I fed all the cats and checked that last night’s Manchester to Dalaman flight had landed on Wednesday 6th April. Although it had been delayed slightly, I worked out that my friends from Sheffield would have arrived at about 3am. My friend Louisa and her mom, Linda, who I had been on holiday with several times before, were visiting Dalyan for a week. I was really excited as I’d not been able to see them at Christmas due to the Corona virus and it was 2018 when I last saw them. Louisa’s nephew, Alex, would be joining us on this first trip to Dalyan so I hoped there would be enough for them to do to keep a teenager entertained. I cycled over to Captain Caveman’s apartment where I had my breakfast, a Turkish bread with jam which I bought at Merhaba cafe yesterday.
At 11.15 Louisa had messaged to say she had arrived, they were shattered and had been cold in the night. I’d arranged to meet them at Lukka bar after my Turkish class but the lesson was cancelled. Instead, I waited in Lukka with a cider for the 3 of them to join me. It was great to see Louisa, Linda and Alex and they were lucky to have got nice weather as we sat out at Lukka and ordered food. Linda and Alex ordered breakfast meals, Louisa a crispy chicken dish and I had a chicken caesar salad. All the food was very nice but Linda didn’t have a big enough appetite to eat the chips which came with her sausage, bacon and egg sandwich.
After lunch we went for a short walk around Dalyan so I could show my friends where the essential places were; the bank, pharmacy, supermarkets, bakery, my favourite bars and restaurants. I pointed out a few key places then we ended up at Tez bar for an afternoon drink before I had to get back to Mark and Kate’s to feed the cats and water the plants.
That evening I had organised for us to go for a Chinese meal at China Town and had invited some friends to join us. I got a taxi in to town and was outside the restaurant just before the arranged meeting time of 7.30pm. Andrea was the first to arrive and had come without her husband who was suffering with a cold at home. We waited outside for a bit but then decided to go in to wait as the mosquitos were starting to come out. Andrea and I sat opposite each other at the end of the table, away from the window, to allow my friends to sit next to the window where there was a view of the river. Sarah was the next to arrive and sat next to me. By the time Louisa, Linda and Alex arrived it was too dark to see the view anyway so it didn’t really matter about the seating. I shared a special fried rice with Andrea, ordered sweet and sour chicken and prawn toast. Andrea ordered a chicken dish, Linda opted for Szechuan chicken, Louisa got introduced to half portion ordering by Sarah. I enjoyed my food and took some home, it was a nice first evening and Andrea was giving some ideas of things Linda and Alex might like to do while they are here. It was a long day and I was certainly ready for bed – we had a very chilled day planned for tomorrow.
joloyolo 