Dalyan – 8th & 9th November

I had cereal for breakfast on Tuesday 8th November before my Turkish lesson at 10am in Lukka bar. Captain Caveman was there at the same time for his Bridge group which lasts for 3 hours.
I went to Singing group in the afternoon while Captain Caveman bought 5kg of washing powder for 82.50 lira (£3.84) in Migros. I was back trying to redeem what was left of this week’s chance to lose any weight but at this point all I could hope for was to have not put weight on. I would probably have gained weight but it might be a good idea not to throw the towel in just yet.
At singing group we sang a new song, to me, Running Bear. It was really hot with the sun coming through the window and I wish I’d wore shorts.
For dinner I made a bit of a make-do meal using my left over Chicken Shashlik, from M-Eyhane on Saturday. I added some extra veg and served it with steamed rice for a low syn dinner which was very tasty and filling. We even had a fruit salad with yoghurt and honey for a treat and I refrained from having any alcohol. By 7pm the temperature had dropped to 21°C and I was a little chilly.

Captain Caveman went Dogging on Wednesday 9th November while I got on with making a syn free snack to take to Fat Club. I went for the easy option of popcorn, which is virtually syn free and you’d have to eat a lot for it to count. I had cereal and milk for breakfast as part of my allowance then for lunch we had a lovely salad. It had lettuce, carrot, red cabbage, onion, peppers, figs, olives and cheese in it and I’d done some Slimming World friendly garlic potatoes to go with it but left them in the oven by mistake. We had a couple of them and saved the rest for another meal as I had to get off to face my result. Obviously, I had put on weight, 0.7kg to be exact, so that wasn’t good. We sat around in the group and tried each others’ snacks. There were courgette fritters and quiche which I didn’t try as they were made with egg. I accidentally did try the breakfast muffin and curry loaf which did have egg in and enjoyed them. If I hadn’t known, it was difficult to tell it contained egg and both were very nice. The pasta salad and broccoli soup were egg free and ones I could definitely do myself so it gave me some good ideas.
After Fat Club, I called at Rehab bar to collect Vanessa so that we could go to see Kate. I also needed the toilet as the egg had taken effect. Kate had been recovering at home after surgery in Fethiye hospital so it was so nice of everyone at Fat Club to give me some of their snacks to take. Vanessa and I cycled over as she updated me on the events and their recent trip to Fethiye. When we arrived it was clear that Kate had not been taking things that easy and had been baking, quite a lot! We sampled a small piece of plum scone which was lovely and she’d made plum chutney with Wolfie’s plums. We didn’t stop too long as we hoped she would get a nap in before Mark came home from pool.
Back home I limited myself to just 1 glass of wine with dinner, Captain Caveman made a diet friendly chicken pasta dish and we had strawberries with yoghurt for after.

Dalyan – 3rd November

While Captain Caveman went Dogging, I got ready for Jamie and Drew’s return on Thursday 3rd November. I stripped the bed and put a wash on then made sure the house was tidy and packed ready to leave. Norman and Edna were excited to be having their owners back home and were a little bit giddy when they saw my rucksack. We sat outside in the lovely sunshine and every time a car came near, the dogs thought it might be Jamie’s taxi. When at last they did arrive, the dogs were so happy.

I didn’t stay long as I had another appointment to get to; I was off to Mark and Kate’s for more house and pet sitting while they had a couple of days away. After buying more credit for my Turkish phone, I met Captain Caveman along the way. I parked Daisy, my bicycle, up outside Rehab bar and we went in to Sosyete for a bite to eat. We both had a pide served with a lovely complimentary pomegranate salad which was all delicious – I’d not noticed before but they don’t serve alcohol. At Bumming today the volunteers had very sadly found a dead turtle and cleaned up lots of rubbish from the river areas so Captain Caveman had certainly worked up a good appetite. He wasn’t joining me at Mark and Kate’s this time, firstly because of his cat allergy and secondly, because our friend, Rob, was coming to visit us tomorrow and he wanted to get the apartment prepared. We called at Migros where Captain Caveman bought a bottle of the red wine, Fiona, recommended by Linda, but he took that with him.

I was at Mark and Kate’s in time for the cat feeding and I let myself in as I already had a key. My bedroom had been made to look very cosy and had an overzealous amount of cushions. Unfortunately one of the younger cats startled poor Casha, who’s only got one eye, and she ended up hiding in the crisp box for the rest of the night.
When I went to bed I tried to download something to watch on Netflix but I got an error message. As I updated my diary I realised I had already had double the weekly syn allowance and it was only Thursday. Still, I’d had no alcohol today which was a bonus. I went to sleep fairly early, knowing I’d be up at 7am tomorrow to feed the cats.

Photo credit – The Riverbums/Dalyanlı

Dalyan – 1st November

My day started badly on Tuesday 1st November, when I kicked the coffee table with 3 toes at once. It hurt and I knew I had broken at least one toe. Luckily Captain Caveman was on dog walking duties so I only had to get myself to Turkish class for 10am and I was cycling. I couldn’t speak to our Turkish teacher for help with the electric meter issues because she had other people to help and her next class. Instead, I made a phone call to Aydem to try to get it sorted, again. They told me that they couldn’t see any reason for cutting the communal pool and garden electric off and that the payment had been made so they seemed as confused as me. They told me that they really couldn’t do much without a paper bill and said there should be some appearing this week, if not already.
I ate left over chicken casserole, with white beans in, for lunch and decided to do a tally of all of the electricity which Captain Caveman had paid for this year. He’d never asked any other apartment for their contribution to the communal electric and had no intention of doing so. I sent him all the info which took me an hour to collate, in a way that made sense. Interestingly, the bills for the pool and garden had been zero from February to June, once again showing that no one had used any pool or garden electricity until probably May, this year. July’s payment was double that of June’s when the pool was likely to have been used more too. For some reason the August and September payments were never requested by Aydem with Captain Caveman’s bank but October’s payment was less than July’s. I didn’t get a reply or acknowledgement from Captain Caveman so I went to singing group with Mom, Vanessa and Kate. In addition to some of the usual songs, we sang ‘Both sides now’ and ‘City of New Orleans’. Back ‘home’ I sunbathed with Norman on the patio while Captain Caveman tried to check the meter cupboard at his own apartment for a paper bill. For the first time in years the cupboard was locked and no one had a key for it. On his way home he went to Migros as we were running low on Norman’s turkey ham, used for hiding his tablets in. He bought a packet of turkey ham, cherry juice and orange juice for a total of 86 lira (£4.09).
That night we had sausage cassoulet with carrots and potatoes and I resisted the wine. Captain Caveman drank quite a bit of it as he was annoyed at the never ending communal electric issue.

Dalyan – 24th & 25th October

While I met another clothes buying friend, on Monday 24th October, Captain Caveman made us another breakfast fry up. We had our breakfast as a brunch and it was very nice. I thought, as I had a quiet week, this week, I might join the Fat Club on Wednesday. Some of the Dalyan ladies had already been doing quite well and I did want to lose a bit of weight – my winter clothes were a bit too snug!
For dinner I made chicken with potatoes, onion, carrot, spinach and corn on the cob which was quite tasty (and I love corn on the cob with a bit of Lurpak butter on)! No alcohol was drank by me today, which made a nice change. That night we stayed in and watched more of the Jeffrey Dahmer series on Netflix.

It was a busy and eventful day on Tuesday 25th October. Captain Caveman was at the supermarket while I was getting ready for Turkish class. Here’s what he bought on his first trip;

Migros Supermarket
Tinned tomatoes 18.32
2 Chocolate croissants 21.90
Rice 28.50
2 Orange juice 52.00
2 jars peanut butter 89.80

Total spent 210.52 lira (£10)

While I was at Turkish class, Captain Caveman went back to Migros and bought chocolate spread and tahini for a total of 70.95 lira (£3.38) so that I could have this for breakfast. He also wanted the tahini for his Baba Ganoush making.
At lunchtime I went to Kaunos tea gardens with my parents and Vanessa, Captain Caveman was meant to join us but went to the wrong tea garden and said I told him the wrong one. I had a standard sized Turkish tea which is a bargain 4 lira (19p), Vanessa was sensible and had a large tea for 6 lira (29p) and my parents were on the Efes Malt at 50 lira (£2.38). My parents had a cheese toastie each, I had a cheese gözleme (pancake) and Vanessa had a chocolate one. Each were 35 lira (£1.67) and the food is served quickly with good sized portions. I couldn’t manage half of mine so when Captain Caveman arrived an hour late, he finished mine. He’d already had a beer and his lunch at the other tea garden on his own, out of principle. Mom, Vanessa and I left Captain Caveman and Dad at the hardware store, Vanessa and I pushed our bikes and walked along with Mom.
Our next adventure was singing group where we were also joined by Kate. Gay Gaz had kept threatening to join but he had not appeared as yet. We sang most of the usual ones but this time there was ‘Some Days are Diamonds’.
After singing group, Kate had arranged to meet Mark at Okyanus so I’d messaged Captain Caveman for him and Dad to meet us there. Unfortunately Mark had arrived 20 minutes before Captain Caveman, Dad and the bar man and couldn’t get a beer. He’d left with the face on and gone to Jiks so Kate went home and we went to Okyanus. Captain Caveman and Dad had managed to get served fine, in fact they had managed to get served without delay in all the bars they went in after the hardware store, so we messaged Mark to come join us. He was still sulking and had already decided Okyanus wasn’t for him today. As the sun went behind the trees at Okyanus, we decided to chase the warmth and go to Tez bar. We were only going for one because I had a chicken dish in the slow cooker for dinner. There was a man there, called Big Bob, who decided to corner my (quite tiddly) Dad’s attention and talk at him for about an hour. When I went to the toilet, just before we were leaving there was a bit of an ‘incident’. Captain Caveman had been listening to Big Bob’s bullshit and decided to address this with him. When I emerged from the back of Tez’s, my parents were stood up saying bye and Captain Caveman had left. There was no sign of Big Bob either! My mom was worried I would tell Captain Caveman off because he does have a tendency to be rather blunt, often considered rude to some. When I asked what happened she said Captain Caveman had told Big Bob he was full of shit and no one wanted to listen to it. You can’t take him anywhere! On this occasion he was right, though, as it turned out 2 sets of people we know had already left Tez bar that afternoon because Big Bob was there.
At home we ate the chicken slow cooker dinner with rice and were about to settle down for the night. Jamie messaged to ask if we wanted to meet him at Lukka bar for one so off we went, back out. Norman and Edna, the dogs, were there too so we made a fuss of them and drank a couple more drinks while chatting.
Neighbours and friends of Vanessa’s came past, on their way to Retro bar, and we arranged to see them at the quiz tomorrow night.

Datça to Dalyan – 15th October

Captain Caveman was awake early on Saturday 15th October, checking the updates on the miners rescue mission. It was fortunate that Captain Caveman wouldn’t need to join the rescue efforts so we went to meet my parents for breakfast. It was our last feast at Datça Vineyard and, this morning, it was even better because we were the only guests. The lady had already set us up two tables, one per couple, overlooking the vineyards. Each table had a feast of all the breakfast items except for cereals and eggs. I helped myself to cereal, the lady brought the rest of the family their choice of eggs and some çay. We filled up our water bottles then went back to the room to pack before the noon checkout. We were sad to be leaving but there were a couple of things to help soften the blow; while we had been gone we had arranged for cleaners to clean our apartments and we were about to treat ourselves to some takeaway wine from the vineyard.

Captain Caveman had the idea that we might want to stop off at the massive Migros supermarket in Marmaris before heading to Dalyan. The weather had turned a bit and updates from Dalyan told us it was raining there. While we had the car it would be helpful to my parents to stock up on anything hard to carry so we did just that. Captain Caveman and I also got a trolley full and we ended up filling the car up between us with lots of essentials. By late afternoon it was rainy so we only just made it back in time to unload the car and get it back for 5pm.

Here’s what Captain Caveman and I bought at Migros and the prices in lira:

Apples 7.21
Envelopes 7.90
Mouthwash 7.95
Bin liners 10.74
Red peppers 12.97
Schweppes bitter lemon 16.00
Schweppes tonic 16.00
Tomatoes 18.32
Turkish salami 21.90
Gherkins 22.05
Spinach 22.92
2 x salt & vinegar crisps 24.50
Blu-tac 24.50
Yoghurt 26.50
3 x pasta 28.50
Washing up sponges 30.45
3 x passata 39.60
Corn on the cob 44.92
Cheese balls 47.95
2 x Cherry & apple juice 48.00
2 x orange juice 52.00

Total spent 562.78 lira (£26.80)

We decided to brave the rain and reconvene in Lukka bar for a beer, seeing as that was where the car was being collected from. We contemplated eating there but, instead, we booked a table at Duble, a nearby Turkish restaurant which had been getting good reviews recently. It was only in the old market square so if it carried on raining we all weren’t too far from home. Mom had a glass of white wine which was only 50 lira (£2.38) but the rest of us shared a bottle of red. The bottle was 250 lira (£11.90) but, as it happened, would have been cheaper by the glass. For starters Dad and I had chicken soup which could be the best I’ve had in Dalyan. Mom and Captain Caveman had liver plus we had about 3 lots of warm bread. Dad and I both had the beef casserole for mains, Mom had lamb chops and Captain Caveman ordered something none of us knew what it was. It was a shepherd’s casserole and we all loved our food, I couldn’t finish all of mine, as usual, so Captain Caveman popped home to get my tupperware. The whole bill came to 1,180 lira (£56) which wasn’t bad for what we had.
As the rain started to get heavier there were a couple of blips in the power so it was home time. We got back to a lovely, clean apartment just as a storm started.

Dalyan – 9th & 10th October

I was up and feeding the cats around 7am on Sunday 9th October, the mornings were starting to get a little chilly now. Captain Caveman was still a sneezy mess despite 180mg of fexofenadine each day. The internet was still patchy too so we decided to cycle over to our apartment for breakfast. We left the cats out playing and had a lovely leisurely journey back in to town. We ate fresh bread, various spreads and I had yoghurt with jam.
The issue of the pool and garden maintenance raised it’s head again when we were told of complaints from some neighbour’s guests. The pool and garden was unkempt, the communal electric was off and the rentals in 2 apartments had complained to their Estate Agent. They had asked for a full refund and moved out, we couldn’t understand the issue with the electric though. Captain Caveman took over the communal payment of the electric for our complex, of 10 apartments several years ago. He had also had a notification from the bank that the payment would be taken tomorrow. As far as we were concerned there shouldn’t have been a problem but it was about to turn in to one.
We stayed home for lunch and had the Slimming World style pizzas with a glass of wine. When we got back to Mark and Kate’s house the sun was almost setting and the cats arrived early for feeding.
We had dinner of the leftover chicken and salad picnic, I had a glass or 2 of wine and Captain Caveman had a beer or 2 while stroking JC, the cat!

By 7.30am on Monday 10th October all the cats had been fed and were playing outside. Bebek and Bubble liked to pretend they were modelling for a photo shoot on top of the sex swing. By 9am Captain Caveman (still a sneezy mess) and I were at Migros picking up some breakfast and provisions. We bought 3 croissants and 1400g of chicken for 123.39 lira (£5.74). I took a photo of the prices of taxis in Dalyan and was getting excited at the arrival of my parents later tonight. They were due to land at 10.30pm at Dalaman airport and we were looking forward to spending lots of time with them.
Back home we shared the croissants and Captain Caveman went Dogging at the shelter. I got involved in pool and garden maintenance issues over messages about the contractor and the communal electric. There were complaints via our Aussie friends about the garden not being tended too and questions asked about if anyone had seen a gardener. I’m no Miss Marple but, by my account, no workman had been since about the end of May. My photo of my bicycle this morning showed the hose pipe and Rosemary bush had not been touched since I left for Vietnam on 3rd June. More back and forth comments went on with some owners about the state of the overhanging bushes and trees (including the ones I had cut down a year or so ago and had resulted in Bougainvillea-gate). I got annoyed, took the scissors down to the garden and started snipping away – I knew that failed hairdressing course would come in handy one day!
Once I’d done as much as I could reach, I sent photos to the affected neighbours, informed them it only took me 10 minutes and messaged Captain Caveman to tell him to pick up the spiky cuttings and bin them when he got back. I was getting a bit peeved with the whole situation! When Captain Caveman returned I made suggestions to get another maintenance company lined up for 2023. If he waited much longer to get someone to price for the job we would miss out as all the good ones get snapped up. My thumb remained numb for the rest of the day, from trimming a hedge with kitchen scissors.

I took a photo of the spare bedroom which now had a new bedside table. I’d bought it last year at IKEA and not put it up, so Captain Caveman had done it. We were ready for having guests now and there were a few due.
News of flash flood warnings in central Vietnam came and we were glad that we weren’t there at the moment. Our friends there were preparing for power outages and severe floods. Meanwhile my parents were at Manchester airport ready to come to Dalyan, after 3 months back in Sheffield. When Captain Caveman returned from Dogging he picked up all the sharp cuttings from the pathway, surveyed my handiwork, got annoyed at the garden situation and didn’t even thank me for trying to help.
That evening, after watering the plants, playing and feeding with the cats I got ready for a night out. Jamie came to pick up Captain Caveman and I at 7pm and we went to his villa. Drew had cooked us a lovely lasagne and we had quite a bit of red wine with it. We got to meet (again) Edna and Norman, Jamie’s dogs, who we would be looking after soon.
It was a lovely meal, Jamie dropped us back off and went to pick up his friend from the airport. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day!

Dalyan – 4th October

On Tuesday 4th October I went to the local doctors to see if I could get my Corona vaccine booster because my ‘Life Fits in to Home’ app had told me I was due one. This would be my 4th Turkish Pfizer jab, in addition to the 2 Astra Zeneca jabs in Vietnam prior. At the doctor’s they said they needed 6 people so they took my phone number to let me know when they had enough takers. I tootled off to Turkish class next and I really enjoyed my lesson.
At midday I made a halloumi salad for lunch which was very nice then we waited for the temperature to drop a bit. It was still 30°C when Captain Caveman and I went out for a spot of shopping. Here’s what we got and the price in Lira;

Turkcell phone top up for the month
88.00 lira (£4.12)

Migros supermarket

Onions 3.92
Vine ripened tomatoes 13.31
1 litre Tonic 16.00
1 litre Bitter lemon 16.00
Red peppers 16.05
Batteries 19.20
Orange juice 23.25
Barbecue sauce 34.95
Turkey 51.90
Toothpaste 65.00
Slippers (men’s) 89.90

Total spent 299.48 lira (£14)

By 5pm we were back home, on the balcony, sipping beer and nibbling on cheese while contemplating what to have for dinner. I cooked rice and a kind of chicken fajita dish which Captain Caveman had in a wrap but I just had rice with it. It was very tasty and set us up for the evening.
By 9pm we were back at River Terrace where we joined some friends of Kate’s plus Gay Gaz who was a bit excitable. He had completed a microlight flight this morning and was now thinking he was immortal – he had booked to go to Babadağ to do the paragliding next! We limited our drinks to just 2 beers each and Debbie (Darling) came to join us for the second half of the live music. After, there was talk of more drinking in Sofra bar but we declined as I had a busy day tomorrow and we were trying to stick to a budget.

Dalyan – 2nd October

Captain Caveman was back to his sprightly self on Sunday 2nd October, which looked to be another sunny day. He went to Migros supermarket as they opened at 8.30am to buy some breakfast items. He bought 1 simit, 1 croissant and 1 chocolate & nut croissant for a total of 25.35 lira (£1.20).
We ate breakfast and, while I caught up on my Turkish, Captain Caveman went back to the supermarket for a bigger shop. Here’s the shopping basket and prices in lira;

Migros Supermarket

1 litre soda water 9.75
Salt 11.50
Cheese 15.50
2 packs of chicken livers 16.81
Apple and cherry juice 21.60
A knife 22.95
3 tomato puree 23.76
Marmalade 24.40
Washing powder 29.06
Roll-on deodorant 30.45
Chicken 41.24
Paper towels 79.90
Toilet rolls 119.90
Olive oil 154.90

Total spent 601.72 lira (£28.83)

Back home, we had a nice chicken salad for lunch and then we had to get ready for the biggest event in Dalyan that I’d ever been to!

At 3.30pm we made our way to the Kaunos tea garden where Victoria Louise Scott was getting married to Bünyamin. A while a go I had received an invite to her Facebook group event which I had read out to Captain Caveman so that he could add the itinerary to his phone. These were the details he had:
4pm Wedding ceremony at tea garden
4.30pm boats to the beach, canapés & drinks on board, photos at the beach
6.30pm back up the river by boat to Paradise hotel for the evening meal
8.30pm evening wedding party.
I decided to wear my pink dress and Captain Caveman wore trousers and a shirt, despite it being extremely hot. When we arrived at the tea gardens there were already lots of guests having a refreshment. There was very little shade and we were melting so we decided to grab a beer. We were joined by Mark, Kate, Debbie (Darling), Roy, Nikki and Bianca. Debbie (Darling) and I stood together to watch the ceremony which was very nice. There were lots of guests, as Victoria is very well known in Dalyan, she is also an Admin for the Dalyan Visitors Facebook page.

Captain Caveman and I followed Mark and Kate towards the boats after the ceremony, Debbie (Darling) and Roy were going to go straight to the hotel and see us there.
When we got to the boat, Mark, Kate and Daisy were on Turgay’s boat but it was now full so we hopped on the next one. Captain Caveman ordered a beer and I had a red wine, both cost the same, 70 lira (£3.35). We had a couple and enjoyed some canapés as we sailed down the river. On the boats we had lots of music and dancing and we got involved in the celebrations, feeling so pleased to have been invited. All of the guests we met were lovely and it was an amazing day. Victoria looked absolutely stunning and everyone had dressed up for this momentous occasion. The traditional Turkish band followed us from boat to boat and were incredible (and loud), the young drummer was fantastic.

We arrived at the Paradise hotel and rejoined Debbie (Darling) and Roy who were already sat at a table and had a wine bucket crammed with bottles of wine. There was also a lot of bottled water on the table which, when we went to sit down, a guest came to move out of the way. She took the waters and a bottle of wine to another table and we thought maybe we were in her seats so we moved down a bit. The table was set lovely and there was a post box for us to put our money/cards in. I didn’t realise how close to the top table we were until Victoria and Bünyamin came in to sit at their table, right behind me. The food came out quickly and was absolutely delicious, Captain Caveman shovelled it in like he was starving and ate anything from my plate that I couldn’t manage. The wine on the table to toast wasn’t to my taste as I’m not keen on sparkling rosé so we stuck to our own red wine. We managed to see Deidre who we missed meeting up with in Holland and she helped me sign the wedding book. Because I had contact lenses in, I had trouble seeing what I wrote. Steve came over with a whisky and I had one with the boys to mark the happy day. We were having a lovely time with lots of dancing and drinking. We were pretty tipsy but we had to leave fairly early as we had Drew’s birthday at River Terrace to attend.

At River Terrace we managed to just catch Jamie and Drew before his celebration ended. On the way home my sandal strap broke and I had to hobble down lovers lane to the bar. We then sat to watch Daisy perform her singing but I really couldn’t drink much more. It had been a great day and we had loved seeing so many people having such a good time.

Dalyan – 27th & 28th September

Our Turkish class was cancelled on the morning of Tuesday 27th September. This meant I could enjoy an unexpected easy day at home. For breakfast I had peaches, figs, yoghurt and honey while Captain Caveman made himself an omelette to have with fresh bread. Our Aussie friends had took themselves off to IKEA in İzmir and Captain Caveman had started to do some small jobs around the apartment.
I got on with pickling some beetroot and onions and then we got an unexpected invite out. Kate messaged to let us know that Daisy would be singing at River Terrace that evening so would we come along to support her. Of course, we said yes but decided we would eat at home first. Captain Caveman had his first go at making the pizzas on wraps and they turned out pretty nice. He also did a Halloumi side salad and we opened a bottle of Tılsım red wine to go with it.
We got to River Terrace before Daisy started singing and she was a bit nervous, she has a lovely singing voice though. By 10pm she was performing a great version of Country Roads, she was pretty good at an Amy Winehouse song too. The customers seemed to enjoy the music, the regular singer and guitarist were also very good but Ali, one of the owners, was totally impressed by Daisy. Kate and I even got up to dance with some other customers from another table so I’d say she had a successful night.

Captain Caveman went to Migros supermarket twice on Wednesday 28th September. The first time he bought 2 chocolate croissants and an onion loaf which cost a total of 40.45 lira (£1.98) and we had a lovely breakfast. On the second visit he bought eggs and bin liners for a total of 54.80 lira (£2.67). For lunch we had the onion bread with hummus, haydari, carrots, gherkins and olives, which was nice.
I spotted a bicycle for sale and enquired about it as it would be great to have some wheels to get about, especially when I’m doing any house or pet sitting for friends. I arranged to go to look at the bike tomorrow and was looking forward to being mobile.
That evening Captain Caveman and I went to the Retro bar quiz with Gay Gaz, Amanda and Greg. Surprisingly we managed to come joint first in the quiz but when we got home Tom, the quizmaster, had put a comment on Facebook that our score was wrong by 10 points so we didn’t actually win. I replied that we hadn’t marked our own so it’s not like we were cheating! I don’t really like quizzes because I’m not very good at them, whereas Captain Caveman loves a quiz. Tom Cree, the man who does the quiz, is very good and makes it more fun. I also like going to Retro bar as it is one of my favourites.

Dalyan – 24th September

Captain Caveman dislikes that I don’t get up early so on Saturday 24th September I had set my alarm to make sure we got to the weekly market. This would be the first time in about 3 years that Captain Caveman had been and he was looking forward to it.
We mainly purchased fruit and veg; onions, potatoes, olives, red cabbage, lettuce, spring onions, figs, plums, peaches, pears and honey. As Captain Caveman was paying and there were no receipts I didn’t note the amount we spent but to give you an idea the most expensive item was a jar of local honey at 80 lira (£3.80).
On the walk back from the market I bit in to one of the pears, only to find it was bad. For lunch we had a lovely salad which Captain Caveman bought a fresh cooked chicken from the butcher’s to go with. That was also 80 lira (£3.80) which is still cheap in English equivalent but the last time Captain Caveman had been here they were only 15 lira but worked out at £2.50 then. I let him know that bread loaves, which used to be 1 lira, were now 3 lira so that he wouldn’t be taken by surprise at the bakery.
In the afternoon we had peaches, plums and figs with a drizzle of honey on – that was delicious.
By 5pm we were in the A101 supermarket buying more essentials, then we popped to Migros for what we were still missing;

A101 Supermarket
Lemons 5.24
Clotted cream 23.50

Total 28.74 lira (£1.37)

Migros Supermarket
Tomato Ketchup 22.00
Gluten Free flour 23.50
Halloumi cheese 28.30
Gherkins 31.90
Mozzarella cheese balls 34.90
Yoghurt 35.95
Fabric Softener 36.90
Washing powder 38.75
Nuts 44.90
Mouthwash 54.90

Total spent 352 lira (£16.77)

We called in to Jiks pub after for a drink where we sat in the beer garden with Sue, Shiela and Ian. I had a cherry juice, Captain Caveman an Efes Malt. We noticed that the service in Jiks wasn’t as sharp as it once was and they had new staff.
Back home, the lights on the pool were on and didn’t seem to be on a timer any more, there were also new additional lights that had been installed. The pool looked like someone had tipped some salt in it but it was still dirty and we hadn’t seen a pool guy yet.
For dinner I decided to try an old favourite from when I used to eat healthy. I think it came from a Slimming World idea to make pizzas from wraps and keep the toppings basic. For each pizza I used 2 spoons of passata as the base, 1.5 slices of salami, 4 olives, 2 mushrooms, a few slices of red pepper and 3 small balls of cheese, sliced thinly. It takes only 7 minutes in the oven and it was the first time Captain Caveman had tried them. We enjoyed the low calorie pizzas, so much so that I got annoyed with Captain Caveman for snaffling it in too loudly. Captain Caveman was annoyed with me for commenting on his lack of manners so I went to bed early.

Dalyan – 20th & 21st September

I only just managed to get myself out of bed in time to walk to Turkish class on Tuesday 20th September. It was at Casablanca Hotel at 10am and I was hungover.
Nothing else much happened that day except for me eating an apple and Captain Caveman managing to get some turkey on offer for 52 lira (£2.47) so that we could have a salad for dinner. I’d forgotten to do weight and measurements this weekend so I did them today. I was now the heaviest I’d been in a couple of years, I’d managed to put 2cm on my bust, 1cm on my waist but lose 4cm from my hips in about a week. My leg measurements had either decreased slightly or stayed the same. We stayed in that night and took it easy while the Aussies downstairs went to the airport to pick up their friend, Chris. Tomorrow, we had organised another fun day out so we needed to recharge our batteries a bit.

We had booked a trip with Ivona and Ismail on their Princess of Ekincik boat on Wednesday 21st September. Amanda and Greg had suggested we get a private trip together for the 4 of us and their guest, Chris. We decided to extend the invite to more friends and fill the boat.
Onboard with the 5 of us were Linda, Annie, Adam & Kath, Julie & Issy, Mark & Kate, Jackie & Chris, Dawn & Steve.
We went to Ekincik Bay and had a lovely day out. The service and food on the Princess of Ekincik boat is superb and we had such a great BBQ lunch. We also were rather lucky that no one had booked the boat for the evening trip so we got to stay out all day and for sunset too. Not everyone knew each other but that didn’t matter and we soon got dancing to Kate’s party playlist.

When we came to pay for our boat trip and drinks it was more money than Captain Caveman had accounted for. The trip itself was 500 lira each (£23.70) but we managed to spend another 1000 lira (£47.57) in drinks, which was a little excessive for our budget but we had a great time.
We had a bit of an after-boat-trip drink at River Terrace but Kate had to leave to meet Daisy at Sofra bar. She took her bag with Mark’s wallet and clothes in so Mark had to go with Captain Caveman to our place to borrow a t-shirt. Most people had one drink but Mark didn’t even finish his before heading to meet Kate in another bar. After River Terrace, where it was 65 lira (£3.09) for a beer we went to Dalyan Cafe for food and another beer.

Photo credit – Adam Newton, Princess of Ekincik

Dalyan – 18th September

I had in my diary to meet Amanda & Greg, our Aussie friends downstairs, for breakfast at 10am on Sunday 18th September. That didn’t happen on account of us still being in bed. While they went off to investigate where their favourite Turkish breakfast was, Captain Caveman took one for the team and braved a Sunday supermarket shop at Migros.
It had been a while since he had been in a Turkish supermarket for a big shop but he did well, here’s what he bought and the prices in lira:

Plastic bag 0.75
Onions 4.36
Potatoes 5.47
Apples 6.33
Lemon juice 7.75
Garlic 8.55
Carrots 10.50
Cherry tomatoes 11.90
Tonic water 13.50
Rice 14.00
Big tomatoes 15.21
Red peppers 17.11
2 cans of Grapefruit juice 19.90
Orange juice 26.00
Bananas 26.95
Toastie Bread 27.95
Eggs 42.50
Minced beef 48.50
Turkish salami 49.90
Butter (Turkish) 53.95
Beetroot 59.90
Chicken 61.58

Total spent 532.56 lira (£25.77)

Prices had gone up several times recently in Dalyan so it was quite a pricey shop but we needed essentials. We probably could have done without the beetroot but it would easily make a big jar of pickled, that would last a while.
I was rather surprised that he’d not bought any alcohol, especially as we had been invited round to a friend’s house in the afternoon for drinks.

We met a couple at Lukka bar so that Captain Caveman could buy a phone from them, then we ended up having a beer, as you do. At 2.30pm we met up with Brian at Lukka who needed a DVD player so we had a good chat with him then a quick drink at Tez bar because Lukka bar was full, for Sunday lunches.
At 3.30pm we popped to Selçuk Market which is our corner shop and Captain Caveman chose a bottle of wine which he liked the name of. We bought some strange looking soda water which turned out to be diet lemonade. We arrived at Adam & Kath’s house where everyone else was already there; Mark, Kate, Daisy, John, Andrea, Dawn & Steve.
They have a snooker table so we all played pool after a few drinks and they put on a rather nice buffet. We definitely drank more wine than we took with us, though, but we didn’t have too late a night as tomorrow we had a celebration to attend. On the way home we passed a bench with a life-sized doll on it, which grabbed Captain Caveman’s attention.

Rhodes – 15th September

We stayed in bed late on the morning of Thursday 15th September, which was nice. Our room at Lefka Hotel had a shutter on the outside of the patio doors which made it dark and quiet.
By 1pm we were eating leftovers for our lunch and decided to open the bottle of Cair red wine, which was great. In the afternoon we went to the supermarket to stock up on cheese, salami, crisps and deodorant before getting ready for our last night in Rhodes.

Michelle and Steve had kindly booked us our ferry back to Turkey tomorrow morning so we made the most of our last Greek evening. Captain Caveman changed some more dollars and we had a walk around the old town, including a mooch about the Gate of St Anthony. We watched sunset at the beach and had a cold beer at the Malt House, which was lovely.

Captain Caveman had booked us in for an eleven course tasting menu at Piatakia for dinner and it was great. The food was excellent and I was brave to try everything except for the tuna and mussels.
On the way home we had one more drink to break up the walk back to our hotel, at a bar I forgot the name of.

Photo credit – some taken by Captain Caveman

Rhodes – 14th September

Captain Caveman and I had originally planned to be back in Dalyan by Wednesday 14th September, however things had changed. Unfortunately, we would miss Sausage Dick’s departure without having seen him this time and there was still no sign of the missing sausages. One of the reasons we decided to stay longer in Rhodes was that Captain Caveman can only stay in Turkey for 90 days which means that he has to spend a month elsewhere this winter.
At 6.20am I was waking up Captain Caveman to look at the stunning sunrise from our hotel balcony. We went back to bed after taking photos and I had an extra snooze before we got ready to check out. We were moving again and we were disappointed not to be staying for longer in Vlycha as it was really lovely.

Our next stop was back to Rhodes Town where Captain Caveman had booked for us to stay at Lefka Hotel & Apartments for 2 nights. We got the bus from Vlycha, outside the TUI Blue hotel, to Rhodes Town. We got off in town and then had to walk, via one of Captain Caveman’s shortcuts, which I was convinced was longer. When we arrived at the hotel there was no one in reception and we were too early to check-in. We left our bags and walked back in to town for some lunch. We went to a restaurant, called Nimmos, which was friendly and fairly busy. We both ordered beer, Captain Caveman had fried cheese and I had chicken kebab. The food was tasty, not the best in the world, but we had been rather spoiled recently. On the way back to the hotel to check in we called in to the supermarket to buy water. I happened to spot the same Cair Cabernet Sauvignon wine from Vlycha for €10 so we bought a bottle.

Lefka Hotel was very nice, we liked our room and the small, clean bathroom. We got ready and went back out for sunset in Rhodes Town. Captain Caveman insisted we try Piccolo Pizza which was a small stall in the old town that had the best pizza and had been recommended by Google. We found a gorgeous little wine bar, called Obscura, where we enjoyed a couple of glasses of very good red wine.

It was after 8pm when we set off walking back towards our hotel for a delicious meal at 4 Rhodies, which was on the way. We over ordered on the food which was outstanding and we had to take a doggy bag back to he hotel. Captain Caveman had liver and I had a huge cheese salad but we kind of shared, there was lots of bread. We had a carafe of the cheap wine which was actually very good for the price. The mains were an egg and potato dish for Captain Caveman and a pork dish for me, both excellent. We walked home stuffed and ready for bed, tomorrow would be our last day in Rhodes.

Rhodes – 13th September

Tuesday 13th September was another wonderful day with a few surprises thrown in. We were up and about fairly early so we decided to check out and get an early bus to Lindos. We’d enjoyed staying at Summer Memories, although the WiFi wasn’t up to much, and would consider staying there again. The bus got very busy but by 10.30am we were in the super touristy town of Lindos. By complete coincidence an old school friend and her husband were going to be in Lindos today too so we arranged to meet up. Captain Caveman found us a nice little cafe called Eklekton and we went right up to the roof top terrace. I wasn’t feeling 100% so I just had an apple juice but Captain Caveman had something eggy on toast. Miraculously, Sam managed to find us easily and we caught up over a drink after almost 34 years. It was really lovely and of course there was lots to talk about – I bet Captain Caveman and Gerald, Sam’s husband, were in danger of having their ears start to bleed! Sam and Gerald didn’t have long to explore Lindos and we had to get to our next destination so we said our goodbyes and promised to meet up when I finally got back to Sheffield.

Captain Caveman and I had a short wander around the winding streets of Lindos with our backpacks on, and in midday sun, before stopping for a beverage. I had a grape smoothie (that’s not code for wine) and Captain Caveman had a Mythos beer at Pal’s.

We got a taxi from Lindos to Vlycha and ended up on the beach with our bags as the taxi driver didn’t know where our hotel was. Captain Caveman had very little cash on him so we didn’t get lunch at the beach bar, just a nice cold beer each. I’d spotted a turn off to our accommodation, Vlycha Beach studios and apartments, so we headed towards it. We checked in with the lady owner who was lovely, if not a little extraordinary. I had a dance with her on the balcony when she showed us our room and then she told Captain Caveman he had to walk to the top of a very steep hill for the nearest cash machine.

While Captain Caveman hiked in full sun, I relaxed at the hotel which was really lovely and one of my favourites of the trip so far.
When Captain Caveman returned we went for a wander to the small supermarket below then drank wine on the balcony until it got dark.
That evening, we walked a short distance to a new eatery called Gaea Beachfront restaurant and bar, part of the Lindos Aqua Terra resort, which looked fantastic. On the way we passed a working ATM machine which meant Captain Caveman needn’t have walked up the hill to the one further away. We ordered a bottle of the Cair Cabernet Sauvignon which was really good and decided to have a few dishes to share. The food was absolutely amazing and at a reasonable price, we even shared a dessert.