Observations from an alien Dalyan noob

[Sparks]

Dalyan according to a stranger:

The village seems to be dıvided into two areas.

South of the mosque is petite Marmaris with a shopping street selling the usual things. And cafes/restaurants/bars where you can enjoy the favourite football team on TV while drinking carlsberg.

Further south is a more quiet area with restaurants on both side of the road, those at the river bank is slightly more expensive than those on the opposite side of the road.

The checkpoint between the two areas is a restaurant announcing something like no TV no noise no hazzle we want Dalyan a quiet place.

Mosquitos:
They are rather small, their initial 'prick' can be felt, so it is easy to finish them off before they can do further harm.
The first evening i had an encounter with five of them. Thereafter no attacks, guess the combination Efes and Anadolu cigarrettes is the ultimate weapon.

River:
The water is clean running slowly from the lake towards the sea. Perfect for swimming.

Kaunos:
South of the boat coop there is a rowing boat service that can ferry you to the opposite bank of the river. Return ticket YTL 3.5
On the other bank an old woman and her family sells refreshments, i prefer pancake and Efes.
Walk about 25 mins down the road wıth the lykian tombs to the right, then follow the sign to the entrance up a small road on the left hand.
The entrance fee to Kaunos is YTL 8
The area is large but not as developed as Efesos.

The internet cafe is opposite the gas statıon next to migros.

Thıs was the first week, two weeks till i have to return to the cold and rain.


Entschuldigen my anglese ...

[Andy]

Nice little write up

and hope you enjoy the rest of your stay

[John Codling]

Never heard Dalyan called a petite Marmaris before:hmm:

[m1cksut]

nice write up, good to get different views

[Dalyansteve]

Very well done, I will be especialy interested to hear your views after the 2nd week! Perceptions change during this time and have met many people who seemingly don't realy enjoy the 1st week and then suddenly get the whole picture and chill out, that is usualy when they wish they had booked for longer.

[Ihutch]

Oh No!!! Please don't liken us to Marmaris! We will never be like that ........... !!!! It was good reading and if I didn't live here I would want to visit, particularly the quieter areas and the river. I do hope you enjoy the rest of your holiday and want to come again. Looking forward to your next posting.

[Sparks]

Thank you all

The 'little Marmaris' was written with the cheek in tongu ... or whatever you call it :)

I like Dalyan very much.

One evening in the not-so-quiet end of city, there was two men playing traditional turkish music on violin and tambourine. A nice break from the inevitable live-band-playing/torture of Pink Floyds 'Another brick in the wall'.

The waiter at the BBQ garden told me that there is 108 restaurants in the city so wıll not be able to try them all. So far no one of them have been dissapointıng.

Yesterday an evening on a gullet to the lake and Sultaniye mud bath. Only three english couples and i onboard. Very nice persons (the british and the skipper at least) ...
I can recommend the evening trip. Swimming in the dark lake, eating the meal prepared by the skipper, watching the stars - and the mud bath and thermal spring all to ourselves.

[Psearle123]

Lol Like the cheek in tongue , can't wait for that to appear on the Begonvil menu, my grandaughter has been trying to do it for the last half hour , & has just informed me it's impossible. Hope your not offended it,s all done in TONGUE IN CHEEK

[Ihutch]

That's a relief sparks, quite like tongue in cheek comments. Yes, Dalyan is lovely and lots of fun with plenty to do and plenty to do restfully too. I enjoy hot springs too and hope to go with my daughter when she comes on holiday next month. We all enjoy the boat trips and there are so many to do you can't run out of fun. Wishing you a good time for the remainder of your hols.

[Sparks]

Thanks again.

Will remember it is thongue in cheek, as well as it is going to the waterfall by dolmus not dolmas ... never too old to learn ...

Have worked trough all the restaurants near the river in the the southern end of the city. All of them OK and nothing to complain about. Riverside Restaurant is among those i prefer. Reasonable price and the music Leonard Cohen instead of noisy disco.

In the middle of the touristy main street, a local turkish cafe - Nün - a nice pit stop for Efes on the way to the internet cafe.

A cafe i prefer is Gerdas, owned by germans. Delicious icecream and several sorts of coffee.

Ramazan:
Basicly it means no eating, drinking, smoking and so on during daylight, but when the sun comes down it is partyparty all the night. That was my observations in Antalya seven years ago.
Here i have not observed "Ramazan activity" - or rather absence of activity, during daytime. Indeed when the mufti started singing, one of the street salesman commented: İt is turkeys Michael Jackson.
Now think about that ...

Only one week left, a little sad but plan to return next May.

Cheers

[Dalyansteve]

Funnily enough, everyone likes Gerda's for something different.
I also understand your comments about ramadan, years ago you would not see anyone eatind, drinking or smoking during the day and restaurants used to have newspaper accross the windows so that you could not see people inside eating and drinking.

[Vgb]

More observations from another noob:

Had a fabulous time, with particular highlights:

Meeting June both for the company and the advice, many thanks and look forward to meeting you again soon.

Lamb for dinner almost every day.

The mud baths with midnight swim and BBQ and being to see the tail end of the Pleiades meteor shower without parasitic lighting. A word of advice for other newbies, the covered hot spring water is about 40 degrees C, jumping in is not clever.

The help from Kaunos tours (thanks for the advice Steve, sorry I was not organised enough for a meet and to buy the beers I owe you)

4 hours of snorkelling along various bays and having to drink Efes through a straw because my arms did not work in the evening.

Boat fishing with my youngest lad for the 1st time, the joy on his face when he caught the 1st blue crab. Swimming in the lagoon with the hot springs at the bottom while the fish and crabs cooked.

The warmth and help from our Turkish next door neighbours.

The quality of the steak in the Ramazan Han

Haggling in the Saturday market, you always come of worst but it does not really matter as long as it is fun. Funnily, when I kept saying no, they seemed to gravitate to my wife and son. I did try to turn the tables a bit bit by offering to sell my son to one of the traders when he was focusing on Scott, not sure which of the 2 was most worried until they realised I was kidding.

Turkish coffee and eating lamb almost every day.

Sitting by the pool until midnight nursing a beer and chilling out.

Trying to pretend I was not following the end of the ashes on my phone while with June and Nadia in a restaurant. Stereo ear bending for being unsociable.

Seeing newly hatched turtles at the beach rescue centre.

The rice pudding and Bistro special meatballs in Bistro Clou (opposite the Hotel entrance for you September meeters). Small, very hospitable restaurant with great food and you can only hear 1 piece of music at a time unlike the square.

Not driving anywhere for 2 weeks.

The fresh bread from the bakers adjacent to Kaunos tours and the Adana kebabs from the butchers a bit further along.

Not getting ripped off at the airport becasue of the top tip from June to get an Airport survival pack from Dalyan Iz.

Watching the Germans trying to push into our queue at the airport passport control whilst the policeman went for a leak and the Usain Bolt sprint to get back to the front when he returned.

Did I mention the lamb diet?

Things I did not enjoy:

Coming back when there was still lots to do but need cooler weather such as Kaunos.

Not being able to eat lamb every day at home.

My thanks to all for the advice that allowed us to make the most of a short time.

regards

Vince

[m1cksut]

all very well, vince, but did you enjoy it there?

[Vgb]

Mick

Strangely we did. The most puzzling aspect for me was how little alcohol I drank, I must try harder next time. I think it was becasue there was a lot to do and I fell into the local way of doing a lot very slowly and kept running out of time.

regards

Vince

[Dalyansteve]

Sounds like you are now a fully paid up member. Well done and more stories please.

[John Codling]

I agree Steve sounds like another one with the Dalyan Bug. :Cool:

[Andy]

Agree another great feed back thread

Glad you had a great time (we Knew You Would)

[Vgb]

A few more discoveries:

Putting ayran instead of suk in coffee makes it go lumpy

Jumping into the sea with your lighter in your pocket stops it working

Cheese and mushroom pancakes for breakfast is the pups parts

How tolerant the locals are of stray cats and dogs

How many ways there are of transporting goats including car trailers and boats. Watching them being loaded into boats was an experience as they grab and steer them by the back legs. Bit like wheelbarrow racing when you were a kid.

Compared to other places I have visited it was very clean

Everybody you meet has built a villa for an english family

regards

Vince

[John Codling]

Putting ayran instead of suk in coffee makes it go lumpy

That one made me laugh, when we first got our place we went into Migros and picked up what we thought was milk which we thought had gone off when we opened it ....... yes it was Ayran.

Not being a smartarse but milk is SUT not SUK.

[Vgb]

Not many of us are gifted with the ability to be dyslexic in English and Turkish, I must be gifted.

regards

Vince

[m1cksut]

That one made me laugh, when we first got our place we went into Migros and picked up what we thought was milk which we thought had gone off when we opened it ....... yes it was Ayran.

Not being a smartarse but milk is SUT not SUK.

so, what's this SUK i've been hearing about then?

[John Codling]

Haven't got a clue unless it's how you drink beer through a straw. :Happy:

[Tubby2]

I remember going the whole week once, pouring out the coffee in a morning at breakfast and putting the sugar in and thinking, gawd this is the worst tasting coffee ever, only to find out I'd been putting in apple tea granules, you lives and you learn, also buying what I thought was orange juice only to find to it was the concentrated kind, luckily I took plenty of anti-d.......... stuff.

[Dalyansteve]

Many years ago a friend of mine bought what she thought was toothpaste only to find it was shaving cream in a tube!!!
The staff are pretty good at warning people that ayran is not milk but after a few hundred times they probably get fed up with telling them especially after some of them, like us, say we know and that we actually like ayran.
Andy and Julie tried it while they were here last, still don't know quite what they thought of it?

[Julie]

Hi Steve,
We bought a bottle after trying it, but its still in the fridge in the villa.We will give it another go in October when we are there.

:grin:

[Dalyansteve]

I would throw it out, it will be off by then! So you really won't like that.

[Sparks]

Ayran = drinkable yoghurt is refreshing on a hot day.

On the road from the row boat to Kaunos there is a small place where an old lady and a child is selling olive, figs, pomegrenade, honey and so on from their garden.
In addition they sell home made ayran.
Will recommend ayran (as a supplement to Efes of course) when it is hot. :)

[airjacobs]

4 hours of snorkelling along various bays and having to drink Efes through a straw because my arms did not work in the evening.