Heading into Winter

The guests this month have been surprised by the cool evenings but loved the hot sunny days. It’s a great time of year to explore, the crowds are less, the attractions still warm enough for a leisurely stroll through and you can still swim in the sea even if the pool is now full of metaphorical icebergs.

Pammukale is looking particularly glorious this year, the travertine’s are in great shape and the hot water pools a soothing 34 degrees and every guest who has gone there this year has said it was a highlight of their trip.

I’m busy; writing and cooking and helping Nick with the tortuous formalities of moving his pensions to Turkey. It involved reading more tedious laws than I would have wanted but the benefits are enormous and given the hideous falls on the UK stock market the sooner he is out of that theatre of investment the better!

Kurban Bayram is just around the corner and the neighbours are in a frenzy of preparations, our vacuum cleaner has been appropriated and even the outside walls are being hovered as they prepare for the festival which starts on 6th November.

Down in the valley serious man in flat caps and wellies are making decisions about next years crops and the snaky coils and complicated manifolds of irrigation pipes are going in to service new vineyards being carved out of old orchards.

We’re all planning next year already, I have my first booking for 2012 and it’s an early one. The season gets longer every year, certainly for us, and with guests due next month we’re now welcoming people to Kirazli between early April and the end of November and as we’re open all year I’d expect to get a few last minute bookings during January and February from guests enjoying exploring Turkey in winter.

Everyone in the village is waiting for Kurban Bayram to be out of the way before they get started on the olive harvest. This is a brief interlude between one harvest and the next, a short time of planning and relaxing and feasting before the long cold days of the olive trees are upon us again.