Holiday Adrasan Summer 2010 – Part 4

Chill House

Not content with going to the same place year after year for our summer holiday, we also tend to follow a predictable life when there! How sad!

When not out on boat trips or going to the market or doing other ‘away-from-the-bay’ type things, we tend to go to the beach. More precisely, we tend to go to the Chill House Beach! There we enjoy the comfortable sun-loungers, cushions and sun shades provided and go for the odd swim. By about 1:00 pm the thought of a cold beer leads us up to the Chill House . There we have the said beer or two, a light lunch and enjoy looking out across the bay, Musa Dag and perhaps meeting up with friends.  I’ve probably said enough in previous posts about how good the Chill House is and what a good bloke Musti the owner is. This year was no exception Musti and his staff made us very welcome either at lunchtime, on the beach, at dinner or when we called in just for a late-night drink. One evening we all helped save hatching turtles from being squashed by passing cars and directing them to the sea.

The following are a few photos of Chill House life from this summer’s holiday:

Above: Chill House Beach

Above: Chill House Beach from the sea.

Above: The Chill House ‘Crew’ – Sezar, Musti, Mustafa and Sahin

Above: Mustafa pours the Efes

Above: View from the Chill House – Musti and the Mountain (Musa Dag)

Above: Mrs Musa enjoys a cold beer – a very cool bookshelf behind (an old Coca Cola fridge!)

Above: Ferhat and Mrs Musa

Above: Emel & Musti

Chill House, Adrasan, April 2010

 The Chill House was one of the few places open when we visited the bay in April. I was very pleased to find it open as it is one of my favourite places on the bay. It is a great place to have lunch or just a beer whilst enjoying a great view over the bay and Musa Dag. The place is run by Musti (I hope that is the correct spelling) and he is one of the nicest most genuine people I have ever met. The decor, ambience and music of this beach bar / restaurant remind me of the hippy days of the 60’s and 70’s.

The Chill House also has some sun loungers and cushions on the beach and we made good use of these during our stay, enjoying the warm Spring sunshine. However, we didn’t quite go swimming but did do some paddling. We also had fun collecting shells and interesting pieces of driftwood.

Musti and Mustafa (the chef) are great hosts and I always feel slightly younger when at the Chill House!

Above: The Musa females survey some jewellery outside the Chill House.

Above: Lunch at the Chill House

Above: The view from the Chill House

Above: Looking down the beach from the Chill House towards their sun loungers. Also a view of Musti’s back.

Above: One of our driftwood ‘creations’!

Summer Holiday Adrasan – Catch Up

With the coming of the summer school holidays once again the Musa family packed their bags and headed for Adrasan on the Turkish Coast. I am embarrassed to write this as it must seem our family must lack initiative or gumption by continuing to go to the same place each summer. Perhaps the truth is that just as I am a lazy gardener, I am also a lazy traveller. It is just too easy to go back to the place where you know it will be warm; the natives are friendly and have got to know you; there are no ‘resort hotels’; the scenery is magnificent and once there, it is relatively inexpensive. The youngest Musa also demands to go back there as she has made many chums there which she keeps in touch with throughout the year on the interweb.
For all this I still feel that this once intrepid backpacker and hitch-hiker has settled too easily for the quiet life. I am comforted though by the fact that my good friend Dave the Puma has been taking his holidays in the same place on Crete for much longer than we’ve been going to Adrasan. (Perhaps I should say that as I write this (March 10) that yesterday I booked flights to Antalya and rooms at the Arikanda River Garden for a week over Easter! And . . . . . I have already booked flights for the summer!)
I mentioned that Adrasan was reasonably inexpensive, unfortunately this is not true of the air fares to Adrasan particularly during school holidays. We flew with British Airways and, in truth, they gave the best deal but they did succeed in losing our luggage. It is an intense feeling of dismay that one gets when one has landed in a foreign country to discover that one’s entire collection of underpants has flown off in a different direction and could be anywhere in the world! We survived quite well for the 2 days it took for my underpants and the rest of our luggage to find us. We bought basic supplies including a new pair of swimming shorts from the local shops. I learnt to say in Turkish “I have new swimming shorts” which goes something like: “Ben yeni mayo var”. I was very proud of my linguistic achievement and took every opportunity to use my new phrase of Turkish whenever I could. On reflection now I can understand the worried look of sometimes complete strangers who I practised this phrase upon.
We stayed at the Mithat Hotel which was very good thanks to Oner, his family and staff. We frequented the Chill House restaurant most lunchtimes (and had a few bottles of Efes) and as always got a warm welcome from Musti, Mustafa and Hussein. We had some great evenings and great food at The Arikanda River Garden where, as usual, Vahit, Felamos, Akif and Mehmet were excellent hosts. We enjoyed some boat trips aboard Captain Ali’s boat Dazler in the company of Ali, his son Mert and Sulyman.
Photos:

Efes at The Arikanda River Garden

 

Mithat Hotel at breakfast time

Efes, flowers and Panama hat – lunch Chill House

Captain Ali’s boat Dazler (taken in 2007 and photoshoped)

Ramasan’s Bar in the village, (Ramasan standing centre). Lazy Sunday! The best thing to do on Sunday is to take a Dolmus to the village market and then move on to Ramasan’s bar in the village for a few late morning Efes. Then take a dolmus to the Arikanda River Garden to relax in the shade with your feet in the cool river and have lunch. Afterwards return to the beach for a late afternoon swim.

Efes at The Chill House, Adrasan, Turkey

Efes at The Chill House
Originally uploaded by emagen
Summer 2008 - Some shade and a bottle of Efes beer at lunchtime are what holidays in Adrasan (Cavus) are made of! Truth is that there is not an awful lot to do in Adrasan which is a great reason to take time to enjoy a leisurely lunch after an hour or so on the beach and then have an afternoon nap.

Actually the scenery is stunning and there are some great walks - not that you would attempt these at midday in August! More active days can be spent on one of the local boats that set sail everyday for nearby coves and small islands. Or you could go up into the moutains - perhaps to Arikanda, someone will offer to take you for little more than the cost of the petrol.

Or just have another Efes!

Musa Dag from the Chill House, Adrasan

Musa Dag from the Chill House
Originally uploaded by emagen
The view of Musa Dag and the beach from the Chill House restaurant / bar. A light lunch, a couple of bottles of Efes, some shade, good music - can't wait to be back there!

Chill House Menu, Adrasan

Chill House Menu
Originally uploaded by emagen
Possibly one of the best things about being on holiday somewhere hot is that you don't need to feel at all guilty about having a long, light lunch somewhere in the shade and drinking a couple of cold beers.
As I've said before, the Chill House has a great situation with views over the beach, sea and mountains and is slightly quirky. The menus are inserted in old LP sleeves as the photograph above shows and Musti who runs the place is just such a 'laid back' character. The music's good too.
I wish I was there now!
(photo taken in August 2008)

Chill House for lunch, Adrasan 08

Chill House for lunch
Originally uploaded by emagen
The best place for lunch (or anytime) in Adrasan. Cold beer, chilled glass, good food. BUT best of all . . . . . great location, great views and great staff. Thanks Musti!
I should also say that there are many other great places to have lunch. Perhaps even better is the Arikanda River Garden - but for a place on the beach it has to be the Chill House.
Our flights are booked for this summer!