Oh, What a Night!

When we checked into our Van hotel, Elite World, last evening, we found out that the restaurant was going to have live music.  It had been two long days of driving so, to be honest, I think we were both ready to relax and have some fun.  So, we met at 7:30 and went to the restaurant.  The VIP reception that we'd received when we arrived continued!  Atahan had told me that this part of Turkey is hurting from a lack of visitors so they are happy to see visitors from other parts of Turkey and from other countries.  That might have explained what happened during the evening.

First, the prices for the food were a fraction of what we'd been seeing.  However, I do need to say that wine is not cheap anywhere here!  A bottle of wine the previous night had cost $80 CAD and, while it was a perfectly respectful white, it would not have cost even half of that at home!  So, the evening began with a table heaving with food - I think they offered us a complimentary selection of appetizers and, believe me, just that alone would have been sufficient to feed a group of 4.  Cheeses are a big thing here so we tried several of those.  One I really enjoyed but the other which the area is well known for, I found to strong and "farmy" if that is a way to describe it.  Then, I had lamb shish kebab which was excellent served with fries.

The band continuously played during our dinner - no music I recognized as it was all Turkish but it was certainly well known as a guy at another table (with an excellent voice) joined in as did Atahan from time to time.  The waiter had asked where we were from and shortly after they started playing, they announced they would like to welcome guests from Izmir (Atahan's home) and from Canada. So, with that, here are a couple of videos from the evening to give you an idea of what a good time we were having.