Just a quickie to let you know that I've arrived in Turkey at long last, after trying for the last 3 years. The plane ride was great. I'd forgotten the feeling you get when they crank up the engines and you start going for it - buildings, other planes and fields shoot by and then you start rising and everything falls away. Amazing feeling. I took a video of it, which I will post later, and then I took some great views of the mountains before the sun went for a sleep!!!

I believe it was the Dolomites we flew over, as we've tried to work out the route the plane took, and it might be the Alps, but most probably the Dolomites.










I was in seventh heaven seeing these beautiful mountains. Not long afterwards, the clouds and mist covered everything, then the sun went down, and darkness enveloped us. So quickly too, it was only about 30 minutes after I took these pictures with the sun shining on the peaks.

Well we were absolutely shattered when we finally arrived at Mandi's house, we'd been travelling 12 hours which is a long time by anyone's standards.It was so good to see my son-in-law, Dogan again and for a while we sat outside on the patio, the temperatures were hotter at midnight, than we'd had in the middle of the day in the UK!!!! Still we sat outside and had a lovely chat, catching up on the last 3 years!! The garden cats were pleased to see Mandi but extremely wary of me (of course). I probably looked like the wreck of the Hesperus, all hot and bothered, and huffing and puffing from the long walk from the bus to the house (well it was a long walk to me, because I can't walk very far - it did help though with my rolator. I only had to stop once which was a miracle as far as I was concerned!!!

Well I shared my bedroom with the two kittens, who have become extremely adventurous and are stressing out their mother with their escapades!! Well if I'd been woken up a dozen times during the night, I wouldn't be surprised. They were either falling off the couch, or getting stuck behind a chair or finding the litter tray and using it as a place to play in!! Not something I want to hear at 4am!! Still eventually after having been woken up by the call to prayer around 5am (Mandi lives a couple of doors away from the mosque), I fell asleep finally and I'm ashamed to say didn't wake up until 10am!!! I feel absolutely shattered still, so we are just having a "do nothing" day to get over the long day yesterday.

We have had a bit of an emergency this morning though - Mandi suddenly heard water splashing in the bathroom, and she went to look and there was an enormous leak under the basin/sink. Scalding hot water was spurting everywhere, thank heavens for tiles on the floor everywhere! A frantic call to Dogan at work and within minutes he was here with one of the workers at the hotel. They are now trying to find out what's happened.

On a lighter note - Mandi decided that she was in dire need of spices and herbs etc so we went shopping in the UK where they aren't too expensive. She put most of them in my cabin bag (now I know why it was heavy!), and you don't have to wonder why when you see what her haul looked like!!!


At least this should keep her happy for a few months. Well we are going out for something to eat in a minute and then we are going shopping for fridge and freezer essentials. Dogan had eaten nearly all in the food cupboard while Mandi was away - you should have heard her comments when she realised there was nothing to make breakfast with - well maybe it's just as well you didn't!! So that's why we're off to the shops.

I don't know how often I will be popping in - not for a while, well a few days at least as I'm going to be going exploring with Mandi.

Have a great weekend folks and much love from Turkey x