Dalyan – 1st April

On Wednesday 1st April I woke up much earlier than I would’ve liked, now that I didn’t have to get up for Norman. April started off with me trying to decide if I could maintain the £10 per day budget for another month – I had proved it could be done but it wasn’t easy. I had friends here, I’d been invited to events and outings plus a boat trip booked in and a trip to the hairdresser’s. So, realistically, I really should try to keep my spending to a minimum even though Captain Caveman had offered to continue to support me, as needed. The minimum wage for a Turkish person was 33,000 lira (£550) per month and I was trying to ensure I lived below that. I didn’t have rent or electricity to pay out of that, though, so I didn’t know how the locals were managing to live. A 1 bedroom apartment in Dalyan was costing over 20,000 lira (£339) now.

I got weighed to find I had put on 0.6kg (1.3lb) using my home scales but my measurements were more favourable; no change to my bust or hips but 3cm off my waist. At Fat Club I did better on Carol’s scales but had still put on 0.35kg (0.8lb). I spent just 30 lira (51p) on water and resisted the very tempting cookies at Ren Garden. I called at Migros after the group meet up and bought the following, prices in lira;

Migros Supermarket

Green peppers 56.04
Red peppers 58.64
Olives 61.50
6 eggs 72.95
Cashew nuts 95.00
2 Quark 111.90
Cheese 166.90
Total spent 622.93 lira (£10.56)

After work I had arranged to meet The Aussies, Amanda and Greg, for the opening of Lukka bar. It’s one of the closest bar and restaurants to where I live and the owners, Mehmet and Katrina are friends of mine. In my honest opinion this place is not for cheap chasers as they tend to have higher prices than some of the popular places with expats, however, I like the location, the staff and the quality so it’s been on my favourites list for a number of years. We’d said 6pm and I got there on time and waited for my friends who are usually late, I met the new staff and spoke to Mehmet, the owner. Lukka bar had been decorated and it was much more red and black, which looked good. I ordered a soda water while I waited for my friends. I wasn’t planning on eating at Lukka as I had food out of the freezer but my friends wanted to. They ordered gin and tonic and whiskey sours so I ordered a glass of Angora red wine. Amanda ordered a satay chicken and Greg ordered another chicken dish with a sauce so I just ordered a starter of the garlic mushrooms. Incidentally, when we ordered our meals, we were asked if we had any allergies and Mehmet even checked if I could eat bread with my mushrooms and that I wasn’t gluten free. He let me know that this year they were going to be able to do gluten free meals and gluten free bread – this was good for my Coeliac sister who was visiting this summer.

The food was excellent and was still the old menu while the new chef and staff got up to speed. The service was good too and not intrusive. Although Lukka is certainly not the cheapest place in town, I didn’t think it extortionate by any means. Here’s what I paid for what I had;

1 Soda water 70 lira (£1.19)
1 glass Angora red wine 250 lira (£4.24)
1 Garlic mushrooms 300 lira (£5.08)
Tip 100 (£1.69)
Total spent 720 lira (£12.20)

It was a really good evening, despite the torrential rain by the time we were leaving. The Aussies went off to meet friends at Corner bar but I was good and went home for an early night. As I climbed in to bed, Captain Caveman was leaving Saigon to fly back to Heathrow. He would land at 3pm tomorrow and be back at work on Friday.

Gratitude List

1. The Fat Club group
2. Meeting up with The Aussies
3. A great night out at Lukka bar.