New Year's Eve

May we raise a glass to all of you and wish you
A HAPPY NEW YEAR



(Believe it or not - this is an outdoor restaurant!)


We spent the New Year period in Izmir and soaked up the atmosphere

There was live music from a Latin American Band and some fabulous festive lights

Followed by an excellent firework dsiplay

Our new mosque at the end of 2009

Our new Mosque is still rising. As you can see the minarets are now under construction.





If you look back to the end of last year's blog, you will see how far it has progressed.

Boxing Day Charity Swim

Boxing Day in Altinkum brought the now annual swim for charity.





There was a good turn out ...

both of swimmers and spectators/sponsors.

The Swimmers were very lucky this year ... as you will have seen in the side panel, the current sea temperature is 17.4'C and it was a sunny day (21'C)

This time last year the sea was only 12'C , it was raining and a lot colder.

Christmas Sing-a-Long

Christmas is getting in to full swing here as we attended a Christmas Sing-a-Long party at the Hilltop Bar. The words had all been printed out for us, and the DJ put on some all-time Christmas classics, you know the ones "Let the bells ring out for Christmas", "Jingle Bells", "White Christmas". We were hoarse when we left!!

Christmas in Izmir

We visited the Ikea complex in Izmir, and the Christmas/New Year bug has certainly taken hold there.

There were lights and trees and Santas everywhere (although the palm tree in this pic is a little disconcerting)

Even the food hall was bedecked with flashing lights

Panto Season

We had great fun at a panto put on by ex-pats to raise money for a local school for the disabled.

The ugly sisters really were ugly weren't they??

Bayram and Sue's birthday

Sue's birthday co-incided with Kurban Bayram this year. We decided to have a few days in Kusadasi to celebrate.



This is known locally as bird island



On the day of her birthday the 27th .... (November not her age ... she's only 21 )
we found this deserted beach and lay in the sun, reading, and enjoying the sunshine.



Our hotel room was opposite the harbour and while we were there the P & O Aurora came in overnight... the following evening it set sail again heading for Athens.

Don't forget ... if you click any picture on the blog, you can see it enlarged!!

Exercise machines in Akbuk

These exercise apparatus are to be found all along the sea-front in Akbuk



Come on Phil ..... show us how it's done ...

ooooops!!! .... think he's done himself a mischief

Yup .... he's definitely not comfortable now!!!

Cafe 3 2 1

Many of our readers know that Café 3 2 1 on Ege Caddessi made the best fish and chips in Didim and Altinkum. Some of them even knew that the business had shut just a few weeks ago.

Well we're pleased to tell you that it will re-open in new premises on Tuesday.

It is now located down past the Bistro and Delicious on the right hand side of the road in the building formerly occupied by the Symbol Bar.

We'll have more about it soon.

Having hacked our way through the jungle we found our back wall. We decided the plants such as the bouganvillea at the back needed more support, so we have erected some metalwork to provide it.

Here's me finishing off with the grinder before giving the whole structure a couple of coats of black paint.

Didim's new Marina

We had a stroll around the new Marina today. It is very impressive even though it's not quite finished yet.

There are several very expensive boats around in the dry dock area, already ...

.. and also a lot in the water.

The yacht club is open, and there are tennis courts and swimming pools for the lucky boat owners who use the marina.

For more pictures click here

A Day out in Izmir

We decided to have a day out to Izmir this week, so we boarded a bus in Didim and in 2 hours we were there. A short complimentary minibus ride took us to Basmane and from there we walked to the Bazaar and on to the sea-front.

Once on the sea-front we took the ferry to Karşiyaka where we had lunch.

It was a beautiful day and a lot of fun.

Jungle warfare

We couldn't put it off any longer .... so here we are hacking our way into the jungle we flippantly call our garden.



Well we've made a start, but there's a long way to go!!

Changing Seasons

The storm clouds are brewing and winter is approaching fast ...

A short break in Cyprus

No blog entries lately as we have been enjoying a short break in Cyprus courtesy of our friends Charles and Janet. We flew out of Izmir and into Ercan airport on the Turkish side of Nicosia (Lefkosa). We stayed in Limassol.


This is one of the sculptures in the Sculpture Park on the sea-front in Limassol ...
and below are some of the "do-nut" trees that line the beach-front road (they are trimmed hollow in the centre just like a ring doughnut).

At the end of the week we ventured up to the "pan-handle" end of Cyprus in the extreme north of the island.

This is sunset on Altynkum beach where the turtles come to lay their eggs in the early summer.
Below is how it looks in the daytime ... very pretty and very deserted.

To see more pictures of our visit to Cyprus click here

Today the boat came OUT

Well it is now that time of year, as the weather begins to change, that the boat has to come home. Here you can see it stripped of mast, rudder and everything else in readiness for us to haul it back up to the house, where we will scrub it's bottom and clean it up and pack it away until next year.

Meandros Restaurant

We took another group of friends to our new favourite restaurant last night



It's a mainly open-air venue, but with bedouin-style tents scattered around, which gives a lovely ambiance, and more importantly, the food is excellent too.