HOW HOT???!!

Back in a VERY hot Turkey – temperatures late 40s and up to 50 (110 to 120 ish – or damned hot!)  Still, our good old Çalış breeze is doing its best to cool us down and there is always the pool – or a cold Efes.

Everything seems to have gone smoothly while we were away.  I came back with a lovely British cold which has made me snuffle and sneeze my way through the first through days but I seem to have got on top of the washing, the paperwork and the bookings already – much better than I managed last time we went away.

boys in Fletching, Sussex where I grew up

Here are a few grumbles…!  Hotels4u have acknowledged our May account but not quite got round to paying it yet.  I thought it would be better this year as they are paying us directly in the UK rather than through the local agent here – but it seems my hopes were misplaced!  As this left me a bit short of money, Cem transferred some from the bank here using internet banking.  Is this not virtually instantaneous in the UK?  Well, not between countries.  He transferred it last Monday and when I checked this morning – a full 8 days and 6 working days later it still hadn’t gone through.  We really need to chase it up - he could have driven to the UK with the money by now – but I’m sure the bank here will say they sent it and it is the intermediary bank that is the problem.  I hate banks!

Back at the hotel, two things are causing me stress and it appears there is nothing I can do about them.  The first is the drains.  Most people know that the drains in Turkey are a bit temperamental but our pipes have always been pretty good and can handle reasonable amounts of toilet paper.  However they cannot cope with wet wipes (virtually indestructible), sanitary towels (made to absorb water and expand) or some of the other things that people attempt to dispose of down the toilet.  Before I left I put notices in all the bathrooms explaining this but we had another – thankfully small – problem the other day after somebody flushed a WHOLE toilet roll down the toilet.  What can you do?

The other problem is the linen.  We demoted a lot of towels and sheets this year to the rag bin and I spent approx £500 on new linen.  However a lot of this is already spoiled by stains which do not come out.  Some of them are sun cream – I think it is mostly the all-day creams and particularly P20 which leave ugly yellow stains on the sheets, pillow cases and towels.  But someone had also used a brand new towel the other day to mop up hair dye.  I wonder if they would appreciate being given a towel with dark brown stains all over it?_  Of course not, but of course they also don’t think like this.

a wet afternoon in Camden, London

However I’m trying to stay chilled after our lovely holiday. A lot of places are complaining that business is down – my sister was even advised that she would get a good deal in Kalkan as the hotels were so desperate for business – but we are pretty full and I have just had to stop sales for the middle of September.  Now if we could just get paid….!

UK tour

The boys and I have been over in the UK for 10 days now.  Our departure was a bit fraught as Emre had his second exam on the Sunday morning in Muğla, we had a barbecue on in the evening and I had been so busy getting things ready in the hotel that I hadn’t had time to pack.  Add to this the fact that I hate flying and Emre had left his ID card somewhere and only realised as we were leaving the house for the airport (where we use in place of a Turkish passport) and you will understand why I was hyperventilating and overdosing on kalms by the time we were ready to fly.

Actually the flight was fine, but my trial was not over as we then flew over to Germany for 3 days with my cousin who lives near Dortmund.  That was very nice…especially spending time with her twin boys who are nearly 4 and very sweet.

Since being back in the UK we have been mostly in Kent where my sister, various cousins and friends live. The weather has been drizzly but pretty warm.  The only thing it has spoiled was a surprise I had organized for Emre the other day – a flying lesson from a little airport near my sister’s house.  Unfortunately rain stopped play but we are hoping to squeeze it in before we leave.

Kaan on a bike ride

 That is easier said than done as our 3 weeks suddenly seem not nearly long enough.  We have a rental car (with satnav – how cool is that, no more looking at maps!) and spent yesterday driving round the beautiful area of Sussex where I grew up.  We even stopped at what used to be my mum’s farm shop and when I admitted that I was having a nose, the current owner was lovely and we had a chat about the history of the place and which of the old neighbours are still around.

Emre 'levitating' Lulu!

We are currently with Deb and Tom (who had second kidney transplant 8 weeks ago but is doing very well), driving up to Oxford today to see other uncle, then up to Blackpool where Kaan is insisting on going back to the Pleasure Beach (more sitting on benches for me and Grant).  After that we have a couple of days in London, leaving only next friday back in Kent before we fly home.

I am sure Cem, Murat and co are coping fine in the hotel but by the time we return it will be the frenzy of high season with 80 guests and everyone flopped round the pool as it’s too hot to do much.  That is great – but it’s always a bit of a shock when I first return and haven’t got back into my routines.  For now though I’m going to forget about that about enjoy my holiday…the sun is even doing its best today so we might have a good drive up to Oxford.

Kaan and Tommy - playing Xbox of course!

Panic Attack

I am beginning to get twitchy now.  The boys and I will leave the hotel about 11 tonight for flight to UK at 2am.  I am stressed because I am not really ready – have sorted most of the stuff in the hotel and left lists of things that the others will need to do in my absence – but I haven’t even decided which case to take and as for packing – it will happen sometime between tea with Cem’s mum this afternoon and starting the barbecue tonight.

I am also stressed because I don’t like flying.  This is something which surfaced in my late twenties – around the time I had children and has got worse since. Actually, if you saw me for most of the flight you would think I was pretty calm and even a bit of turbulence once we are up doesn’t bother me too much but I LOATHE take off.  Funnily enough I have a guest in the hotel at the moment and she is just the same.  We were discussing how paranoid we get at any changes in engine noise, how bad we feel when the plane banks, how we get so tense you would think we were flying the plane!  I have tried web sites that describe what is happening when the sounds change or the pilot does certain things and they do help for a short time but I think I need a refresher course.  For now, I will be the one on tonight’s flight with my fingers in my ears and my eyes squeezed tight shut!  I have some herbal ‘kalms’ tablets but am actually thinking that a couple of whiskies before we leave for the airport might work better.

Emre has been for his second exam this morning.  He said it went OK – he generally does think things have gone OK – and as it’s a month before the results come out we can forget it for now.  He had his ‘lucky’ chocolate with him (prayed on by Cem’s auntie – last week it was a banana but that went a bit soggy).

I went shopping with Kaan yesterday in Fethiye for a few presents.  I was pleasantly surprised by the lovely gifts available now in Fethiye – you used to have to go to Göcek for good presents (catering to the yachty crowd, Göcek though smaller has always been posher than Fethiye) but now there are some gorgeous scarves, ceramics, textiles and just silly trinkets.  And there is The Soap Lady – who has apparently been established in Ölüdeniz for a while but has recently opened in Fethiye selling natural soaps with benefits for all manner of complaints….carrot soap for sunburn, grape seed soap for wrinkles, rose soap for blackheads etc.

So, I might blog from UK but will be back here into the madness of July (80+ guests in the hotel and heat of 40 degrees and more).  And a propos of nothing at all I had to take a picture of this plant – which I think is an aloe – which I pass as I drive to the hotel every morning (yes progressed from 2 wheels to 4 very noisy ones) and which is just spectacular…

Things are hotting up...

We have had an interesting couple of weeks since I last posted.  The carnival went off with good weather – the procession a little disappointing I thought but the concert was a big hit. The week before last Emre had his graduation party.  Here is the ‘before’ photo – looking very smart in the new gear he chose.  I wanted to post the ‘after’ photo of a line of sleeping bodies on the sun beds – still dressed in their glad rags - that greeted me when I arrived at the hotel on Tuesday morning, but I haven’t managed to transfer it from the phone so you will just have to imagine how funny they looked – all strapping lads with facial hair, snuggled up one next to the other!

Emre also had the first of his two exams yesterday for which we had to go to Muğla.  It is about 2 hours drive and we went in a minibus with a friend of Cem’s whose daughter was sitting the same exam, Grant, Dawn, Kaan ….We left at half past six and it was hot already.  Muğla was hotter and crowded with road works – not to mention a few thousand cars bringing examinee causing huge traffic jams.  I don’t know about Emre but I was seriously stressed – so much that I had my first swim in the pool (of this year) when we got back about 3.  Emre said the exam went OK.  I am just thinking that we have to do it all over again next Sunday!

Other news that you may have heard whisper of…we had a significant earthquake here last Sunday.  Cem’s family had all come to visit and I was making tea in the big urn but as I came up towards it I couldn’t understand why it was jumping around before I had even turned it on…then I realised that the whole bar was shaking.  I have felt plenty of tremors before but the centre of this one was quite close – off Oludeniz at 19km down.  It didn’t last particularly long, though there were other small tremors and aftershocks for the next couple of days.  It was a bit alarming for people who have never experienced it before, even though it is actually a good thing to have these small and frequent ‘adjustments’ as it stops pressure building up. 

At home, where Emre was, a few things fell over/off shelves and he was so worried about us that he ran all the way from home to hotel barefoot – not very far but as those of you who have walked on our road will appreciate his feet were in a bit of a state!  I was also impressed when the neighbours (English) said he shot out the door and ran off, then ran back to ask them if they were OK.  Actually in the hotel nothing even fell over so we feel happy that our ‘mushroom foundation’ (special for earthquake zones) is doing what is should.

Last night was also a night to remember as a super strong HOT wind suddenly blew in out of nowhere, battered us for a couple of hours, then blew away as fast as it had come.  The electric was off for half an hour or so and it was very warm with no fans or a/c, but there was no damage here, just a lot of garden debris in the pool (clean and sparkling again now).

We have been following the UEFA 2012 tournament and it’s been quite lively in the bar – particularly of course for the England matches for which we have been getting the barbie out.  The hotel is full now and we have had more lovely guests and lots of laughs with Frank here.  The boys and I go to UK next Monday but with our super new cleaners, Murat, Hasan and Cem in charge I am confident that all will be fine at Poppy!

Leather trousers and oil – must be wrestling again!

Into June already!  It’s quiet in the hotel – eight or ten rooms in – but about what we expect for May.  We have had several ‘old’ guests in, as well as meeting some very nice new ones.  We also have a honeymoon couple and a couple who are celebrating 66 years of marriage this year!

Down at the beach and in the restaurants along the front it is noticeably quieter than usual – or so the guests have been telling me!  I was down there this morning as it’s carnival day today and still it was very quiet with few people around and even fewer on the beach.  Hopefully this will change now as schools are out in Turkey next Friday.  Kaan already has his report card – mostly 5s with a couple of 4s (grades are 1 to 5) and wants a pair of Ray Burns as a reward.  I don’t think I need to give my answer to this…!

The end of school doesn’t help Emre who has a two weeks left until his exams.  Rather strangely, they have their graduation ceremony this weekend so we had to go shopping for a jacket and trousers for him the other day.  Emre is now 6 foot 1 and finding a jacket whose arms were long enough and that wasn’t huge and baggy on him was a challenge.  We gave up any idea of looking for shoes in a size 49 (14 or 15)!

There have been various events organized over the last few days as part of the carnival – beach football, tug-of-war, craft stalls and yesterday afternoon oil wrestling.  I am uploading a video to give you a taste of this very traditional Turkish sport.  I like the posturing of it – it starts (like most wrestling I suppose) with the competitors sort of teasing each other and showing off – but the combination of leather trousers, oil and grabbing each others pants (the only bit they can get a hold on) raises some eyebrows amongst those seeing it for the first time!

We are going down soon to watch the procession and I hope there are more people about to support it.  Then, this week, we are looking forward to Frank and Hetty arriving Monday, Grant and Dawn and also Andy arriving Tuesday and our trip to England in not very long.

from the head chef!

2012 season at Poppy has begun!  We have a few rooms of guests in – all very nice.  It always takes a little time to get back into routines after the long winter break.  I am up early even in winter, but once the boys have gone off to school I can do things slowly.  Now I have to get all my home chores done and be at the hotel by 8.  Not so bad really, and with a 3 minute journey to work by bicycle (with Holly the dog in tow – or more often towing me) I can’t complain!

As I am going to be doing the cooking this year I have spent some time getting the kitchen how I want it.  Now I have everything in place and it is – I think – easy to use.  The down-side is I now get really cross with anybody who moves things, puts things back in the wrong place, or generally disturbs my order.  I would like to ban everyone from the kitchen but that would mean I would have to cater to the ‘staff’ all the time.  I do cook for everybody once a day – good filling Turkish meals like dry beans and rice, aubergine with mince (a sort of Turkish version of  moussaka which goes by the charming name of ‘belly slit open’ – that is the aubergine’s belly, hopefully not the eater’s!)

caretta caretta turtle at the beach

The local wildlife has been putting in an appearance recently with several people saying they have seen turtles in the shallow water just off the beach (I think it is mating time) and someone telling me he sees dolphins nearly every day in the late afternoon.  Our boat is in the boatyard at the moment – wooden boats have to be taken out and inspected every year and there were quite a few changes we wanted to make to it – but hopefully when we are able to go out again we will get to see dolphins.  We are planning to do private trips for the hotel guests – up to about 15 people for a tour of quiet bays and islands and maybe some ‘sunset’ trips.  There is nothing more relaxing than pulling into a small bay as the sun goes down and lying back to enjoy some food and drink and the gentle rocking of the boat!

I was sent a feature from the Daily Telegraph which focuses on investment in Turkey but inevitably talks quite a lot about tourism.  Here are some interesting facts:

·         76% of Brits polled who had visited Turkey said their holidays were ‘better than expected’ and 70% ranked their trip as 1 or 2 on a scale of 1-5 where 1 is the best

·         The top reasons for choosing Turkey were climate, history and culture, fair price, Turkish hospitality, family-friendly environment and accommodation facilities

·         Turkey comes 2^nd globally in terms of number of hotel beds and ranks 7^th on the world’s most-visited destination list (according to World Tourism Organization)

another nice picture from Dalyan

 Another reason to visit Çalış is the carnival which will be held this year for the 5^th time from 27th May to 2^nd June.  The programme this year includes a craft fair, oil wrestling competition (a traditional Turkish sport which has to be seen to be appreciated!), a beach football tournament and entertainment from various musicians and bands.  Carnival day will include the grand parade along the sea front and a big concert in the evening.  I hope the weather is kinder than it was last year but I am sure whatever happens that a good time will be had by all and lots of money raised.

our winning 'army' at the carnival 2009

Boats, bikes and Bond

There has been a lot going on in Çalış and at Poppy but I have not been good at keeping the blog updated.  Now, as we start the 2012 holiday season – first guests due this week – I am going to do my best to get blogging again.  (I sort of thought nobody would notice but have been given a telling-off by a few people!)

First, the end of the story of the wreck for diving – which is actually just the beginning really.  The boat was eventually towed all the way from Samsun, on the Black Sea coast, along the Black Sea itself, through the Bosphoros straits at İstanbul into the Marmara Sea, through the Dardanelles straits into the Aegean Sea and down to Fethiye.  It took several weeks – including two weeks or so of bad weather when the boat didn’t move from İstanbul.

When it arrived in Fethiye, our friends who were organizing the sinking had lots of work to do cleaning it out, stripping it of any parts that might come lose and be a danger, then weighting the hull with concrete and cutting extra ‘windows’ for the water to go in.  The day of the sinking was quite an event.  I didn’t go but Cem went out with Suntrap and there were a number of boats spectating, including one with dignitaries and the town band and a Coast Guard boat there to ‘see off’ their retired boat.

It sank with great style – taking water slowly but surely until the hull sunk suddenly and the whole thing (all 42m of it) stood upright in the water, then settling slowly down – to the strains of the band playing – to sit upright in about 26m of water.  It will be a great attraction for experienced divers, more so as it becomes home to all sorts of sea life.

The other great excitement in Fethiye recently has been the filming of the new James Bond film.  Apparently about 10 minutes of the finished film will be from Turkey, including scenes shot in İstanbul ( a very exciting motorbike chase on the ROOVES of the Covered Market), Adana and Fethiye and Çalış.  Several of my students have been involved as extras – one even got pushed out of the way by Daniel Craig(intentionally, he wasn’t hogging the camera!)  It will be very interesting to see whether the scenes are recognizable as Çalış as they built a whole beach bar and market (while paying the real beach bar to stay shut and the street traders to stay away!) and Fethiye harbour has been reinvented as a Chinese port!  Still, it has given us plenty to talk about.

Unfortunately this year we didn’t get the publicity from the President’s Cup cycle race, the Fethiye leg of which was featured last year on Eurosport.  They still came in to Fethiye, stayed the night and left the next day, but with very little fanfare.  I heard that they asked for money from the council in return for the publicity they were creating and the council declined.  If this is true, I think it is very mean as the council are also ‘hosting’ them and having to close roads, provide security etc.

Cem and Grant at Faralya in March

So…to Poppy.  We have been busy all this month with bits of painting and repairs – general preparations for the season.  The pool was regrouted yesterday and will be ready to fill tomorrow and with a few weeks of sun on it it might even be warm enough to get into!  Kenny, who is already in Marmaris, is due down here on Friday as are the first agency guests.  The weather is lovely – such a relief after the misery of winter – and the only thing missing seems to be my swallows who for the first time in 14 years have not come to occupy the nests.  Hope it’s not an omen!

The lizards -like me - have come out of hibernation!