This year our elder daughter, son-in-law and four year-old granddaughter, Izabelle, joined us for the first week of our holiday. They had a wonderful time and were sorry to go home yesterday.
Little Izzy had grand time and liked everything. In the moments she wasn’t in the swimming pool or the sea she managed to do quite a lot. She ate loads of sigara boreği, many types of gözleme, and balık ekmek, She drank gallons of vişne suyu. and everything else put in front of her and pronounced all of them “dee-lish-ous”. She also learned to pronounce them all in Turkish. She also learned to say teşekkürler when waiters and shopkeepers did something nice for her. She learned how to use a Turkish toilet properly – with adult assistance with the tap.
Izzy went to a village where the White Storks nest and saw the adults feeding their chicks. She was intrigued by hens running in and out of the courtyard of a village house. The lady of the house saw her and rushed out, swept her up in her arms, and carried her off inside. When we caught up she was stroking the neck and back of a little chick the lady was holding out for her. It was probably the best moment of her holiday.
She walked the three-quarters of an hour to a little pebble beach down the coast. We carefully selected the right shaped pebbles for an important job the next day. She made a little Turkish friend on the beach, communicating by that strange telepathy that small children have, and together they built Castle Kale our of stones. She saw terrapins swimming in a little pool around a coastal spring. Next day she built a Turkosaurus on our sandy beach (my family don’t ‘do’ sandcastles) with the help of a dedicated team of labourers. And we used the pebbles for the fearsome teeth and spiny back.
And, of course, everyone made a big fuss of her and gave her little gifts - a flower for her hair, a tulip made out of a paper napkin, a magic lamp fridge magnet, a little bracelet, and so on. All in all it was a great time and they want to come back next year if they can.
