I live in the Gürsu area of Konyaalti which is a mostly residential area with not too many bars or nightclubs so when my wife announced that there was a new bar having it’s opening night, I took the family along to check it out. Mind you, that’s mainly because they usually give away free food and drink at these occasions.
So, if you are ever in Turkey and see strings of balloons around a shop or bar, be sure to inquire as to when the party kicks off and get there early for a good seat.
Luckily we got there in time to find the last available table and we were immediately presented with some Cucumber and Carrot with a Lemon juice dip which I totally love.
It reminded me of the first time I visited Antalya, back around 1999, when I got served the same in a bar in Kaleiçi. Being from Scotland I had never been witness to such things before and it impressed me greatly back then and even now I am still enthralled by such a simple but very tasty bar snack.
My son took a bit of getting used to the Lemon juice factor but although he doesn’t like Carrots he did get stuck into the Cucumber strips.
I have turned into a typical parent and spent most of the evening trying to get my son to behave but he has too much of my DNA in him, so I am fighting a losing battle with that one.
Still, I am training him to be my photographer and he does a fairly decent job of that for an 11 year old, so I can’t complain too much. Here, Aynur and I are enjoying the free Wine. I let my son taste it and he can’t understand how people can drink it.
I used to think the same when I was his age but I learned to acquire a taste for alcohol by repeated doses when I was 17, although I don’t think I drank much for the taste, then or now. In saying that though, I did enjoy the many different flavours of the Wines I had when I was in Italy but I will write more about that in another blog.
Here is a scene of the Bar area. Later on they had some live music but the free stuff had run out as we already had more than our fair share worth, with my son getting extra Popcorn and I claimed more Wine and loads of Cheesy biscuits. I am good at making friends with Waiters. 😉
At one point everyone was dragged outside for a Team photo so they could publicise the event and there was a guy going around taking photos of the different groups. He took a photo of our Motley Crew and I believe it is going to appear in some magazine.
As we were posing for a few pictures with the flowers outside the bar, the owner came out and had a chat with us, so we got my son to do the dirty work again and take a photo.
On the way home we saw a Cow in the street but we didn’t need to kill it for meat as we were already well fed and watered by that point. You can see the photo of it in the slideshow below.
The Photos
Update
We went back a few months later and they had the magazine of the opening night there with our picture (mentioned above) duly in it. So we took a photo of it and with the owner and I holding the the magazine. Yep, I am desperate for any kind of fame. 🙂
Cheers!
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