Our boat launching service is in full swing ...
friend Kevin has just purchased a small boat to go fishing in,

and needed some help to get it to the water
and also to arrange the mooring

Spring Cleaning

Just to prove that life here isn't one long holiday,
here I am spring cleaning the carpets


And while I was doing that, Sue was working hard
in the house, you know, curtains, floors, windows ....
a million and one things to do

Şirince

We took a trip with a couple of friends to a pretty little village
called Şirince which is famous in Turkey for wine.


It's about 8Km from Selçuk and
a thousand feet up in the mountains
amongst the vineyards and olive groves



Some of the buildings are stunning,

As you can see

There were many opportunities to sample the local produce

And the locals didn't miss any chance to sell you something

We indulged ourselves by purchasing
a few bottles of wine and some olive oil.


More pictures can be found in our picture gallery

Banks of banks

You probably don't want to know this, but yet another bank is opening in Didim.
This is number 11



The other 10 are: Garanti, Akbank, TEB, Vakif, HSBC, Ziraat, Iş, Finans, Halk, and Yapi.

They must all be expecting an explosion of business in the area.

Doğanbey 2008

We took another trip to Doğanbey to visit the abandoned Greek village. The Greeks left it in 1924 when there was an exchange of citizens between Turkey and Greece after the Great War.

Now some of the houses are being restored sympathetically, and the village is very picturesque as you can see.

There was also the chance to partake of a little refreshment, courtesy of the local spring.

If you would like to see more click http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/david.kearton/Doganbey

The Launch

As the weather has improved and despite it being the 13th
we decided to put the anti-foul paint on and launch our dinghy.

So with the help of a few friends we loaded it up on it's trailer and pushed it down to the sea

There we tried to remember where all the ropes and other bits and pieces went,
before

moving it out to it's mooring.

Now we wait for a suitable day for it's maiden voyage of the year.

And good luck to those who sail in her!!

To Iassos via Akbuk

The trip was really to see the wild flowers in the forests behind Akbuk



But having done that we continued on to Iassos

There were some amazing views


And when we reached Iassos there were many archealogical sites to explore


All these pictures can be enlarged by clicking on them

To see more of the pictures from this trip go to
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/david.kearton/ViaAkbukToIassos

Spring in Yeşilkent

A Trip to Izmir

We decided to visit Izmir and took the bus. From the main bus station, there are free mini-buses to all parts of the city.
We chose to go to Basmane and then walk down through the streets to the Bazaar.

Here they sell anything from wedding dresses and suits, to fresh fish and spices.

All sorts of knick-knacks, and antique paraphernalia

Then we came to the sea front, where we wandered around Konak Pier (Designer shops and an English bookshop)

Also some alfresco dining

Before taking the ferry across to Karşyaka
Many more shopping opportunities there before taking the bus back to Didim.

French Quarter

The new "French Quarter" is coming along as you can see.
The idea is to have small cafés and tables, umbrellas etc all along the street eventually.