Dalyan – 28th September

I had just 2 important things in the diary for Saturday 28th September and that was to go to the weekly market in the morning and see my friend, Vanessa, in the afternoon. There had been some to do with the owner of the gardening company telling everyone he was going to be on the complex at 7.30am to the owners who were also cheesed off at the quality and lack of work the company were giving the complex. I was up and about in time but I had already assumed we would not see him, for obvious reasons. I didn’t bother with breakfast but I did have a green tea before getting ready for the market big shop. I took photos of the complex, looking scruffy and, at 8.30am, left for some fruit and veg shopping. Of course, the other residents were still sat waiting as I walked past.

I was gone almost 2 hours but I bought so much that I could hardly carry it, here’s what I bought with prices in lira;

Stall 1
4 leeks
3 cucumbers
3 lemons
Total spent 70 lira (£1.54)

Stall 2
Nectarines
Bananas
Grapes
Apples
Mushrooms
Total spent 185 lira (£4.06)

Stall 3
Homemade Turkish bread (70 lira)
Mint (20 lira)
Spinach
Lettuce
Gherkins
(1 free cucumber)
Total spent 205 lira (£4.49)

Stall 4
Potatoes
Red onions
White onions
Total spent 45 lira (99p)

Stall 5
Tomatoes
Carrots
Radishes
Total 50 lira (£1.10)

I had spent just 555 lira (£12.15) on all of that and was quite pleased with myself. When I got back, and still with the heavy back pack on, I bumped in to my next door neighbours and helped them pick up empty beer bottles and litter that had been left by a random parked car, outside the complex. When I put it in the bin there was a local Turkish man going through it for anything he could salvage. As I was clinking beer bottles, he obviously thought I’d been on the bevvies a bit early already and gave me a look like he wasn’t the one rooting through the bins. It turned out that the gardener turned up at 8.35am but didn’t do much apart from hose the floor and I had missed meeting him again.
I didn’t get chance for breakfast until 11am when I made myself a lovely fruit salad with banana, nectarine, apple, quark, fresh mint and honey.

Vanessa arrived at 1pm and she hadn’t been well so she told me all about what had been going on with her while we drank tea and I made us a nice chicken salad with yoghurt dip and warmed bread, from the market, for our lunch. The market seller’s sister makes the bread herself and it is just so fresh and last for ages in the fridge/freezer.
Around 6pm Vanessa realised she needed to get back home to Matt and I walked with her so that I could borrow her garden clippers. I’d not even had any time to update Vanessa on my shenanigans so we said we would meet up again after Captain Caveman got back and settled in, next week. I walked back with the loppers and lopped off quite a few branches which were touching the balconies, but I couldn’t reach very well and it made my arms ache. For dinner I made a roasted vegetable pasta dish from the Slimming World magazine and it was surprisingly good. I had an early night in readiness for tomorrow’s fun – a bit of rare exercise!