Keeping Cool in Kalkan

Keeping cool in Kalkan

I was so glad my daughter had packed our first aid kit. With due irreverence to the 20kg weight limit imposed by the airline flying us to Turkey, she had simply swept everything into a suitcase. We therefore had a rich collection of pills, potions, sprays and dressings to heal us whether we were suffering from swine flu or athlete's foot. We'd also brought a waterproof arm stocking – for putting over plaster casts – and it was this that I was most grateful for.

The approach to Kalkan bay is from halfway up a mountain. It's hard not to stop and stare at somewhere so beautiful, but that being rude and us being in a taxi we charged down the high street awash with people clutching their genuine fake handbags from the local market, past the town's Labradors stretched out anywhere they could find a hint of shade, hung a right at the town's one roundabout and hurtled towards our holiday home in the fast lane of the dual carriageway to Kalamar Bay. Strangely we knew it wasn't a dual carriageway, but if felt safer to pretend...

And so there we were in our own little bit of paradise. There was a stillness in the hot air and the magic of Kalkan started to work after our long journey. The unpacking could wait; the infinity pool beckoned. The family dived straight in.

But I had a problem – an insect bite on my leg had started to redden a few hours before we left the UK. I had antibiotics for it but during the journey it had become volcanically hot and swollen, and blisters including one the size of a satsuma had erupted. Thank heavens for the waterproof stocking. True, it was meant for an arm and was not the most attractive of accessories, but it did the job and covered the blisters. I dived in and it was cool, very cool. I was on holiday!

“The best cure is swimming in the sea”, I was informed by Suleyman as he delivered a fresh loaf of bread the next morning. This view was echoed by our wine waiter (he tasted it for us; how kind). So I headed down past the bougainvillea clad villas to the terraced rocky coves of Kalamar bay, where each turn would reveal another secluded spot to laze in. The sea was crystal clear, clean and deep as forever. I grabbed my snorkel and took the plunge - yes, my leg stung, but there was plenty to take my mind off it! There were fish everywhere; shoals of tiny ones all playing follow my leader, electric blue stunners and even mini sword fish drifting through the blue.

When I emerged it wasn't just my spirit that felt renewed. My leg looked better too. The salty Mediterranean had started its cool cure. Kalkan worked its magic that week and I returned to England fully chilled, in body and soul.