidays – booked 12 rooms for July and 15 for August.  It certainly makes me wonder….and gives people another reason to book direct!

I am trying to ignore the mess and noise coming from outside the gate.  I am very happy that the electric company are putting our cables underground which will make the supply a bit more reliable, not to mention getting rid of the ugly telegraph pole next to our entrance.  I am not so happy that they felt a need to do it in the middle of the season! I arrived at 8am the other morning to find a digger and lorry right outside the gate – no chance for anyone in that side of the hotel to have a lie-in.  They also managed to hit a water pipe – turning the trench into a moat (we already have the drawbridge to get out – see picture) and have broken our telephone/internet line twice so far.  I am gritting my teeth and thinking of the end result.

work in progress!

 Actually on Tuesday I just went out for the day with some friends who are staying.  A quick trip to the market, then up to Kaya village.  We had a short walk around the deserted village but spent more time just sitting in a ‘köşk’ (platform with cushions) with cold drinks, enjoying the views and the lazy feel of the place.  Even the camels were collapsed in the heat (see photo)!

camel at Kaya

 Then we went down to Ölüdeniz – this time to one of the small sandy beaches at the back of the lagoon which are a great place for children to swim. Not that their kids – aged three and a half and  not-quite-two are frightened of the water.  I have never seen any child throw themselves with such abandon into the pool – baby pool, big pool, shallow end, deep end – as Maddie, the younger one, does.

Lots of lovely guests in - but we were especially happy to see Jan and Graham.  Here they are with Rachel and her birthday cake.  

Rachel's birthday

 And finally here is ME in the water  - when I went diving a few weeks ago.  I like this picture!

spit-roast lamb vs stuffed peppers

We are nearly at the end of August and though the heat shows no signs of letting up during the day, the mornings when I walk the dog are cooler and the shadows longer.  The month of fasting – Ramazan – finished last week with a three-day holiday so there have been quite a few Turkish people on holiday again. 

One of our guests who has been staying since she was a student (about 6 years ago?) had driven her family from Ankara to Kuşadası – 650 km but approximately 10 hours of driving.  When she arrived she didn’t like the hotel or the place and piled them all (including ageing mum and dad) back in the car and drove to Poppy – which would have been another 300 km and 5 hours or so of driving except that she took a wrong turn and added about 2 hours onto the journey!  Needless-to-say they were all a bit frazzled when they arrived, but it’s nice to know people will go to such lengths to stay with us!

Kaan messing around with new friend Conor

 I have just realized that of 17 rooms currently occupied, 13 of them are returning guests, some on their second holiday this year!  It was very good last week to welcome Steven and his family to Poppy for the first time.  They should have stayed last year but the demise of holidays4u meant they lost their flights just a short time before they were due to come.  Hopefully it will be their first but not last stay with us.

We have also had family down from Ankara.  I do like to see them but it means I often come to the hotel at 8am and don’t manage to get home until 10 or 11 at night.   At bayram (the holiday) Cem’s cousin had bought a whole lamb (for eating – not as a pet).  Cem decided they would spit roast it – in the garden.  This involved digging a big hole for the fire – and burning my cannas during the cooking.  Anyway it fed the masses and they seemed to enjoy it.  As a veggie I stayed well away – stripping the bones for the dog was hard enough and I hope she appreciates how much I must love her to do it!

the lamb being served

Happily for me, there is lots of lovely fresh fruit and veg around at the moment and  I keep being given produce from people’s gardens.  I came back from a friend’s the other day with a water melon, a yellow melon, several kilos of assorted peppers and aubergine and several jars of interesting things they have made out of their produce (pickles and chutneys).  Here are the stuffed peppers I made yesterday….much prettier than the picture above!

stuffed peppers

It reminded me of the first time I visited Turkey.  My friend Kate and I hired a very small scooter and went off exploring on it – and got lost.  When we stopped to ask the way to a man working in his fields, he took us to his house so his daughter who spoke some English could talk to us.  We were then taken into the house for tea and cake and when we left we were presented with not one but THREE water melons which I put in my little back pack.  Sadly, we had to dump two of them just up the road as I was in danger of falling off the back of the scooter with the extra weight pulling me down.  But we enjoyed the one that was left and as my first experience of Turkish hospitality it has stuck in my memory ever since!  

Holidaying at home

I feel as though I have been on holiday again – in Çalış, Fethiye.  My lovely friend has been out here with her two beautiful daughters.  We have known each other since we were 18 (just a short time ago!) and though we only see each other these days for a few days a year – sometimes not even that – we have managed to stay close.

playing with my new camera! - panoramic shot of POPPY

 Last time they came out here was about 10 years ago and the girls were still quite young. Now they are 18 and nearly 17 so it has been nice to show them around properly and for them, like discovering a whole new place. 

We went diving last week.  They hadn’t really been planning it but when I suggested it they were keen and they turned out to be naturals!  The girls both did their skills so they can add to that and do their PADI open water diver course if they want to.  It was a lovely lazy day with about 10 beginners on the boat and a couple of people doing courses – so different from last year when the ‘experienced’ divers on the boat drove me demented with their non-stop-and-very-loud stories about ‘When I was diving in Sharm….blah blah blah!’

Morning talk on European Diving Centre boat as we head out to dive sites

 We also spent a day at the Surf Café in Çalış.  For those who want a sandy beach this is better than the main bit of the beach as there is sand – and sunbeds, umbrellas and a man to bring drinks and food!  It is also nice to watch people kite-surfing, sailing and generally being active.   The most active we got was late in the afternoon when we moved to the bar area and lay on large cushions with some cocktails!

On Sunday we had a Turkish bath and massage, then a lovely meal at MOD in the marina in Fethiye but the major event on Sunday was the boat actually went back in the water – hooray!!  Even better, it floated and took in very little water;  there can be a problem with wooden boats when they have been out of the water for while – the wood shrinks and cracks open.  Anyway, the new improved SUNTRAP has now been refitted with its overhauled engine and is ready to take us out for a little trip this afternoon.

SUNTRAP just before it slid went into the water

 And on Monday we went to Ölüdeniz.  Whilst I agree that Ölü is a stunningly beautiful place, I am a little deterred by the crowds and the crush of sunbeds and umbrellas.  Still, when we got out on the lagoon in a pedallo (girls) and canoe (Kaan) the water was gorgeous and the ‘rock’ that I tried to steer to avoid turned out to be a turtle who swam round us for a while.

sunset at the beach last night

 Last night we had a meal at Şat – the restaurant situated on the point looking across to Fethiye.  Since it opened about 5 years ago is has been through several owners and various incarnations.  Finally, it seems that somebody has got it sorted and everything was very good from the menu to the service, the music to the food.  On evenings like that, watching the sun set over a silvery sea and the lights come on across the bay I remember why I fell in love with this place.  It’s so easy to forget how lovely it is but I don’t often get time to ‘holiday’ here any more!

Poyraz returns

Murat clearing leaves from the pool - look at the palm tree being blown about

The poyraz wind which comes at this time every year blowing hot air off the land (unlike our normal breeze which brings cooler air off the sea) started yesterday morning.  It is roasting – over 50 in the sun today – some of the lads were keen to try cooking an egg on the marble round the pool!  I feel especially sorry for anybody who is trying to fast for Ramazan; I am not usually very good at drinking water – I mean I can’t drink it very cold or very fast and I have to really push myself to make sure I drink the minimum requirements but in current conditions even I am drinking continuously.  Those fasting are not allowed to eat or drink (or smoke cigarettes – this being the hardest for many turks) from sunrise to sunset – approximately 16 hours at the moment.

visiting family members

It was Emre’s birthday last week – seventeen.  Scary to think that in the UK he could now be in charge of a car!  Luckily here the minimum age is 18.  We didn’t make a lot of his birthday.  I made a cake and iced it (at 7 o’clock one morning) but we didn’t even find time to cut it until the next day!  He wants to do his PADI advanced diving course so we are going to arrange this for his present.

He also decided last week not to make applications to uni this year but to have another go at the exam next year.  Hopefully he will find something he wants to do and be a bit more motivated to get the points necessary for it.  He won’t have the ‘distraction’ of school – funny as it sounds the university entrance exams happen here rather separate to school things.  He will be going again to a crammer college where they focus just on these exams.  At the moment he is busy trying to learn to juggle with five balls – he is good at 3 and 4 but finding 5 harder.  In London he wanted me to buy him a unicycle.  Perhaps we should just send him off to the circus?!

They had a few good nights in the bar last week.  This week is a little quieter but we also seem to have a lot of ‘youngsters’ around – some on their own some with families but after initially eyeing each other up they are now all getting along!  Yesterday evening they were delighted to learn that Burger King out here delivers…Emre had to order in for about ten of them (all the lovely Turkish food and I am enabling people to eat fast food rubbish – it hurts me!!)

OK - I know what the ones on the floor are doing but what are the other two twits up to?

 I have done very little work today – I admit it.  I expressed an interest in researching my family history a little to one of my guests last week and she very kindly showed me the site she has used and got me started.  And it’s addictive – I went on this morning and I haven’t quite managed to close it yet.  I know more about my father’s family – grandparents and great grandparents already than I ever did before (it should be stressed that I started from a VERY low level).  Being able to see the census information and the actual marriage register from the church brings it all alive – though it does make some things hard to read.  But I’m going to have to make myself leave it until winter time or I will be neglecting my duties….

Cool in the pool

It's not quite as hot as last week, but very sticky.  The best place to be in this weather is the pool, which is freezing since we emptied and refilled it yesterday.  It doesn’t stop the kids though, and under this sun it will be back to more reasonable temperatures by tomorrow.

Kaan and Matt in the pool

The pool was also the venue for a ‘dive show’ this week when divers from European Diving Centre came to give people a chance to try SCUBA diving.  They had a lot of takers this week including two children of seven and nine who are too young to dive in the sea but did a tour of the pool with so much confidence that they both got a round of applause when they came up!  There was also a guest who had always wanted to try scuba diving and thought he wouldn’t have a chance after he had a heart attack a few years ago; needless-to-say he was very happy.  

Sarah getting ready to try SCUBA

 Sarah and Matt who have had more than 20 holidays to Çalış (at Poppy since 2000) had never tried SCUBA before.  They had a go and loved it so much they went out on the boat the next day to experience ‘real’ diving in the sea with the fish.  They loved this too and have plenty of photos of their great day out.

Turkish Night on Friday was good fun.  There were about 35 people for the barbecue and others who came just to join in the dancing. The belly dancer is one who has been before and is good at getting people up to join in and enjoy; as with most of them, she does a little routine that involves blindfolding and playing a little game with one of the men.  However this time she was the one to get a surprise when one of the guests (who celebrated his sixteenth birthday with a cake in the bar this week) came out in his mankini - a la Borat.

Roger having a GOOD time!

 The good news is we finally received payment for May’s guests, which was handy as we had a rather huge electricity bill come in yesterday.  Even accounting for all the a/c units, fridges, pool filters etc. over £400 for 10 days seems a bit excessive.  We are going to query it but without much hope as last time we did that the electricity board agreed the metre wasn’t working properly and made us pay to change it – but also made us pay the inflated bill!

We also signed a contract with one of the agencies for next summer.  This was relatively hassle-free.  Two glamorous and very positive ladies came to do the new contract; they even decided to change the listing of Poppy on their website from two to three-star (apartments are not included in the official star rating so it is a company rating).  However while we were discussing business in general one of them said she manages contracts across fifteen countries and she has learned that properties with less than 100 rooms and especially those offering self-catering accommodation just don’t make money.

That’s why I shudder when the electric bill comes in!