After such a blissful holiday there last year, I felt Turkey was due another visit. We headed to the sleepy-ish village of Kalkan with azure seas, bougainvillea crowned houses and secret streets. Ummmm interestingly it also happens to have Chanel's Turkish flagship store! Who knew? We lay about like stray cats in the sunshine without a stag-do or tequila shot in site. (Not strictly true).
I hoped that by now being (what is considered) grown up I would be able to pack properly and not have to replenish my wardrobe while I was actually on holiday because I had forgotten to bring all the things I needed and LOADS of things I didn't. This time I just about managed with my hotchpotch of things. Once I went to Paris for a winter weekend, having packed the night before in a bit of a haze, only to open my suitcase and find one shoe, a beret and some red silk long-johns which meant having to wear a mans coat the entire time and wanting to hide in a hole. I never learn.
So in Kalkan instead of purchasing anything practical and despite my buy 'more quality, less quantity' birthday resolution I came back with a whole other suitcase, a handbag, two pairs of earrings, five bracelets, two rings, a shirt, two sarongs, two pairs of shoes and a technicolor dream-coat. Handy. And because Turkey aren't in the Euro it makes it feel like everything is free! It's not. At Dalaman airport at 2 in the morning I was asked to weigh in my hand luggage which put the frighteners on me as I had spent all my holiday money on clothes and couldn't foot the exorbitant charges the airline were demanding. In front of a queue of very cross, tut-tutting, head shaking Brits-abroad I had to take out all my extras and hide them from the very formidable check-in ladies and then secretly re-pack them behind a pillar so Security wouldn't notice.
DAY ONE!
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I donned my favourite dreamy new dress from Cabbages & Roses. It actually came with sleeves but I took them off. I've kept them to sew back on in winter. I think it may be easier just to buy another one? No. No no no.
Maybe. |
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| Slippers from Istanbul. Or more specifically, stolen from my mother. |
DAY TWO
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| Heavenly holiday reading. My Ernest Hemingway obsession continues. I fear that had I lived in his lifetime, I too would have gone in search of him to try to become his wife (it didn't seem too difficult). This is a beautifully written, well executed story of the four wives in Hemingways life. Naomi Wood often uses clothes as a way of differentiating between the female characters which as you can imagine very much appealed to me! Subsequently I am now on the search for a black feather dress that looks like swan wings. |
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| Rather a lot of this went on. |
DAY THREE
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| Grocer Selfie |
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| Local Barber. I find everything about this place aesthetically appealing. It's a pity I didn't photograph it straight. |
DAY FOUR - THE BOAT
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Another superb book which I started reading on my last holiday and never got around to finishing at the time. It is the biography of Sheila Milbanke, an Australian beauty who came to Great Britain and married in to the upper echelons of society. Its a picture of a life lived alongside some of the most famous people in British history and sheds a light on the whirlwind of parties and clothes and the fun they had but also how life was changed so drastically by two world wars.
Sunglasses from Le Specs |
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| Espadrilles from the gentlemen's department in River Island. £3! |
DAY FIVE
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| Tea to Tan By Terry - this stuff is incredible and useful if you don't like tanning your face. It's a watercolour bronzer which smells delicious and makes you look bronzed in a minute. You can shake it to make it a bit shimmery for the evening. Soleil Tan De Chanel Illuminating Fluid is a birthday present from my sister. Makes your skin look tanned and amazing. Caudalie Beauty Elixir....this stuff is heaven on a hot day and the recipe has been around for centuries. Queen Isabelle of Hungary called it the elixir of youth. I've googled her and she looks pretty good. |
Favourite Item I Came Home With...
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| My handmade technicolor dreamcoat. Spotted by my clever friend in a very strange clothes shop. We went back every day to haggle them down. |
This turned out to be all I needed in my suitcase. Note to self for next year.
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Photo Credits F Parkinson & N Virley!
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