Kicking Back in Kaș

By Claire
We have a daily routine now: get up when we feel like it, putter around, and have breakfast. Breakfast is yogurt with local honey, and bread, followed by a few mandarin oranges. Do the shower thing then wander into town for supplies: bread from one baker we like, and mandarin oranges from our regular produce guy, cookies from the other baker. There's a nice little supermarket too.



I still just can’t get over what a great campground this is. We had planned to find a good place to settle for awhile, hoping we would be able to spend winter somewhere warm and comfortable. I'm still pinching myself that we have found it. We love Sedat, the caretaker, and naturally, the campground cats and dog.







Today we hiked down to the harbor and over to the other side of town. Along the way, we saw a few things:

There are many beautiful homes like this one.


It was windy on this day and I just happened to catch the spray.


It was fun to see the school kids on their break for lunch. We’ve seen them swarm into the internet café and today I saw two teenage boys smiling and laughing with their arms over each other’s shoulders. Nice. As we walked along, we saw what looked like a helicopter pad. We passed 3 people along the road and one of the men called out to us loudly “HELLO MY FRIENDS! HOW ARE YOU?” We responded with our usual “Merhaba” (hello). Chuck is much better at remembering the word for thank you, teșekkür (teshicure). We continued on and finally found the sandy beach from a postcard we had seen.





We wave to Mehmet at Ali Baba Car Rentals every day and the produce guy always smiles and says hello and seems to appreciate our repeat business.

Mehmet from Ali Baba Car Rentals


Walking back into town, we passed an old bus that is now a tea house. They even had a sink for hand washing over on the side.



It’s such a lovely town. I have never felt safer anywhere.



Town square with statue of Atatürk—we saw the tourist information guy at lunch


School kids after school. The girls wear blue dresses with lace collars and the boys wear long blue tunics with round white collars. They are adorable.


An old, interesting house


Back in Homer, we have our usual lunch: cheese, olives, fresh bread, tomatoes, a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping and mandarins.



For dessert, wonderfully light, shortbread-like cookies dusted in powdered sugar along with delicious apple tea.



I have become hooked on the apple tea and bought some elma (apple) tea bags. The color was off—kind of a fake reddish color—and it had a distinctly phony taste. Not horrible, just not what we had been served. So, that became a quest. Shopping the other day, I went into a spice market and asked about the tea. The man there showed me a powder that resembled whole wheat flour. I was a little skeptical but he insisted on making me a cup. Words can’t describe how good this is. It tastes a lot like hot apple cider and it appears to be dried apple in a powder form. He offered me one large bag for 10 TL then quickly suggested I buy 3 for 25 TL. I wasn't interested in that big an investment so he offered the three bags for 20 TL (€9) counting one as a present. Of course I went for it. I’m drinking a lot of apple tea! It goes very well with those doughnut shaped cookies.

The weather is amazing and warm though a little windy at times. We’ve had the windows open in Homer because it’s too warm otherwise. Chuck woke up hot last night and wanted to know if the heater was left on. I assured him it wasn’t but he had to check. It was 70 inside. I've been sitting outside in my shorts and t-shirt relaxing and reading. The weather is supposed to be sunny and 69° on Christmas day. So why are we leaving for a 6 day trip to Konya and Göreme in Cappadocia where it will be 55° for a high with the nights down to 38°? Just crazy I guess. Looking for another adventure too.

If you look at this map, you’ll see Göreme in Cappadocia just about in the center with Konya to the left and down slightly and Kaș down south on the Mediterranean. It helps if you click on the image for a clearer view. That's where we'll be for Christmas.



We’ll be back in Kaș for the New Year. A full moon is promised for New Year’s eve.

For fast-acting relief try slowing down. ~ Lily Tomlin