11th to 25 June

[teac532s]

Flights and Transfers

Taxi arrived promptly at 4am for the journey to the airport.Had some breakfast at the airport and overpriced as usual.Flight was called and boarded quite quickly and departed on time at 7.15.

Flight was smooth and on time with no problems. After visa and passport while some of our party waited for luggage myself and wife visited the duty free. to say it was slow was an understatement.
One member of staff said we could buy 2 bottles per passport but when we went to pay the guy on the tills said one bottle per passport. Confusion reigned for a while and eventually we got one bottle each. Collected luggage and headed out for private pick up. No problems there , the pick up was waiting. 80 minutes later we had arrived at the apartments.

Journey home
Our return transfer did not show so a member of staff from the apartments ran us to the airport. 6 passengers in a 4 seater. No problems until we arrived at the airport when the 2 people at the very back had to duck down to get through security but no problem. 2 minutes later a taxi with an airport security guard pulled us over.A conversation between our driver and the guard followed during which I had to slide over and the guard got in beside me. We then all had to return to the security gate where the driver had to go in to security with our passports. Meanwhile 3 other guards came to my window while I explained why we were in the vechile , no return transfer etc and I then had to fill in a form saying I had not paid for the lift to the airport. The driver returned and on we went suspecting that a taxi driver behind us had blown the whistle on 6 in a 4 seater.Have to say though the guards were quite friendly about it all and delayed us as little as possible.Through security check in and passport control were quite quick and after a brief stop at duty free we headed to our gate and boarded straight away.Flight was 10 minutes late but made it up on the journey with a little turbulence on the way. Arrived back in Belfast on time

Apartments
Can not mention the name as ICR do not use them but they were located in the old village near Tommys. Apartments were clean and cleaned daily. Towels and linen changed every 3 days. The rooms are quite good with air con in the bedroom and everything you need for your stay. The hosts were excellent as always and the guests all mixed and bonded well.Lots of good laughs were had by the pool and at the bar with a magical night where John proposed to Donna in front of the guests. Congratulations guys.Our 2 week stay was made all the more pleasant with people like John , Keith , Robert , Mick etc all staying and having a laugh.The pool area and bar area is kept clean daily and the food is excellent everytime. An exceptional stay at these apartments again and the fact that most people book a year in advance and keep returning says it all really.

Trips

We only did 2 trips this time one to the waterpark in Marmaris and to meet the dolphins. The waterpark is a good day out but the food was poor so I would bring my own next time.It was also expensive to eat there and water was 2.50 lira a small bottle. The slides and wave pool are quite good and you get all day for the entrance fee.

The dolphin trip was excellent though quite a short time is actually spent with the dolphins.The dolphin sings for you and you dance with it , it soaks you and waves at you. You also get to feed it but all this happens in the space of 10 to 15 minutes. Photos of your day can be bought at reception at 15 lira a photo or 4 for 50 lira or a photo cd with 140 photos at 100 lira.Pick up for this trip is from the town at ISbank not from your hotel so be aware if you book it.

2 of our party went to the Stella show and loved it. They said it was excellent value and a real good show with lots of laughs.

Icmeler Town
The new square is outstanding and best seen to be believed. Pictures really do not do it justice. It is lovely at night with the fountains lit up. A few places have moved and a few have gone and I will not list them all here as they have been mentioned in posts on the forums. The only one I will mention is in the old village. Just up from Tommys at the wooden bridge across the canal there was a little supermarket called Kosems. It has now gone and is missed by anyone staying up near there as it limits you to the one beside tommys and the one just round the corner from it. Both are fine but I personally preffered Kosems.I had a few walks around the top end of the village and through some of the back street ( photos will be posted soon) and the area is quite quiet and lovely.
In fact an afternoon stroll became a habit for me for the piece and quiet.
Back in the main town some bars still have the same show as previous years with the canal area being quite lively at night.There are also still a few quiet bars to be found if you look and these sometimes make for a welcome break from all the noise.My son and my niece had tattoos done in Icmeler Ink and my niece also had her hair done in Trendy hair. The canal stalls were exceptionally quiet on the night I visited and there was no atmosphere at all. Lets hope they get better. The underground market was busy and we had a good laugh with some of the stall holders there , much more enjoyable than the canal stalls and well worth the visit.
We visited the usual haunts for drinks and found that the most we paid for large efes was 6 lira. The dearest pina colada we had was in the canary bar at 10 lira and not really that nice. We have paid less for better.Bottled water is still really cheap with a small bottle in Dia supermarket at 0.25 lira compared to 0.75 lira in some shops. 5 litre bottles are approx 2.5 to 3 lira.
Icmeler has changed a bit since our last visit but it still has that magic that makes you want to keep coming back so all good there.

Eating out

We ate at

Tommys=====Excellent
Majestic===Good
Harry Rams==Good
Fryer Tucks==very Good
Tintin======Excellent

Overall our favourite was the tintin with tommys a close second. The portions in tintin are massive and the price is quite cheap. We have yet to have a bad meal in there. Tommys was also excellent with big portions but slighty more expensive than tintin.
I will post a pic of a bacon omlette I got in tintin for 9 lira and people will be able to judge for themselves. I suggest you try the tintin at least once.Thats all the detail on eating out as I posted a daily blog and listed as many prices as possible while in Icmeler.

Weather

The whole 2 weeks we were there the weather was exceptional with a few of the days hitting 50. We had lightning a few nights and a few power cuts but never cold or any rain. Night time was warm and clammy on most nights and the air con was needed.

Hassle

There is still a little hassle from the trip sellers if you allow yourself to get drawn in and on one occasion my niece and my son were downtown on their own and get a bit of abuse from a trip seller because they would not book anything as trips had already been booked elsewhere. His words were "enjoy your F****** trips then" Totally uncalled for behavior. I do not know which one it was or I would name and shame him. Very little hassle from the shops just the usual trying to sell you stuff but we found we could have a good laugh and joke with them and they seemed to enjoy it as well. Some of the stall holders in the underground market were very friendly without trying to oversell everything which i found quiet pleasant and sort of made my want to buy there anyway.

As someone mentioned a distressing sight of a monkey on the street I am going to mention this.Near where we were staying there is a field which seems to be owned by a local guy. In the middle of this field there is a tree and tied to the tree on a long piece of rope is a dog. Now as I am an animal lover I found this very distressing to look at every day as we had to pass the field where the dog is to go out to town.It was tied up night and day the whole 2 weeks we were there but it was plain to see the poor thing has been there most of its life. Its probably there to guard the crops growing but that is no life for any animal. Dogs need exercise and companionship, On a happier note we visited the dogs home in the old village and walked a few dogs and well done to Janet and staff for all they do there. A truly exceptional job and I would urge any dog lovers to find the dogs home and even walk a dog or two for Janet , every bit of help is really needed.At our apartments we raised 203 for the dogs and I know its not a great deal of money but it will help a little.

I will end this review by saying that to me Icmeler is still the place to be even if it has changed a little. Prices are still good but the canal stalls are not a patch on the old ones. The underground market is good as is the town and main square. The question I ask myself is "would I go back again?" My answer "In a heartbeat"

Bye for now

[JT]

Teac it is ok to mention you stayed in Eden Garden, you did mention it in your blog anyway

Cant have a report without the name of the accommodation