Off to Turkey – and ghostly goings-on

After months of scorching Hastings we are off to even more scorching Turkey for two weeks, so this may be the last blog post for a fortnight.

Cirali, Turkey

     We are going to a little village called Cirali, near Antalya.  For ten years we went to Gumusluk, a village on the Bodrum Peninsula, but unfortunately, as time passed the village got busier and busier, despite being protected as the site of the ancient city of Myndos. Where, at first, the hills round the village were empty, over time, estates of white villas appeared, encroaching ever closer…. But we met good friends there and had some great times.
     When, after seven years, we decided to return to Turkey, I did days of web research. Apparently Cirali is one of the few remaining undeveloped areas of the Turkish coast.  It has one of those protected turtle beaches, where turtles crawl ashore to lay their eggs – we may just be in time to see the last of this year’s babies hatching and struggling their way down to the sea. . Also, more protected ancient sites, this time, Olympos, just round the bay…
     We are staying in a beach bungalow at Baraka House – it receives rave reviews on Tripadviser, so we will
see….
     My only fear is that it the place will be a bit hippyish – I read that nearby Olympos village is full of backpackers living in tree houses.
     We were put off holidaying young backpackers by our experiences when we went to India. In Goa we encountered many – I remember one particularly unsavoury crew – a group of girls, clad only in knickers and Doc Marten boots, striding across the beach, watched, not surprisingly, by a group of transfixed local men. The girls joggled their tits and shouted aggressively at the men:  ‘Get an eyeful of this then you f…ing perverts…’. Respecting local customs and culture? I don’t think so….
     So, what else? Busy week, mostly doing stuff for the Writers’ Group – a meeting, and a Committee Meeting. The Animal Writes anthology came from the printers in proof form. Philosopher proof-read it and it has now gone back to be produced.
     On Thursday evening I went to join my WI Book Group for an early-evening meal in the Old Town, followed by a Ghost Walk. It was all very jolly.
     Funnily enough I had seen an advert in the Observer for volunteers to help lead the walks, and it looked quite tempting, so I applied.  Tina, who runs the setup, told me I would need to attend a walk to see if I would like to do it, and of course, I was going on the WI one anyway. It was good fun, largely because we were a group of feisty shrieking women, and a bloke kept jumping out at us from round corners, obviously much enjoying scaring us and making us shriek all the more. He appeared first as Alasteir Crowley, then Sweeney Todd, then a Black Death victim and so on, which must have involved many nifty costume changes en route.
     However, I felt the two women who did the talking were perhaps a little bit solemn and it wasn’t clear whether it was supposed to be serious history or a good spooky laugh. They included historical stuff which wasn’t about ghosts, and missed some prime haunted sites, e.g the Stag Inn and its mummified cats etc. They didn’t make it quite spooky enough, I felt – but then I think us lot were out for laughs…..
     I don’t think I’ll volunteer…. I’d want to ham it up too much and the walks are actually quite long – fine on a summer’s evening but not so good on a wet night in February. Also, you might get a group who were serious ghost-hunters, looking for vibrations or whatever – I couldn’t be doing with that.
     Hot summer may be over, I think… rain now.  But we have had some fabulous weather.

More Turkey? No, Bexhill this week.