Dalyan – 7th October

When I went to feed Norman and Edna at 7am on Monday 7th October, you would think that they had not been fed in ages, they were both so giddy and were running around the kitchen with excitement. I had cereal and a cup of tea while the dogs snaffled down their breakfast. It was still very warm for October and I wandered back to check out some stuff that Captain Caveman had unpacked. He had brought lots of cheap medication, coffee for him, Phong Nha and szechuan peppercorns, pho stock cubes and dried pho noodles, which I was so pleased about. By 9.30am I was in the bank putting in more English money and drawing out Turkish and repeating it to get most of the monthly required amount in.
I called at the shop for some treats on the way back round to see Norman and Edna where I bought the following, prices in lira;

BIM Supermarket
1 plastic bag 0.25
Fresh bread 10.00
Plain crisps 27.00
2 Dido chocolate bars 29.00
6 mini Magnum ice-creams 169.90
Total spent 236.15 lira (£5.27)

Captain Caveman came over to Jamie’s to have lunch with me and after eating a mini Magnum each we had leek & potato soup with a cheese sandwich – one of my favourite lunches. I’d already eaten over the syn allowance for the week but in the afternoon we had a Dido chocolate bar each too. My friend, Debbie, had got me in to them as they are a little bit like a chunky KitKat but with different flavours and usually much cheaper – often on offer in BIM. Not content with 2 treats in the day, we also had some crisps then Captain Caveman and the 2 dogs had a good afternoon snooze in front of the TV, all 3 of them snoring away.

It was Linda’s last day in Dalyan so we had arranged to go out with her that evening, my parents were also invited but were already invited out by their friends. After feeding and taking the dogs out for an earlier walk than usual, we walked over to Kebapçı Yusuf to meet Linda. We were a bit early so I suggested that Captain Caveman take me to Ren Garden for a cheeky wine. I really like Ren Garden, which is a bar on the main Ataturk Street, at the back of it is Grandma’s Garden which is a lovely little hotel with a pool. The owners are very welcoming and the white wine is always fresh and cold. We both had a white wine and then walked back to meet Linda, who arrived at the same time as us. Our table was sat outside, while the weather was still nice and warm. We ordered a bottle of red wine and some lahmacun to be going on with. We all ordered different mains; Captain Caveman had a lamb wrap, Linda ordered a lamb shish and I chose liver shish. We shared one and a half lahmacun between us and a complimentary balloon bread (lavaş). I thought my meal was delicious and I was absolutely stuffed. The total cost for a bottle of wine, 1.5 lahmacun, 1 salad, and 3 mains came to 2500 lira (£55.80), so less than £20 each which was excellent value. After the dinner, we decided to walk Linda back to Riverside hotel and have a night cap, I messaged my parents to let them know, in the hope that they could join for a last drink and say farewell to Linda. Luckily, they were finished eating and were able to pop along. We had a lovely last evening with Linda and it looked like it wouldn’t be her last visit to Dalyan, either.