Adnan Menderes Blv in the nearby neighbourhood of Günlükbasi was our intended Dolmuş stop! For me I had never expected to be visiting Turkiye in 2022, with that 'East Meets West' holiday on the cards I had to hit up Günlükbasi to recapture the Realness of that Fethiye area! Barbershops settings had to be served, with a Turkish lunch ordered, sure a BIM visit bossed!
Fresh from our trip down Çalış Beach Sokak memory lane, me and my sister forged ahead in the blistering Turkish midday heat! Catching a brand new looking Dolmuş from Barış Manço Blv, it was only a short ride from point to point before we decided that that portion of Adnan Menderes Blv looked right for us. The energy of Günlükbasi's main thoroughfare was popping with life, people were out for an early lunch and that was fine with us! The 'Bread Doctor?!' Yes, we saw a bakery that was called 'Ekmek Doktoru', for that we had to be nosy at least! I was in desperate need of a haircut and a wet shave because those Turkic communities are a cut above the rest, honestly they have that 'male self-care' on lock! Gençlik Berber Salonu popped out from nowhere, that side street barber had my name all over it! Yes, I was ready to be transformed! My Turkish language skills left a lot to be deserved in that moment but the power of sign language always comes through when needed! Günlükbasi knew that we didn't want to waste any time!
Sitting back in that Barbershop chair had me feeling comfortable, I was chilled out and ready for my Turkish self-care session. Now, I usually have to put more trust into the barber who cuts my hair because being short-sighted I can't see a thing without my glasses. In that Gençlik Berber moment I had to put that trust into practice but with the expertise of the barber I was fine, with my haircut progressing well my sister went off for a little walk to track down another familiar sight. Moving onto my cut throat shave, that blade freshened my stubble into a clean shaven situation without any Sweeny Todd business taking place! I loved having my hair washed, it was like my head was having the best massage and I was fine with that! It was a proper male self-care moment with the attention put on me as the customer, I felt almost brand new! Bringing the fire, that naked flame took care of any grooming issues, leaving my nose and ears feeling smooth! For only £6.00 in total, I wasn't going to grumble about that price! Lunch called us, I was hungry!
Lunch for me wasn't going to be anything that we could find at home in England, I wanted to eat like a local because I wanted Turkish food only! Once a street-side takeaway, Davut Alıkma's own 'Vitamin Pizza 74' served a larger full scale restaurant setup during that June 2022 moment. My sister didn't want anything to eat but I went to town with that food order because I was going to order everything! Ordering the claypot meatballs dish and two Lamachun mincemeat style pizzas to begin with. I didn't want to drink any fizzy pop, I wanted a frothy ice cold Ayran yoghurt drink! At first I was served a prepackaged carton Ayran but after some pointing at another persons homemade Ayran, I was served what I had envisaged! Davut's wife took our order, she was friendly and if it wasn't for our lack of language compatibility we're both in agreeance that an expressive conversation could have been had. The mood was right, even though there was a wait on the food it was going to be fresh! Yes, Vitamin Pizza 74 was the one!
It was great to have a heart to heart with my sister, traveling as a group it was nice to 'have chats' like they do in Love Island with that reference applied because I was living my 'Ekin Su' fantasy! That sibling chat at Vitamin Pizza 74 had us looking towards the future, that week holiday in Turkiye was all of ours to enjoy! Now, I don't know if it was the heat that had my thoughts deep in the gutter, well Mr. Man who walked into the restaurant served 'Gladiator Muscular Realness' for the win! A sight to see, he then went into the kebab station for us to see that specimen of Turkish hotness, well you know I was living my 'Ekin Su' best life for certain! OK, the food arrived just in time! The meatball claypot dish tasted sublime, it had been cooked in a tomato sauce with a healthy sprinkle of cheese on the top. The Lamachun tasted great, reminding me of my Turkish German meal that I had in Hamburg back in 2014! I usually hate eating salad but that freshly served dish served up an abundance of colour, I finished the lot! Oh!
Feeling full from that delicious lunch, we then walked the short distance from Vitamin Pizza 74 to BIM. During those previous years when we would holiday in Çalış Beach, BIM would be our regular supermarket sweep stop. Known for cheap prices, this Turkish supermarket doesn't sell any alcohol so in present day it fits the clean living moral ways that the government want people to live by. For us it was all about the multi-packs of pop because being at that former Holiday House for six weeks during the summer would mean a lot of soft drinks to cool us down during those sweltering summer pool days! Fast forward to that 2022 moment, we both needed some things from BIM, making our way around the pallet layout of items had us fooled into thinking we were in a UK based ALDI or LIDL. To be honest the respite from the sun had us feeling cool, a lot cooler indeed because surely it was hitting 40 degrees? Yes, it was! BIM found us once again, another reminder of our summers in the sun! What would we need to buy? Let's get it, B!
I simply bought two cartons of Vişne Suyu because that sour cherry juice hits different in Turkiye, the last time I had it I was in China as I was able to order 'Dimes' products from my go-to online shopping APP. In real time I was able to buy those cartons without any need to be in China nor to have an APP assist me. My sister bought an energy drink, she was looking for a 'RedBull' kind of drink but being the budget supermarket that BIM stands to be, brands weren't the mood. We made our purchases and left the air-conditioned store to brave the hotter than hot temperatures. From there we decided to walk back to our then Holiday House, the swimming pool would be waiting for us, that would be our motivation to walk the way back! Our mid-morning into afternoon had flowed exactly how it should have done, like the morning we encountered no mistakes with a clear path ahead of us at all times. That Günlükbasi trip had specific cultural boxes ticked, we hadn't traveled all the way to Turkiye to eat English food! To the pool, we said!
Günlükbasi... Go, Go, Go!
Desperately Seeking Adventure
