I am in Fethiye looking at BIG boats. Which is fun. I popped over to Ölüdeniz, over the hill, this afternoon, and climbed down rocks because I refused to go on the nasty overcrowded beaches full of English kids on half-term which you have to pay for anyway, and paddled in the lagoon waters.

Then I went down to the long beach end with all the cafes and sat in a big comfy bean bag drinking iced coffee while paragliders swooped in and occassionally tried to land on my head, or knock over my drink, or suchlike. Then I went and had Turkish-flavoured fajitas which were very nice all the same. Yum!

* posted by nat 6:55 PM

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

So here I am in Koycegiz, after demanding NO TOURISTS! at the bus station in Antalya, six hours of dolmus later this is where we ended up. And it is nice - better to say 'not touristy' - and there's a lake, and a channel down to the sea. Today us and a half coachload of people (not tourists, very nice people) who are going over land from Istanbul to Cape Town (!) went out on a boat (I served drinks and thus am earning my keep!) down to the sea via Lydian rock tombs, a bit of swimming, and catching small fish to feed to the local cats. It was very loverly.

Tomorrow I am off I-don't-quite-know-where - down to Fethiye for certain (more rock tombs!) and after that on a ruin quest. Which is not difficult in Turkey. And the fisherman is off back to his own lake and his own nets.

(And on a side note - it wasn't how I imagined it would be at all. But I expect I'll have forgotten it all by tomorrow. After all that!)

* posted by nat 8:47 PM

Sunday, October 24, 2004

Mmm, this is fun, drinking cocktails at Mehmet's Bar in Side, looking out over the sea and... ooooh, a tavla challenge -

* posted by nat 6:32 PM

Monday, October 18, 2004

So after a week of running round Istanbul achieving very little in a short space of time this morning I took the plane to Antalya and am now installed in a small apartment with the parents on the outskirts of Side. Side is full of ruins and as long as you avoid the town centre is really rather pretty. Lots of the restaurants have tanks full of tortoises outside. Some people have tried to sell me a tortoise. I am considering releasing one back into the wild, but it probably wouldn't know what to do with itself without lettuce dropping on its head from great heights every now and again.

The only reason I am in this net cafe at all is to try and read some email. Naturally Yahoo has chosen this moment in its life to fall over. Suuuuper. Although I note that it says half an hour is 2 Euro on the wall, but when I asked the man how much it would cost he said 1 million. Got to love the fluid exchange rate!

* posted by nat 3:48 PM

Tuesday, October 12, 2004

I am not in Egirdir anymore. Waaaaaaaaaaaaah! I came back on the night bus last night, and here I am in rainy wet Istanbul again. A stupid bus decided to drive through a puddle and soak me just after I got off, so I got in a taxi and sulked all the way back to Yasmin's!

(Text messages from Yasmin over the course of the night:

01:42 Keys under the door
02:19 Doors! Front included
03:49 Ignore all messages. Just ring the bell!

I rang the bell but no answer, so eventually I let the phone ring for what felt like hours, Mustafa answered it and let me in. By the time I got up the two flights of stairs he had gone back to bed, so I had to ring the flat doorbell and he had to get out of bed and let me in again. Yasmin slept through the whole thing!)

Yesterday Mustafa (the fisherman, for the sake of clarity) drove me halfway up to Akpinar in a little old clapped-out red car, showed me where he lived, then drove on a bit further and said, "And here's where I want to build my house. A fantastic view over the lake, no neighbours, total freedom." Then he looked at me and said "How about it?"

I looked at the view and said, "Gah!"

* posted by nat 2:03 PM

Wednesday, October 06, 2004

I feel loved.

I was having a particularly bad day on Monday, as a whole bunch of people here left to go off for a few day's trekking on the St Paul's Trail, and I was feeling horribly creaky and hobbly and couldn't face going, so instead I sat around in the hostel and sulked, until El called to say that Fran had had a baby girl, which makes me as close to an aunt as makes no odds, and cheered me up enormously!

Then yesterday was my birthday, and I was just overwhelmed - my phone hardly stopped going all day, I've had messages and phone calls from everywhere, even a few presents from some of the people here at the hostel; I treated myself to the hamam, and in the afternoon four Czechs turned up bearing Slivovice and Becherovka, which we drank in the evening, and my life was complete!

* posted by nat 1:38 PM

Friday, October 01, 2004

I'm still in Egirdir - not that this should come as any surprise to anyone!

I have officially moved in: I answer the phone, provide translation services, help Havva with pulling the cushion covers off for washing, babysit Tugba, help Müslüm with his English homework, teach tavla to all and sundry, continue to beat Mustafa at said game, check the e-mail for reservations, and am now gainfully employed correcting some of the worse English errors on the hostel website. (It's either that or help clean the windows, no no no no!)

And when it gets less hot I will go down to the lakeshore again! In the meantime it's time for a quiet bit of crochet.

* posted by nat 12:40 PM