Turkish Delights

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!

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.

Slippers from Istanbul. Or more specifically, stolen from my mother.

DAY TWO

Melissa Odabash Robyn Kaftan and Turkish Towel

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.

Rather a lot of this went on.

DAY THREE

Grocer Selfie

Zimmerman Sundress & Chanel Espadrilles

Local Barber. I find everything about this place aesthetically appealing. It's a pity I didn't photograph it straight.

DAY FOUR - THE BOAT

Topshop Palm Print Bikini

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

Espadrilles from the gentlemen's department in River Island. £3! 

DAY FIVE

ASOS Swing Dress

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.

LAST DAY - BOO HOO

Topshop Palm Print Romper - hate the word romper. Sorry.
Sandals from Accessorize.

Heart Shaped Coops Pinch On Earring - obsessed!

Favourite Item I Came Home With...

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. 

Nasty Gal Straw Boater

Coops Earrings

The Old Man and The Sea

Halcyon Days Evil Eye Bracelet

River Island Hello There Sailor Sunglasses

Topshop Palm Print Swimming Costume

Chanel Espadrilles

Tea To Tan By Terry

Clarins Sun Oil

Turkish Towel

Globetrotter Suitcase

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All Inclusive in Turkey - Beating the System

How beautiful it is to do nothing, then rest afterward - Proverb

My friend and I have just returned from a blissful holiday in Turkey. On paper it didn't look too pretty - all inclusive hotel in Bodrum with free beer and biscuits. All you could eat buffet at the flash of a wristband. Turps on tap, thinly disguised as vodka. Nightly "entertainment" (loosest sense of the word) in the on-site amphitheatre. Plenty of sunburnt youths on apres A-level booze ups, washing themselves in tequila, grilling their skin and vomiting off the balconies, but with all these things it's never your only option! There is something about being in a foreign country when the sun is shining - there is always an adventure to be had. SO rather than resigning ourselves to a slightly suspect swimming pool and the sea snail in our bathroom (yup!) we wandered away from the burgers, karaoke calamities and mangy people cats and headed towards the phosphorescence and glow-wormed secret side of Bodrum. A place which I highly, highly recommend.

We chanced upon a lone jetty stretching out onto the Mediterranean sea with Kos in the distance. We swam, jumped off pontoons, read, slept, ate. You pretty much get the gist of what was done for the rest of the holiday............absolutely nothing.....and it was heaven. Bodders....we'll be back next year.

The Lone Jetty

Topshop Vine Leaf Bikini similar here

Turkish Coffee - yummers
V.G book Here and Now. Letters between two of my favourite authors. 

Illesteva Leonard Sunglasses - best things I've ever invested in. They go with everything.
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter - a really wonderful book. The New York Times says it's 'A monument to crazy love with a deeply romanitc heart'...I mean HOW could I resist??!

Flora resplendent in ASOS Sunglasses and a Forever 21 Bikini

...and Chanel and Coops London Earring - MOST BEAUTIFUL - get them here! More on them later.

Zoe and Morgan Lasso Love Ring
Alex Monroe Rope Ring

J.Crew Seersucker Bikini 

Local Turkish Trinkets from the market. Evil Eyes and Lucky Fish.

ASOS Penelope Bikini

This is what I packed - including the variety of bikinis above. I love anywhere that is so hot you don't really have to wear clothes. Simplicity is key - good sunglasses, good jewellery, good lipstick (at the moment it's Nars Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil in Mexican Rose) and a good book. I also find that it's a lovely thing to take a new scent on holiday so it forever reminds you of your time away. A small escapism trick! I'm currently basically drinking Miller Harris' new scent La Fumée Ottoman (it's divine) to try and revive my memories.

Bye Turkey! See you on my plate.

PS. Follow me on Instagram - if you want to! @ghudsonevans

Some photographs courtesy of Flora Parkinson

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