Dalyan & Köyceğiz – 25th August

While friends in the UK had a bank holiday on Monday 25th August, Captain Caveman and I were off on another adventure from Dalyan. I’d arranged to join a friend’s boat trips to the Köyceğiz market and then I had booked a night in the Kaunos Hotel.
It did mean we had almost a full day on Adıl boat with Captain Fuat and all the lovely guests. We were meant to set off at 9.30am so I was on at Captain Caveman to be on time, he seemed to have increased the amount of times he leaves thing to the very last minute. This means he can rush there but then it always looks like I’m the late one as I can’t keep up. He wasn’t ready, so I decided to take the bin out and said I would wait for him by the bins. It was hot, I waited ages, he never arrived. I called him but he didn’t answer his phone. I walked back to the apartment and he wasn’t there so I decided to walk to the boat – he was already on it, sat playing Bridge on his phone and we had our first fall out!
Captain Caveman was annoyed that I lost my temper at being stood by the bins in the hot sun while he had gone to the boat a different way, not even passing the bin! He then retaliated by going quiet and going on his phone rather than speaking to anyone. We set off late so Captain Caveman was annoyed at me nagging him to not be late so the trip didn’t get off to a good start. I soon forgot about it when Captain Fuat got out the cake for breakfast. We sailed to Prison Island where some had a swim around it but I was conserving my energy for a swim in the hotel pool later; so we just had a shorter swim.
The lunch was a feast of many delicious dishes and Captain Caveman and I had a beverage or two! When we got to Köyceğiz, we paid our 2000 lira (£37) bar bill, in addition to the £30 each for the boat trip and said farewell. Our friends on the boat had an hour in Köyceğiz while we were going to check in to the hotel and return tomorrow.

Captain Caveman and I checked in to the Kaunos hotel, which was right on the Köyceğiz lake path and had a gorgeous pool. Debbie at Fat Club had been before and had recommended it. I’d chosen the most expensive room type to ensure we had a lake view with a balcony to sit on for sunset and sunrise. My plan was to go to the market and off licence to stock up on cheese, olives, fruit and wine so we could enjoy a romantic evening after our swim in the fabulous pool. Of course, that didn’t quite go according to plan.
I knew Captain Caveman wasn’t feeling 100% but thought it was because he’d been necking beer in the sun and was dehydrated. He wasn’t his usual speedy self as we walked to the market and he didn’t even taste all of the cheeses and olives (it’s not like him to turn down free nibbles). At the market, here’s what we bought with prices in lira;

Market
Cheese 500
Olives 80
Tomatoes & figs 50
Grapes 25
Total spent 655 lira (£12.13)

Bakery
2 Açma 40 lira (74p)

In the Carrefour supermarket Captain Caveman wasn’t in a rush to get out and was browsing slowly for snacks, while I got the last 2 bottles of Prosecco. When Captain Caveman put orange juice in the basket I assumed it was to have bucks fizz the next morning. We spent 940 lira (£17.41) on snacks and fizz which was rather extravagant for me.

We got back to the hotel around 5.15pm and went to get our swimmers on. Again, Captain Caveman wasn’t as speedy as usual and by the time we got down to the pool it was almost 6pm. Unfortunately, the pool was closed for cleaning so we were unable to use it and I was so disappointed – it was the main reason for choosing this hotel. I couldn’t believe it was almost the end of August and I’d still to swim in a swimming pool! The pool man could see my frustration and came over to show me the signs and explain that the hotel pool is always closed from 5.45pm until 10.15am for chemical treatment.
In just my swimwear I went off to the reception to check what time we had to check out. I was flabbergasted to find we had to be out by 10am, 15 minutes before the pool opened! I said to Captain Caveman that we would check out tomorrow but then come to the pool until midday and he agreed. I also insisted we sit on a lounger by the pool for half an hour now, just to get some photos of the pool and hotel grounds.

Back in the room we opened the Prosecco and I got some of the nibbles out. Captain Caveman had to be coaxed out on to the balcony and we had orange juice in our fizz.  Captain Caveman was not bothered about sitting out as ‘he’d seen a sunset before’! He had also started blowing his nose and sneezing a lot and remained laying on the bed for the rest of the night, on his phone.
I sat out on the balcony drinking Prosecco, eating cheese and olives and admiring the romantic view, by myself. It wasn’t quite the day off I’d imagined for the money we had spent!

Gratitude List
1. A lovely boat trip on Adıl boat
2. A hotel stay in Köyceğiz with lovely views
3. Prosecco.

Photo credit – some photos by Captain Caveman