Hooray, Hooray, It's a Holi Holiday - Blog

Random Recollections from my trip to Kas on the Lycian Way in Turkey

Animal Magic

The cockeral in the picture above is Duke.  He lived with some other cockerals and hens opposite the hotel where we stayed in Kas.  There were also two dogs.  In the hotel itself there were four or five cats, usually wondering round and taking an interest in anything you happened to be eating.

And the area around the hotel wasn't the only place where the animals roamed free.  And the night time was when they were at their liveliest, and I've never heard a noisier place after the sun had set, with a constant background of barking, screeching, yowling, howling, clucking and crowing, from the moment you went to bed until it was time to get up.  And that was apart from the call to prayer through loudspeakers that could happen anytime between 4.30 and 6.30 AM.  All of this would have been quite impressive and maybe even amusing if you didn't have to be up to go sea kayaking, canyoning or mountain biking the next day, which I usually did (yeah, I know, just call me action man).  As it was, my annoyance was mitigated when I reminded myself that I was on holiday, so I just admired the din.

Dogs are like cats in Kas.  What I mean by that is they are not constrained by backyards or leads (I saw a dog on a lead once while I was there and it made for a strange sight in that context), they just go where they will.  For someone who is nervous of dogs this could represent a problem, and I heard a few complaints along these lines, but to me it added to the relaxed ambiance of a Mediterranean town.  Indeed, most of the dogs I saw during the daytime were doing this:

Resting before their evening's festivities no doubt.  For the most part, the dogs, cats and chickens of Kas were indifferent towards me, which I didn't mind at all.  The exception was this chap:

This is one of the hotel cats that I accidentally trod on during the first evening I was there and seemed to take it as a sign that I needed adopting. Or maybe he thought I'd feed him more because of the guilt. Either way I managed to gain an occasional companion for my stay due to my clumsiness.

Turkish Delights

Speaking of feeding, let's have a look at some of the food!  Some people get annoyed at the habit some people have of photographing their dinner but I'm not one of them.  A well presented plate of food is like art, for me, with the added bonus of whetting your appetite.  Some of the lovely meals I sampled were:

Calamari stuffed with prawns and spinach

A proper Turkish kebab - much healthier than the post pub grub you get in the UK

Buffet food with grilled sea bass that we ate during our evening on a boat

No good desert shots, sorry about that.  However, speaking of the boat meal...

A Moment of Happiness

In a previous blog I discussed the pursuit of Happiness.  This thought came to mind one evening during the holiday, when the group I was with took a sunset boat trip...

 ... out to a sheltered bay off Meis island. 

When we reached the bay, darkness had fallen, and I lay back on the foredeck of our little boat with a glass of wine in my hand. The general conversation melted away into the background. 

To my left I could see Venus, the Evening star, setting behind the hills of the island.  To my right the lights of Kas twinkled into the night.

Above me the mast of the boat rocked gently back and forth.  And beyond the mast shone the numberless stars.  For the first time in my life (to my knowledge) I saw the band of the Milky Way arcing across the sky.  It was very beautiful.

And for a minute I forgot everything and lived in the moment.

Then we got called for dinner, so that was alright!

Overall, it was an enjoyable and memorable holiday.  Thank you to everyone who shared in it and made it the experience it was.

I will leave you with a typical weather forecast for Kas.