T+103: OLU DENIZ

(NOTE: i spent the morning creating a whole bunch more albums on the photo site so there are loads more pics to view :)

arrived olu deniz about 30 mins late on the afternoon of monday aug 14 and was greeted by a wall of heat as i stepped onto the tarmac. istanbul was hot, but this was HOT. had no idea what time rich & steve's flight actually arrived so headed over to the international terminal to check the board. luckily, his flight was just arriving. unluckily, they only allow passengers into the international terminal, even for arrivals so had to wait outside in the heat. and wait. seemingly took forever for them to get their bags & clear customs but in the end, they came out and we hopped in the van to the hotel.

got to the hotel & checked in. not bad for ₤20 a night: clean room, air conditioning, breakfast included and a pool. a note on air conditioning: air conditioning here, i've noticed, is quite different from ac in north america. although my room had ac and i put it on high the whole time, the room never really got that cold. it was cool to be sure, but not the cold storage temperature you get in north america. same in cars.

after we were all checked in, we strolled down to the town to meet rich's friend ismail who owns a shop there selling shoes, bags, watches & sunglasses. first night was predictably late, and the following day was spent loafing on the beach, drinking beer & mojitos & swimming in the ultra salty and intensely blue mediterranean. most days were spent in similar fashion, just different locations on the beach and lagoon.

the following night, steve took us out for dinner at the white dolphin, a very nice seafood restaurant on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. it reminded me vaguely of the restaurant that we went to in puerto vallarta for cheryl & gunther's wedding. excellent food and although the turks think it's expensive and we were crazy to spend that much, it certainly isn't at all by western standards. we feasted like kings on the likes of langostines and grouper with plenty of wine. the fish was fresh, you choose your prey and they cook it up. yum! yum!

thursday, ismail took us to a restaurant called cim bals in the countryside for turkish bbq. we had the most unbelievably tender tandir lamb which was cooked in the big clay ovens followed by delicious lamb chops cooked table side on a small grill as we loafed about on cushions under the shade of the grape vines. we also checked out the 'ghost road': a portion of road that would appear to be a downhill slope but a car left in neutral will roll uphill. steve is firmly convinced that it's an optical illusion but rich & i are skeptical. i think it is ghosts pulling the car back up the hill.

friday, ismail's wife gave birth to a beautiful little girl. unfortunately, she is in germany so ismail couldn't be there for the birth, but he was grinning like a fool when we saw him that day. much celebrating was done that night at the bars along the beach.

saturday, steve and i went paragliding. neither of us had ever done it before so were slightly apprehensive, but ismail said it was a reputable place and got us a good deal. sky sports is apparently the only company in olu deniz that jumps from the highest point on the mountain, some 1900m above sealevel. steve was slightly delicate that day and the 45-minute ride up the mountain along a winding and very bumpy road in the back of a truck didn't do him any favours. i rather suspect that perhaps most people who paraglide simply see it as preferable to taking the return journey down the mountain in the truck!

i took off first and although i was quite nervous, it was really pretty easy. it's an incredibly free feeling soaring up in the air at around 2000m. my pilot, onur, and i took off and we swooped around waiting for steve & his pilot to go. for whatever reason, steve's pilot never went as high as mine and he was down on the ground well before me. onur took me out over the bay and the lagoon and did a few swoopy maneouvers before setting me safely down on the ground. it was a total blast and i even have a dvd of the whole flight to bore people with when i get home :)

that evening, ismail had us over to his house for dinner with his mother, sister and niece. his brother-in-law (i will not even attempt to try to spell his name) cooked an incredible kebap dinner, served it, and then went back to work in the store. poor guy!

sunday, steve and i booked a day trip to the surrounding bays and islands. temperature had been getting absolutely riduculous at this point, a steady 45+ for the past few days, so i hoped that a trip on the water would offer some respite. unfortunately, it didn't. it was just as hot out there so as soon as we hit the first stop, butterfly valley, it was into the water. butterfly valley is a bit hippie/ backpacker with lots of people camping. i can't imagine being in a tent in this heat. we made a few more stops, including st. nicholas island which was quite interesting but entirely too hot to explore properly in the limited time that we had for the stop. at every stop, small little motor boats would pull up selling ice cream and gozleme (thin pancakes with various fillings). the gozleme boats were very interesting, one guy piloting the boat and doing the selling and a woman rolling out (pancakes are made of dough rather than a batter) and cooking the pancakes on a big griddle.

monday night was my last night so we headed down to the beach to relax in the bean bag chairs and partake of the hookahs and the following day, more lazing on the beach, a nice dinner and then off to the airport for me where, upon check-in, the airline claimed not to have me on the flight. needless to say, this did not impress in the least; however in the end, they accepted my bags and i flew to amsterdam. arrived around 1am so booked into an airport hotel and then took the train to utrecht the next morning and am safe and sound at saskia & greg's lovely house beside the river :)