We have woken up in the town of Kalkan!
We're going to give you a guided tour as we explore this beautiful little town,
here on the Turquoise Coast.
We are Marianne and Chris,
In May 2018, we quit our 9-5 jobs,
rented our house to travel full-time.
Due to the pandemic our attempt to drive around the world has been put on pause.
Finding ourselves in Turkey,
we are going to show you the best this country has to offer.
OK, we've only been out for two minutes,
and just passed somebody with their mask and it just made me realise,
we've forgotten our masks!
I just can't get in the habit of wearing masks especially,
We can't believe we are in a pandemic when we're somewhere so beautiful.
Our first stop is at the end of the harbour wall,
behind us is the picturesque town of Kalkan,
located between Fethiye and Kas here on the turquoise coast.
In the 19th century this was a really important port,
because it was the only safe harbour between Fethiye and Kas.
It's very beautiful!
And from here you can get the most amazing views of the town,
and the beach that you can see behind me.
Crystal clear blue waters!
We're have to have a swim later.
And if you're looking for somewhere very picturesque,
right by the sea,
with the option to go swimming,
then the Indigo Beach Restaurant here at the beginning of the harbour wall is definitely a place to come.
And if you're looking for a place to park with your van with services,
The Indigo Beach, has showers, toilets and laundry for a small fee and
it's right next to the harbour.
Parking is free, you just pay for the services, so this is a brilliant place to come and visit.
If you want to go on a boat trip to go swimming, diving or sightseeing,
you will find a boat here either in the evening or early morning,
that will be happy to take you out on a trip.
Welcome to Kalkan !
The building that you can see behind us was originally a Greek Orthodox Church.
But was later converted into a Mosque
Kalkan is actually located on the side of a hill,
here is a fair few hills to walk up and down, great for exercise or you can rent a quad bike.
Every Thursday there is a local market here in Kalkan,
it's halfway up the hill.
Look at this! we got nuts and dried fruits.
We got some leaves, some honey, all these beautiful spices!
What is this one? it is green, for a tattoo?
Oh for hair dye!
This is definitely food spice heaven for me that likes cooking, that's amazing!
So we're going to go and have a little look around,
Welcome! Thank you very much my friend.
As we always say everywhere we go,
if you want to experience local culture,
you should visit a local market,
You can see some gozleme being prepared behind me,
you know how we like gozleme !
We're going to go and get some,
oh your Turkish is getting good love!
They've just brought a big fan over to help keep us cool,
I think we look a bit hot and sweaty after climbing the hill,
I have always been hot !!
You just can't beat fresh food like this!
and you watch it being made!
We have some some spinach and cheese
absolutely delicious!
That's really good!
and the best prices!
That is 10 TL for a full filling breakfast
We've got another one with some potato and cheese,
and it comes with some salad with some lovely green chillies which I really like.
Beautiful !
Good job, thank you, thank you very much.
Welcome to Kalkan!
oh we found some beautiful olives that come from Kalkan.
We will try one Kalkan olive!
Thank you very much,
Kalkan olives!
Very good!
Every Thursday, if you want some local olives from Kalkan, come to the market.
We are heading back down the hill,
down all the little side streets,
this is the main part of old town
and there all these really beautiful little side alleys,
with sleeping cats on the roof!
and how nice are these flowers!
with little cobbled streets,
make sure you have a good walk around all the little side streets here in Old Town Kalkan,
Absolutely stunning!
Welcome to Kalkan,
Walking around the old town, the architecture is just amazing!
Look at this wooden old building behind me,
Kalkan used to be historically an old Greek fishing town,
and the Greeks and Turks used to live together back in the day.
One thing Kalkan is not short of is restaurants,
it said that Kalkan has more restaurants per square metre than any other town on the Turkish coast.
And walking around Kalkan, you can see why!
There are lots of restaurants and bars.
And if you want some amazing views over the harbour that you can see behind us,
The Salt and Pepper restaurant here delivers!
look how amazing is that!
Thank you very much,
We couldn't resist stop in for a cup of tea
and a lovely spot in the shade here at Salt and Pepper.
And if you're looking for a cafe with some Character, check out Cafe Del Mar! look at this decor!
I think I found my two favourite shops!
This is the first one, it's ceramics and it's called SandD,
you can get so many beautiful coloured ceramics here, this is phenomenal.
We've come into this rug and carpet store,
they have just the most amazing colourful Turkish made carpets.
Kalkan is a real tourist destination,
and normally these streets would be hustling and bustling filled with tourists on their summer holidays.
Obviously this year is much quieter than normal,
lucky for us walking around,
but not so good for the businesses and things that are all everything is everybody worldwide is struggling at the moment.
As we're walking around town,
we came across this stand that's giving away free shaved ice,
it's very similar to the ice kuching that we had when we were in Singapore.
Traditionally they would get the snow from the mountains,
that's where the it originates from but today it's not Mountain water, it's fresh water frozen.
It looks refreshing and delicious and what a way to cool down!
And if you fancy a swim?
First option - they have a beach just past the harbour,
beautiful calm blue water.
We found a really funky place,
it's got these chairs so you can sit along just beside the harbour,
and they've got all these funky armchairs!
How cool is that?
it's so nice it's not uniformed at all,
It's really relaxed,
with a couple of sails over the top to get some shade.
The great thing about Kalkan is there's so much choice,
whether you are looking for some different food, like Italian, Spanish or maybe American,
or if you just want some good local Turkish food there's something for everyone,
and each restaurant or hotel or bar seems to have the most spectacular views.
We've come back to the van,
that was a lovely morning walking around.
Trudy is slightly like an oven and I feel like I've just stepped into a 50 degree sauna !
We have got the fan on,
we're just cooling off, having a drink,
and then we'll go and find the beach club?
Just down the road, it is called the Yali beach club,
We thought it might be nice to go down there,
maybe have something to eat?
Then a couple of drinks in town? To see what the towns like at night.
Let's go to the Yali Beach Club!
We've come down to the Yali Beach Club,
this place is seriously amazing!
look at the colour of that water!
they've got a little bar and restaurant,
and views over this magnificent blue water!
Steps so that you can go swimming,
Somewhere to relax here,
Absolutely amazing,
We have been parked down there,
you can just see the food van with the umbrella just there,
and that's the main town of Kalkan over there,
What a spot love!
Fresh lemonade!
Chris is happy!
I have the most beautiful looking burger,
with the blue sea behind!
How good does that look?
Yes I know ! A burger isn't very Turkish!
And it is a long time since our gozleme at breakfast this morning,
My first burger since January,
and the menu here is very westernised with salads.
Marianne's got a nice a nice halloumi salad,
Yes, it is absolutely amazing!
so let's eat and enjoy this wonderful view.
We've come back to Doy Doy for a nice relaxing evening beer,
and we're going to sit here and watch the sun go down.
and it's a great way to end our wonderful day here in Kalkan! Cheers
That is so nice ! a free bracelet from Doy Doy.
A manly colour, it is beautiful, thank you my friend.
Everybody's so nice !!
We have had a lovely time in Kalkan,
The boats, the sea, the fresh sea air,
and the friendship everywhere in Turkey!
it's friendship!
it really has been a fabulous day and that's it,
our day in Kalkan is over.
Okay, so we're nearly back at the van,
in fact the van is right there.
And we left the charging cable for Marianne's phone at Doy Doy the restaurant,
and the guy literally ran down here and it's a fair walk,
let me show you, can see it up on the hill just there,
he came running down, with the cable we forgot,
How nice is that!
we look hungry right?
yeah you do but she looks like she's in the mood for drinks !
Oh you're still here!
What are you doing in the fridge?
That's it, it's the end of the show!
It's over, it's time to go!
If you want to know more about Kalkan then check out the 'Visit Kalkan" page.
We'll put a link below.
And to come on this amazing adventure with us,
don't forget to click subscribe!
See you next time.