Turkey Nuggets: Yumurtalik: A Day at the Beach

We recently spent a relaxing, sunny Saturday at the Mediterranean port village of Yumurtalik with some of our friends. Yumurtalik is a little less than an hour from our home. (Being Midwesterners, we still marvel at the fact that we are less than an hour away from the Mediterranean Sea!) Yumurtalik has a relaxed beach town atmosphere complete with little shops selling bikinis, kabobs, and beach balls lining the road. A local university was having a sand volleyball tournament that day. The sand volleyball and pop music added to the fun, carefree atmosphere of the day.

The water was blue and cool, the sun was warm, and we had our section of the beach almost all to ourselves. (Other than some daring college students and a carefree preschooler splashing in his underwear, most Turks think that it is way too cold in May to go to the beach.) We spread out our beach towels and snacked on some doner kababs that we had picked up at a nearby shop. Doners are made of lamb meat cooked on a vertical spit and sliced off in thin strips. The lamb was wrapped in a thin, tortilla like bread with delicious spices and veggies. Yum!

I love watching Peter at the beach. I wish I could take him every day. He was in heaven. He spent his day patiently scooping sand with his shovel and dumping it into the water, giggling as the waves splashed his legs, and filling up buckets. Normally a very cautious little boy, he seemed fearless as he ran into the waves and splashed.