Living In Turkey

Live the lifestyle, we wake up to the sun, the cost of living is low, our capital is secure in the bank and earning interest which we live on comfortably, what more could we ask. We are so glad we chose Turkey to be our Home!

We have lived here in Altinkum for the past two years now and would like to share our story with you.

Food and Shopping

We wake up to another lovely sunny day, today is Saturday and that is market day in the town of Altinkum. I stroll up to the market which takes about 20 minutes from where I live passing the local shops on the way. At 11 o’clock I meet up with my friend, and we usually stop and have a coffee close to the market. After our chat and coffee we then venture to the market, which is on all year round, as it caters for the local Turkish people as well as the English, and obviously in the summer months it is very busy with tourists as well.

Fresh fruit and vegetables are in abundance and are all year round here and of course very cheap compared to the UK. For example 3 kilos of oranges for about 80 pence, 4 kilos of potatoes £1, you can buy all you need for the week and spend less than £10, you can buy just about everything on this market except furniture. After filling up our shopping trolleys (and I never thought I would have one) we stroll back along the old town road, calling to pick up a cooked chicken £2 and maybe some fresh bread at the local bakers here you can get about 8 loafs for £1 and they are fantastic.

We tend to walk most of the time but if we wanted to we could catch the local Dolmus (bus) which stop every 5 minutes and this would cost us about 40p each.

We always go out on a Saturday night with some of our friends to one of the bars close to the seafront open all year and also at least one night during the week. if it does rain which is not very often, then most of the local bars will come and pick you up from home and take you home later this service is free of charge.

The supermarkets here also have a free bus service or you can come and go by taxi. We now have 4 supermarkets here and they are getting more English things in but there are plenty of Turkish items to choose from and most have English instructions on them. Our weekly shop at the supermarket including meat is about £35, so including the market our total weekly shop is about £50 and for this we eat very well.

Household Bills

We pay our council tax once a year before May. This is about £12 each in English money for the Year. We pay water bills every 2 months, this works out at about £4 per month, depending on how much washing, baths and showers you have. Electric bills are about £12 a month in wintertime as you need the air conditioning on to take off the chill, as all the apartments have marble floors which stay cold, great in the summer. We have a calor gas hob this costs about £10 for a year. So on those figures it costs us a Total of £220.00

Turkish Banks

The Turkish banks are very good and there are plenty to choose from. You can invest your money for 3, 6 9 or 12 months with an exceptionally good interest rate. As we moved here before retirement age, we are really living well on the interest from our savings, we have no problems paying our bills so our life is stress free. Our quality of life has vastly improved since moving over here also our health seems to be a lot better. we wake up to sunshine 11 months of the year, although in the wintertime it can be a little cold at night. We do have some rain in the wintertime, but last year there was very little (Global warming) when it does rain here it is not for very long.

Christmas and New Year

Many of the Bars here now cater for the English with Christmas Diners and Parties, so you don’t have to miss out. The supermarkets now stock Christmas decorations so it can just be like home. The only difference is the nice weather. We spent new year, with many friends at the Didim Beach Hotel, this evening was (All inclusive £25 each) that included food, drinks entertainment, and also overnight accommodation and even breakfast. After our good night we all met up on the sea front, sat in the sunshine and looked out to sea, the perfect way to start a New Year.

So from the two British Turks Goodbye
Pat and Ken Hall 2004