Holiday

Well I’ve been home a few days, I’ve done my washing and I’ve had three days in work…but my head is still in Turkey. Over the last two COVID stained years I’ve had staycations, but there is nothing like a foreign bit of sunshine to warm your old bones.

Work has been full on for the last few months. We have syphoned off quite a few pints of blood and my needle stabbing hand was in need of a rest, my achy body was craving the crystal clear sea and I just wanted to don a bikini and lie back in the sunshine and do absolutely nothing.

With all the horror stories about cancelled flights and queues that stretched from Manchester to Timbuktu we expected the worst as Sue and I were dropped off at Manchester Airport. We were lucky though, twenty five minutes later we had checked in and snaked our way through security. My metal knee set the alarms off, but other than that it was hassle free. We made a bee line for the most expensive face creams in duty free and dabbed a seven hundred pound one on. If I paid that much for a face cream I’d expect to have the skin of a teenager…minus the acne…by the time I’d finished the pot. Feeling ten years younger we mooched about the perfumes and cosmetics, had a drink and eventually meandered to our gate. Our holiday was about to begin.

I’m not a happy flyer, but once that huge, people packed, luggage laden piece of metal had defied all logical reasoning to my non physics functioning brain, we took off and before you knew it fours hours later we were in Turkey.

Oh, it was good to be back. We unpacked then walked into town. Efe’s Bar was our first port of call. We ordered a pina colada and Efe changed our money. The first time I went to Turkey mojitos were our drink, the second time it was Black Russians, this year we started as we meant to go on, with pina coladas.

I’ve been twice before to the Keskin Hotel. The pools, well the main pool really, and the grounds are its biggest selling point. There are no high rise buildings in Dalyan and there are no water sports. Turkish people live and work there so it doesn’t feel it is a place taken over with tourists. Tourism is the business there, they rely on people to stay in villas and hotels and to book the various boat trips along the river. The symbiotic relationship of Turk and tourist seems to work well and especially as they are clawing their way back from two years without tourists each side has much to gain.

We had pool days, beach days and boat trip days, but before any of those we had a Turkish bath to prepare for the sunshine. We were picked up from the hotel by the pink Tuk Tuk.

We were covered in warm water, soaped and scrubbed and smothered in foam. Then we had a massage. Oh, it was heaven. I’d like one of these every week!

The days by the pool were very chilled. Reading and sunning ourselves with occasional dips in the pool, maybe a drink or two. The most energetic thing we did was apply sun cream. I think we were known as the watermelon girls as we had two inflatable rings that floated around in. It took a few tries before we mastered sitting on it though.

The beach is huge. It is accessible by road and also by river taxi. It is beautiful and framed by mountains. There is a wide expanse that is protected, you can walk over it but not sit there. The turtles lay their eggs there and the whole area is a sanctuary for turtles. There are no water sports and it is completely unspoilt. There is a turtle sanctuary that you can visit and see how they look after turtles that have been rescued and see how they maintain the healthy population that live in Dalyan.

Green turtles and loggerheads are the two species that we saw. They are such beautiful creatures.

We caught the river taxi to the beach.

It was glorious sunshine as we chugged along and the occasional turtle popped its head up. It is always exciting to see one surface as, amazingly, they can stay underwater for up to five hours.

When we arrived at the beach on our first visit there was an open water swim event on. It was a challenging course out to sea and round the island. Maybe I’ll look at entering next year…or maybe I’ll just laze on the beach and watch again.

The swimmers were probably very thankful that the event didn’t run on into the afternoon as the wind came roaring in across the bay. It started with little gusts that grew and grew until it felt like we were in the middle of a sandstorm. We could only stand so much sand blasting before we jumped onto the taxi back up the river and to the calm of the hotel pool.

We also took the bus down to the beach. It is quicker than the river, but not as much fun.

After a couple of dips in the sea and lots of lying in the sunshine we decided to walk the length of the beach to catch the river taxi back. It took about an hour to walk from one side to the other and we probably passed about three people on the way.

Boat trips are a must in Dalyan, although one couple at our hotel spent every day by the pool and when I asked the lady which trips she had been on she said, “Oh, I don’t do boats!” I really don’t know how anyone can go to such a beautiful place and never go on a boat. The whole place exists around the river. Restaurants vie for best positions along the water, everyone wants to spot turtles, river taxis chug up and down, coaches bring tourists from other resorts for day trips on the river, it is stunning. It is their loss not to experience it.

There is a shallow stretch of sand where river meets sea and it is amazing how the boats navigate their way through, although the odd one runs aground and have to be helped off the sand.

We went on a couple of trips out to sea. We stopped at little coves and went for swims in crystal clear water.

What can be better than sitting on a boat after a swim and drying in glorious sunshine whilst your lunch is cooked on a barbecue.

Pools, beaches and boat trips were wonderful, but so were the drinks and the food. Each evening we showered and dressed for an evening in town. It is such a lovely walk from the hotel along the river. I love eating outside and especially in restaurants that are right on the water.

After waiting for over two years for a holiday every moment away was special. The trips on a boat, getting a tan in gorgeous sunshine, fabulous food and drink, laughing about silly things with a friend, feeling sand between my toes, seeing a turtle pop it’s head out of the water, jumping into the sea, feeling the underwater thermal flows in the river….well, you get the idea. It was lovely.

There are always little moments that you don’t plan, such as the tango convention in our hotel. Mr Tango himself had his face plastered all over town on posters.

He could have got a job on a shampoo advert. He liked to stand at the side of the pool, dive in and then surface with swish of his long hair. It was hilarious. I just love cameos like that.

Finding a street lamp that flickers makes for a cocktail infused dance moment.

We laughed when we clambered aboard a little rowing boat. A team of women would row you across the river and we fancied a mini adventure.

Of course, the promise of a drink and a pancake on the opposite bank was always a bonus. We giggled like school girls when we cleaned our hands on the wipes provided….