We spent most of the week catching up with friends, Pat and Colin our neighbours were over for a short stay, Sheila and Don and Trev and Marge are doing well and of course Leon and Julie and the kids still surviving the quiet winter.

There was'nt many places open for business, but enough to get by. We still had some nice nights out. Temsi Bar at the top of town was open, log fire burning and the usual curry special to warm you up, well worth the visit, and of course leons bar is still the place to meet old friends and drink copious ammounts of Raki.  So all in all  a good time to visit. We sorted out some maintenance issues and eventually we were presented with our completed Tapu, photographs on and officially stamped, all is good. Looking forward to the summer....Bring on the sunshine.

If you are from Bolton, whats the best way to celebrate hitting the big 50 - a week in Dalyan with 20 of your friends of course - and that is exactly what Raki Rob did!!!  He asked everyone if they were coming to his 50th and then when they said yes, he told them it was in Dalyan and lasted for a week!

We met two of the Bolton Crew (John and Rob) in Tin Tin Bar on Monday night or should I say Tuesday morning  and after showing them a magic trick or two, got invited along to the rest of the celebrations - starting with a boat trip with unlimited booze (including Raki) where we met the rest of the Bolton Crew.  This was followed by a BBQ at Muff's Rock Bar and last supper at Metin.  Best of allwe got the chance to hear the very talented Guitar Geoff
stevie ray vaughan livesplay a live acoustic set outside the Rock Bar.   The only shame was that they didn't have a licence to allow Base Geoff (or Klunk Eastwood as he is better known) to set up his amp and join in. 

What a great bunch, the whole week our sides were splitting with laughter with Peter Kay Bolton humour, especially Paula's tortoise joke and "its spitting come on in"!  We also found a great new bar/restaurant called Temsi run by Ismet.  It's opposite the Queens Hotel, just off the main street (turn right when you get to the watch shop). On our last night, Kemal (the Saz playing chef from Cardak restaurant) came along to Temsi after he finished work and played a live set of Turkish music for us, a perfect end to a perfect week.

jeff mark and paula

 Yet again we have had a fantastic week in Dalyan and made even more friends.  We reckon we need at least a month there next time to be able to spend some time with all of them!!  And, of course, an extra month to recover.

These 2 are our good friends Taffy and Miriam. Taffy is a welsh turk who has a really cool retaraunt right in the middle of town. He does a really fabulous lamb dish , whole leg of lamb slow cooked , the meat just falls apart its so tender (24 hours notice needed) .

 another beautiful day by the river...

We were invited to meet him at his house the next day and then to have breakfast. His house is the biggest wooden turkish house in Dalyan and pretty impressive to say the least. Balconies all round, 6 bedrooms, numerous living areas and bathrooms, a huge double garage and garden. Also attached to the house is a guest bungalow and in the garden is a summer house for entertaining. While looking around i noticed photographs of him and his family and asked him about them. It turns out that he is one of the people responsible for the protection of Dalyan and the preservation order set up to prevent anyone ruining the natural beauty of the area by over building. Back in the 80's there were plans to build a 3000 room hotel right on the beach, this had to be stopped to protect the turtles that lay their eggs there, and also to keep the area untouched and the wildlife in balance. So without knowing it we became friends with a local hero, in fact you could say a world famous conservationist .

So after visiting his house we headed off to breakfast, down the coast road towards Iztuzu beach and ended up at a friends restaurant called Ekin club on the edge of the most beautiful lake. Once there we had the most devine Turkish breakfast, cheese rolls, pancakes, various salads, honey, olives,bread and of course chips.

Wouldn't it be fantastic to be able to start every day like this ? Thanks Abidin for a wonderful start to our day, unforgettable

Cant wait to get back though, October is just right, NOT TOO HOT..NOT COLD !   just right for geting out on the bikes and doing some exploring. Back to the top of radar mountain for breath taking views ''literally''. This time we fancy trying a ferry crossing or even a boat trip up the lake to the mud baths, then down the dirt track tot the tombs.

I never caught any but Rick did.  But  it just didn't matter. The journey down the river is breath taking, through the reed beds and past the tombs and city of Kaunos, you eventually arrive just behind Iztuzu beach in a secluded little bay.

Well! wether you like it or  not, you just have to do the mud bath thing.

There are 2 mud baths, one at the bottom of the lake (which is where all the boats you see chugging up the river everyday are heading) and one a bit further up called Sultanye. Sultanye is the to go for as it is much quieter and much more picturesque.

12 ISLANDS CRUISE.

This trip is a must. You will be picked up and taken to gocek, on the way you will go through the new tunnel which takes you straight through the middle of a mountain, you used to have to go over the top of.