Olu Deniz Holiday - Week One

I have neglected my blog for so long that I actually feel embarrassed. I love blogging but have been tempted away by the new delights of Instagram and also I've been talking to family and friends via messenger and FaceTime instead of via my blog. I have felt a social media emptiness these last couple of weeks and realised that I have missed my blog, a bit like missing a dear old friend. I hope you forgive me, my trusted friendly blog.

So now for a catch up. We have just returned from fortnight holiday number three this year and enjoyed the sunny holiday delights of Turkey again. In June we visited our favourite Turkish resort of Kalkan and this last holiday was in Olu Deniz. We like this resort for October as we find that as the season starts to wind down that we need a fairly busy place to stay so that there is still some hustle and bustle around us. There are plenty of places to visit nearby and various sightseeing places to explore.

The weather was perfect for the first week although it was cloudy on Saturday and rained on Sunday in the middle of our break, but it was back to sunshine on Monday. The hot sunny weather remained until our journey home on Friday night. We expected this patch of cloudy weather and visited the ghost town of Kayakoy on Saturday with a fairly short bus ride away at a cost of around £1.75 return each.

Earlier in the week we had caught the local bus to the top of Babadag Mountain to watch the steady stream of paragliders jumping from the platform for their thrills. There are many tandem paragliders with the passengers paying around £50 for the experience. We are both too chicken to try it ourselves but this did not stop us having a chuckle at some of the novice's legs still running in mid-air once they had already taken off. Instead we lazily sat back with a glass of chilled wine and enjoyed the view and entertainment. 

Most people arrive by travel agency mini-bus but we were lucky enough to get on the local mini-bus as there are only two a day. We had to stand up as all seats were already taken and it was a long 40 minute journey up hairpin bends on a narrow road. Two ladies seated in front of me could not look out the window at times but as we have done this journey before with us sitting in the front seats next to the driver we know the road is safe. 

It is usually a fairly peaceful spot at the mountain top but this time there were three JCBs drilling away. On closer inspection I noticed that they are building a cable car called the Skyline to take the paragliders up the mountain and sightseers up and down the mountain. This is due to open around May/June next year. I think that if we holiday in the area again then this will be well worth a visit, although David is not a fan of cable cars and may have to be persuaded.

Our hotel is just perfect for us and I booked it in January this year at a good price with Jet2 Holidays. We have been using this company quite a lot recently after using them for flights this April to Tenerife and again for flights to Tenerife for June 2018. One of the draws is the 22kg hold luggage allowance and 10kg hand luggage allowance. Other companies give much smaller weight allowances and charge excessive amounts for additional allowances. The hotel is fairly central, has a lovely (but freezing cold - or should that be"refreshing?") pool and plenty of sunbeds with no early morning towel runs to bag a bed. We stayed in this hotel over two years ago and we were pleasantly surprised at the standard of accommodation and service given the fairly low cost. We have a large room with king sized bed, window settee and balcony overlooking the pool with views towards the mountains. We stayed in the room next door last time we stayed.

Well I'll post more about our holiday soon and sign off for now. Find me (and follow me if you want to) on Instagram @themrsdanvers and I use #themrsdanvers.

My Sunday

Up at 6.15am, a large cup of tea, a bowl of flakes & granola and a quick get-ready and out through the door at 7am. We headed off to the Cheshire carboot sale, but as we approached Knutsford green we noticed that there was the yearly carboot sale on in full swing and had to stop. Luckily a car was just pulling away from a parking spot on the main road and I parked up in the newly vacated space.

I bought two lovely gifts at £2 each. The first was a boxed Heyland & Whittle body wash & body lotion set. The scent is Neroli & Rose and smells of sweet orange blossom with just a hint of rose. This set currently sells for £30 on line. I already have some Heyland & Whittle soap in cute boxes o will give this and the soap together as a Christmas gift.

The other gift is a Peony.co.uk rose arrangement in a smoky white glass cube. It comes with a spray scent for spritzing on the flower and it then acts as a room fragrance. I bought this for myself and will put the vase on my bedside table. I looked on line and found the lowest prices on the Peony website to be £17 for similar. 

I then found the holy grail of candles - a Jo Malone one in a fresh smelling scent of Jasmine & Mint. I paid £15 for this which I know is pricey but it is new and they currently sell for £44 so I've paid about a third of the cost. 

My next find was a set of ghd hair straighteners for £10. These are a more recent version than the ones I currently use so I will keep these for myself and use my older ones as a spare. These heat up so much more quickly than my current pair and are more comfortable to use. These generally cost £100+

We then moved on to the Cheshire carboot sale and I bought two 500ml pump action bottles of L'Occitane shampoo and conditioner. These were £5 for the two and initially I nearly didn't bother buying these. In the end I considered that you pay £2.50 for shampoo and conditioner in the supermarket so I bought them both. I checked out the price on line when I got home and found that the conditioner sells for £31 and a smaller sized shampoo (300ml) sells for £18. I worked out that 500ml would sell for £30 (£6 per 100ml) so I have a bargain at £5 for £61 worth. Who the heck would pay £61 for some shampoo and conditioner? Madness. I've used these before and they are excellent products but they have a downsize in that they have a medicine/hospital type smell.

I found four more of my favourite Bomb Cosmetics bath blaster bombs at 50p each. The scents are Strawberry Sunrise, Ice Cream Queen, Bear Necessities and Tweetie Pie. This brand of bath bomb always make the bath water feel very "soft" and smell heavenly. They are also very moisturising for your skin. They are not as strong smelling as Lush and I prefer these. These usually cost £2.99 each.

I bought two bundles of magazines from two different ladies. One was a bundle of home magazines and some have only just come out as they are dated September & October 2017. I paid £2 for 11 in total. I then saw the lady I had bought three bundles from the other week and bought 18 copies of Hello Fashion magazines from her for £3.

I bought a cute fold up mirror compact for £1 for taking away on holiday. It is new and has a normal mirror and 5X magnifying mirror. I need a magnifying mirror more as I have got older and my eyesight has started to fade when looking at things close up. I need glasses for reading and a magnifying mirror for putting on my make-up. I looked this mirror up on line and found they cost over £13.

I have been after the final chapter in the film series of The Hunger Games, The Mocking Jay part 2 for some time now. I ended up looking on eBay and marked one as "Watching" at £5.98 (including postage) but thought I'd hang on for a couple more weeks more before buying. Today I found it for 50p. I bought quite a few DVDs for 50p each and 3 for £1. Again I am buying these as fast as I can sell the ones I no longer want. A bit of a vicious circle.

That is it for this week's bargains. We are away for a short break next weekend to the southern part of the Lake District. We are praying for good weather so that we can visit a couple of carboot sales there. I'll post about it when we get home. 

Today's Finds

What a lovely August bank holiday weekend we are having weather wise. The sun shone nearly all day yesterday and we spent most of the day in the garden. I filled two green bins with garden waste after the lawns were mowed, the front garden weeded and some of the shrubs pruned. I wanted to do more but as the bins were full I usually use that as a sign to stop otherwise I wear myself out. I often do too much and David has to stop me. My cat PG enjoyed sunbathing on our garden patio table all day. 

The good weather meant the Cheshire carboot sale was rammed today. We walked around for 3.5 hours and then decided that we had had enough. My feet were starting to ache from walking. We have  come home with a host of bargain finds.

I was running out of magazines and had looked last week for some but to no avail. Today I struck gold and bought three bundles of magazines for £9. There are 35 in total and are all last year and this year's (with the odd 2015 in there). There are 18 Harper's Bazaar, 12 Vogue and 5 Elle. Now David said £9 was too expensive (3 bundles at £3 a bundle) but given that 2 magazines would normally cost £9, I think £9 for 35 is an excellent price and I just love a big thick glossy magazine to flick through. They work out to be just under 26p a copy so I am happy with the price. She had 3 more bundles but I just chose the titles I wanted and I think 35 is enough.

I bought two boxes of Yankee Candle tealights for £3 a box (less than half price) from an on off trader who visits only when the sun is shining. He sells all the things you would normally find in a Hallmark store. Lots of candles, cards and some soft toys. The scents I bought are fresh smelling Clean Cotton and Midnight Jasmine.

I found a soft as butter 100% cashmere scarf in a candy stripe for just £1. It is a longer length so I can wear it doubled up. It is from Scotland and the make is Brora. These are up for sale at £50 upwards on eBay but this is a keeper and I'll be wearing it this winter with a plain coloured coat.

I bought a number of 50p items from one lady. A Boots No7 swirl blusher/bronzer, a dark chocolate eyeshadow, a Soap & Glory hair band (great for keeping my hair off my face when I have a wash) and a Champneys hand cream. All new and unused.

I also bought this Champneys Citrus Blush mini duo of shower gel and body lotion for 50p. I have had one of these before and they are great for a holiday or weekend away. I love the fresh lemon scent which is just perfect for a sunny holiday evening freshen up.

I bought four of these Elemis Pure Zest cleansing soaps at 50p each. They have a fresh citrus smell. I'll keep a couple myself and use the others as little stocking fillers. These would normally cost considerably more given that Elemis is an expensive brand.

My bed needed another black cushion to match the one I bought a couple of weeks ago. It was looking a little lost and lonely on its own so I was pleased to find two Laura Ashley cushions of the same size and similar design for just £1 each. Now these are clearly not black but I love the soft grey colour and they are like new. Laura Ashley cushions are ridiculously expensive on their website (even in the sale) so these are a perfect snip at £2. I like the beading on the sides of them.

On the home front I bought another le Crueset storage jar for £2. This is in a lovely mauve colour (not sure of the proper name for the colour). I have one of these already in blue to match my set of le Creuset pans which I have had for over 20 years. I would have preferred another blue one to match but I like this mauve colour and as they usually cost £28 to buy new I was not going to walk away from one at £2.

I have a little shopping list of DVDs that I am after and I managed to tick one off my list today. I've watched the boxed set of Breaking Bad series 1 - 3 and was after the set of 4 - 6 which I managed to find today for £4. I also bought my usual selection of other DVDs for between 20p and 50p.

I bought David a great Adidas bucket hat in blue for £1. Great for on holidays and he looks a little "Madchester" wearing it. I also bought him a new Next collared t shirt in a purple pattern for £1. He's wearing this already so no photos I'm afraid.

Well tomorrow is a bonus booting day so  I'll let you know what bargains I find tomorrow.