Sun, turtles and the pubicle

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The end of three relaxing and summery days in Dalyan. Well, they were relaxing for all but one of us - I’m so amused by Beeb’s interpretation of her forced bathroom incarceration that I can’t let it pass. She got stuck in a bathroom at a restaurant…it was very traumatic, pliers were involved in the rescue, there were tears etc etc, but every time she brings it up (which is a LOT, even more than the vomiting on the plane), she refers to it as the bathroom pubicle and I fall about the place laughing. Mother of the year.

Other than the pubicle incident, our time here has been amazing. A river full of turtles, a balcony roof with two swallows’ nests full of baby birds just coming out of their nests and sun, sun and more sun. Our first two days consisted of lazy mornings hanging out with the river turtles…and ensuring that their diets were full and varied…between tomato and cucumber. I think they numbered 10 at the highest count. In between all this activity, we of course had to take breaks to refresh in the plunge pool, engage in a bit of kayaking on the river, monitor progress of baby birds in nests, read on one of the sun lounges strategically placed on the river’s edge…or watch the snake in the reeds.

When all of that got too much, we headed to town for some lunch. On the first day, we drove to the Turtle Rescue Centre at the aptly named Turtle Beach (or Iztuzu Beach) to see some of the injured green sea and loggerhead turtles they have rescued. Then we did a bit of splashing around in the water of the salty (and warmer) kind before heading back to the very healthy and well-fed turtles of our own. Tonight’s dinner was at the restaurant up the river owned by the same people as our cottage - perched on the edge of the river, overlooking yet more turtles…they enjoyed a feast of lettuce and parsley retrieved from our plates before they’d even hit the table.

Second day began as the first, but lunch was followed by a boat trip along the river to the other end of the beach for some splashing and frolicking. All that activity proved somewhat taxing so we retreated to our little river cottage for some drinks and dinner.

We felt adequately rested after two days of this to take on a boat trip to the Twelve Islands out of Gocek. A very posh marina town, we departed on the Blue Melody for four swimming and paddle boarding stops in beautiful bays with the clearest and bluest water we have ever seen. Lots of sun and fun, some delicious food and home made treats…and much exhaustion before our early-morning departure for Greece.

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