9/8/206 PM Alanya Waterfront

 Today was a good day.  I got some good photos this morning.  Worked on stuff all day.  We planned to go out to the waterfront this evening about 6pm.  About that time I got a text from my niece saying this would be a good time to talk to my sister-in-law, my brother Gerry's wife.  We had a good chat.  She is doing fine and is surrounded by family and friends. She has so much help with catching up on the home repairs  and things that have to happen after someone dies.  I am happy for her.  As we discussed - grief is different for all of us.  I will send her dates to visit her in November or December when we return. I can move on as well.  

Michael cooked and we had our second meal of the day around 3:30pm.  So no need to spend time in a restaurant.  Off we go to the waterfront.  I took something like 95 photos and ended up with 21.   So good on me!!

We got out as the sun was setting.  It seems to happen so fast here.

We even venture onto the beach area - but not actually on the sand.  The area before the sand is dirt.  Who knows maybe we will actually walk on the sand!

9/8/2026 AM Apartment Views

 Since I got up a little earlier this morning I was able to get photos of the views from our apartment earlier in the morning.  We do not seem to be in a shipping lane - we have not seen any large cargo ships or even cruise ships passing by.  But today I noticed a speed boat pulling a parasail.  Most boating happens close to shore so we can't see it from the apartment.

Street views - no parasailors.

A glimpse of the mountains around us.

More street scenes - there are never many people walking in the streets below us.

There is a mosque near us - we can hear the call to prayer, but thankfully it is not that close that it is obnoxiously loud.

By the time I saw the parasail go by and managed to get out onto the deck with my camera it had almost passed the minarets.  

The next time I caught it a little earlier.

I spent the morning processing the photos from the last few days and getting them on the internet.  In the after noon I started working on a project I have thought about and done a tiny amount of work on.  I am hoping  - because of the extreme heat that we will work on individual projects during the day.  We will go out either in the early morning or late afternoon/evening to do photography.  

Michael has arranged for us to go out with a professional photographer on Friday.  That will be an intense day.  Before Covid we used to take these 1 day or 1/2 day photographer sessions on almost every trip.  But now - so many people want professional photographers to take photos of them in very scenic areas so they can go home with a professional photo album.  

The photographer Michael reached out to seems so excited to be able to teach us something about photography.  He took the time to look at both of our blogs and planned our session about what he thought he could help us with.  He even gave us homework!  I am so excited!

9-7 Walking Around Mahmutlar

 After our long day yesterday, I slept until 9:30 this morning.  We had no food in the apartment, so after I showered we headed out to find the Carrrefour Grocery store nearby.  It was small and did not have a good alcohol selection. So we set out for the Migros store.  Google maps sent us all over the place.  Turns out it is closer than the carrefour and right on our block.  

The Migros had everything we needed except for zip-lock bags.  They had plenty of bags - but nothing to close them with.  And that's a weird thing I noticed.  People seem to take what they need out of a package and leave the rest.  So many of the boxes with plastic bags were opened and then left on the shelf.  Did people steal a single plastic bag?  Or did they take it to the register and pay for 1 out of a box of 20?  Michael got a package of squash that only had two left in it - it looked like it must of held at least 5 or 6.  Did we end up paying for 2 squash or all of them?  Who knows!  We haven't quite figured out the system here yet.

It is dam hot out there - and it must be quite humid as I am sweating a lot and I don't so much at home with the dry heat in the high 90's which is what it is here.  We went back to our apartment minus the zip lock bags to have our first meal of the day - breakfast - at noon.  We had last eaten around 5 pm the day before and then ended up going to bed around 1:30am - so we were very hungry.  

After cleaning up the kitchen, I took a long nap.  I wanted to go back to sleep, but hey I was wasting the day away.  We stayed inside for the afternoon - it would only be hotter outside.  I worked on blogs and accounting.  Michael had some Ghana or work calls.  So it wasn't until around 6a:30 or later that we went out.  

It's still hot!  We went back to the Carrefour thinking it might have the zip lock bags.  We also needed dish washing liquid and a dish cloth.  The Carrefour came through on all these things.  So next - before we get too hangry - we need to find the Doner restaurant Michael has picked out.  We  passed a lot of restaurants - and like Europe - some of the waiters were waiting around and would try to sell you on their food as being the best.  

This parrot looks like he has pants on!  He announces a pet store.

Miscellaneous street scene.

We did find the restaurant that Michael had chosen - Yaprak Tantuni Doner.

I tried their German version - which had a creamy yogurt sauce.  Those peppers on the right were deadly.  The bottom one had great flavor if you just ate a tiny piece of it.

It was already dark by then.  We strolled along the beach walkway.

Sort of a food truck - selling coconut or other beverages.

Michael climbing the hill towards the opening to the level of our apartment. The decorations on the left are for a Burger King.

Heading towards our apartment building entrance on the left just before the Gloria Jean's coffee is a big D for our entrance.  This time my fingerprint didn't work.  But Michael's did.  Take the elevator up to the 7th floor and we're good.  

9/7 Our Mahmutlar Alanya Apartment

 The area of Alanya we are in is called Mahmutlar.  It is a very large subburb of Alanya and has its own city vibe.  Our apartment is on the 7th floor and does have some nice views.  But it is crazy hot here!

Views from our living room balcony.

A view back up the street to what looks to be a swimming pool with slide.

The best views are from the side of the balcony and the living room window (no balcony there).  The glass on our balcony seems to give off a blue hue.

Kitchen and table to hold everything that doesn't fit on the counter.

Living room with regular table that is our office's on right and left sides and eating area facing the window.

Hall from living room to all other rooms.  Door to outside is on far left (not in photo) next is bathroom. followed by master bedroom with bath and door to right is second bedroom.

Master bedroom.  The sheets and pillow cases are really strange.  They both have plastic/rubber little dots all over them.  Luckily the dots are on the top of the sheet.  The pillow cases are on top.  But if I turn over the pillows - there are no dots.  Makes for much better sleep.  I don't want to wake up with dimples all over my face!

Master bath - we lucked out on both showers - they are very nice.

2nd bedroom.

Hall bathroom - also very nice.

Have you noticed a unique decorative touch in all of the rooms?  Trump would say it is a poor man's White House.  Don't we all want gold gilding all over our homes!