Esenkoy Countdown

The final days in Esenköy were spent unpacking, fixing and shopping.  Mom brought a whole suitcase (49.99lbs) of goodies for us that consisted mostly of boat parts and a bag of chocolate chips for yours truly.  Dad and I left close to no food on board so that was necessary to purchase, but we were limited because the refrigerator wasn’t working correctly.

What we go through for a cold drink (and the ability to eat meat that hasn’t been canned).  The tube that sucks water in from the sea to cool the engine that runs the fridge was clogged.  Water wasn’t coming in so nothing was cycling through the motor and nothing was flowing out.  In order to get to the tube Dad had to basically take the kitchen apart.  Under the sink is the motor that actually cools the fridge and its normally covered.  We had to lift the stove off of its hinges and have it chill out by the stairs while Dad climbed into that hole and remove the filter of the tube, without filling the boat up with water.  I was betting on a jellyfish or something interesting being clogged in the tube, but as it turned out the filter was just really gross so it wasn’t letting any water through.  Dad fixed the problem and we had the green light to go shopping for meat and vegetables.

Dad’s birthday was on June 16^th!  He turned 63.  We decided to make him a special meal aboard and he requested steaks.  Mom and I went to the butcher and managed to get three nice size steaks which were a little tough but very tasty.  We also saw corn on the cob and dared to try it.  Well judging from the photo you can guess that it wasn’t that great.  It was field corn… the kind used to feed pigs… not sweet corn… the kind we eat at home.  We pressure cooked it with sugar and some butter and milk but even after all of that doctoring, it was almost tasteless and still a bit tough.

Mom and I took a trip into Yalova so she could experience the dolmuş ride and so we could visit the Migros and stock up before departing.  We couldn’t find things like spaghetti sauce in Esenköy so we had to travel to the big bad city to get that and broccoli.  This is a view from the front of the bus as we are going down a hill towards Esenköy.

This is “our” restaurant – Cumhur.  It was the place we ate at when we first arrived and we went through almost the entire menu while we were there.  Their sandwiches are great and the people are so nice.  This is the owner and father.  Every night he would be out grilling a special “Turkish Kebab” which was a lamb rolled in alternating layers of fat and put on a spit over and open fire.  He would chop it up into little pieces and flavor it with oregano and some sort of red pepper and serve it on a roll.  It was really good.

These are some of our Cumhur family.  On the left is one of the cooks and I think a son or cousin of some sort.  He does most of the grilling.  Then Dad and Me and then “Mom” who is generally in the back making soups and so much rice you could swim in it.  She would always have a smile for us and I could tell was trying to learn a little bit of English to talk to us.  Next is one of her daughters.  There were two girls there that are about high school age and are still in school.  They are learning English in school so they would try and practice with us and would help us with our very limited Turkish vocabulary.  In the back are the two garcons who are actually new additions to the group.  There was another man who served that roll, putting out plates and taking orders etc, but he wasn’t there when we got back from Istanbul.  These people welcomed us into their restaurant like we were family and made the stay in Esenköy really special.

This is Mom and Dad standing in front of the boat while the sun sets.  We went for a tea after this and said goodbye to Tamer and some of our other marina friends.