The flight out of Exeter out passed without incident, made up time and arrived at Dalaman 20 minutes early. We were at the back of the aircraft so by the time we got off and got our visas we only had a 3 minute wait for our bags. We’d organised a private transfer so an hour and a quarter later we were at the hotel. The completed road does seem quicker, even though it was 3am and there wasn't much traffic!
The Kapmar was great again, it's such terrific value for money - you're a stone's throw from everywhere there.
We had fairly mixed weather all week. People are saying everything is a month behind… well anyway when the sun was out it was baking, mid-30s but our second day saw rain like you really don’t want to see rain for several hours in the morning. From then on the rest of the week was lots of hot sunshine, but also a fair bit of cloud – but there was only those few hours were we were confined inside – you’d have needed a boat to cross the street! Nights were chilly and we were glad of a cardigan… in fact one evening at The Chef Elvis had his wood burner going and the doors shut!
Although we prefer the beach, most days were spent by the pool at the Lighthouse with several sets of friends who were staying in the apartments there – there’s nothing wrong with the Kapmar pool of course, but oh we had such a laugh with all of us together and it was enclosed so any cooling breeze was kept away.
We therefore had several lunches at the Lighthouse and a couple of evening meals there and late night drinks too – superb as always and nice to see Tony Mackaroni back on the “door” there and Jimmy and Rose too. We also ate at the Wayside which was excellent as usual and nice to see Hamdi and Oz looking so well. The Bonjour was very good again. Our meal at The Chef was up to it’s usual high standard and Elvis has done a great job with the restaurant, it’s clean, fresh and modern, really looks lovely and he’s still got the bread oven so you still get the freshly baked puffed up pitta bread there (not many places doing it now). We had a steak at the Set steakhouse which was very nice, but to be honest the staff were very disorganised and I doubt we’ll go back there for a meal in September. Oh and coffee and cake at Coco beach… well when it’s cloudy late afternoon you’ve just got to do it, the slices are enormous!! We also made it up to Café Rose twice for lunch which was lovely.
If anyone remembers Charlie (ex Lighthouse/Golden Moon/Bonjour) he has converted his restaurant (Charley’s, opposite Mandalin) to a bag shop. He’s got lots of lovely bags and purses for sale, so go and see him. We didn’t know so it was quite a shock when we turned up to have a coffee with him and found him knee deep in shelves and racks! Anyway I bought a lovely large Mulberry bag… and will be going back for more in September
The new centre/park is lovely, it brings so many more people to that area, it really is quite classy with lovely fountains and flowers and has made the Lighthouse, Bonjour, Ida etc far busier. I wondered what it would look like in the “flesh” but I have to say it’s really enhanced that area – it’s great to sit at the Lighthouse with a beer and people watch!
The canal area is looking much better – the new stalls/units are very tidy but there were only a few open when we walked that way, I guess it’s still early in the season. It was great to have the underground bazaar back again too, lots down there to spend your money on!!
The whole week was just a very lazy week spent sunbathing, shopping, eating and drinking – ahhhhhh, the perfect holiday then
the mixed weather didn’t spoil anything, after all, a holiday is what you make it.We found the prices on the whole to be the same as they were last September, and were getting 2.84 to the £ all week – so it’s still good value for money!
The flight home to Exeter did not pass without incident. Having arrived at Dalaman 2 hours prior to departure, we spent an hour and a half standing in a queue to check in (staff training apparently, slow was an understatement) and when it eventually got to our turn my name wasn’t on the passenger list and the flight was full…. For one very nice minute I thought I would be heading back to Icmeler on an extended holiday…. But after several phone calls and a stressful 25 minute wait while everyone else checked in I was eventually allowed to travel as someone had not turned up….. But we had run to get on the plane, didn’t even get time to go to the loo let alone get in the duty free shop. Booo…. Complaint written and sent to Thomas Cook, that really shouldn’t have happened.
Anyway somebody press the start button on the countdown clock again...... 14 weeks until the next visit and counting
