Part 2 2nd June 2005

It's 6 AM and we are on the early morning Dolmus to Bodrum to catch the coach that will take us to Kusadasi. Even in June there are no Tourist apart from us at this time in the morning, the conversations are all in Turkish we actually feel like foreigners.

The man in the ticket office speaks no English, we say "Kusadasi" to him and he replies "it's ok, it's ok" hope it is i say to him and he gives us two tickets for approx £6 . Dread to think what the coach will be like for that sort of money.

The coach turns up, its as good if not better than any luxury coach you will find in England; airconditioned, on board loo, very comfortable seats, and waiter service providing free drinks and snacks throughout the entire journey , best value travel for £6 .

The coach pulls in to one of it's many stops, this time though the coach attendant comes up to us saying "So kay" we look at him bemused "So Kay" he says again. We try tio explain that we are going to Kusadasi and where we are is not Kusadasi! "So Kay Kusadsi Dolmus" he says, a look of comprehension appeared on Carole's face " Thats what they tried to tell us at the ticket office, it's not okay but Soke that's where we are the coach only goes to Soke, we have to take a dolmus into Kusadasi."

An hour later we get off the Dolmus in Kusadasi city centre, this place makes Bodrum look quiet and small, we have immediate reservations as to whether this is the sort of place we would like to have a holiday home, let alone retire to.

Prior to leaving England we had contacted several local Estate Agents via the internet , telling them our interest in prurchasing a property there and the date we would be arriving, all had agreed to meet us over the two days we were going to be in Kusadasi, armed we their phone numbers we called them from our mobile. The first one we called with our appointment only one hour away did not even remember us arranging this he said he may be able to see us tomorrow.
The second one did not even answer his phone, well that was the two we had planned to see on day 1.

Feeling let down we decide to try and call tomorrows appointment to see if it can be brought forward, horay we have found an estate agent who remembers us and our appointment.
"busy with other customers today" she say's ," i will see you tomorrow where are you staying."
We explain that we have just arrived in Kusadasi and have not found anywhere to stay yet."I know good place very cheap where are you i will send my brother to get you."
Ten minutes later a Turkish man approaches us and asks if we are Carole & Dave.
He takes us to their office just a few metres from where we had got off the bus.

Nesrin the estate agent arrived back at the office like a whirlwind, we were soon to learn that this girl does'nt stop she is a one woman dynamo.
On the journey to the hotel just outside of the town centre she does'nt stop talking telling us how many wonderful houses she has for sale and what a wonderful investment Turkey is with prices rising 15 to 25 % every year. We are still not convinced this is the place for us.

Well the hotel is nice, everything looks new, clean, it should do we are the only quest's!
The whole hotel to ourselfs for only ten pounds a night B&B.
Nesrin say's she will see us at 11 am tomorrow and speeds of in her blue corsa.

We spent the rest of that afternoon looking around the area where we were staying it is very hot so we head towards the beach, it is much quieter here than in town few cars and fewer tourists which is strange as there seemed to be plenty of hotels, perhaps each hotel, like ours, has only one room let.

In the evening the local bars and restaurants never seemed to be more than half full, the atmosphere at this end of town seems very lay back and lowkey more the kind of place that we like.

We are starting to look forward to tomorrows home hunt.