Been unfaithful

[hillbilly]

After several wonderful holidays in Icmeler, 'She who must be obeyed' demanded, 'somewhere different this year'.
Just got back from one of the Greek Islands. They have a forum like this, and the words heaven, paradise etc are widely used, just like here, but I have to to say it seemed incredibly expensive to me. eg
air con in appt 60 euros per week.
3 course meal, up to 42 euro
beer 500ml 3 euro.
Maybe my fond memories of Icmeler have clouded my memory, but can someone who has recently visited put a lira comparison up.
It also makes you appreciate the money and effort Icmeler council put into the appearance of the town. No comparison with the Greeks, but hey, they do have a money problem.
As a ps. 'er indoors said' ok might take another look at Icmeler :>

[jambogarry]

HI hillbillay ,
Having visited Greece and her Islands for over 15 years, I think I could give you MY opinion .

Greek people are happy to TAKE your money ... And the Turkish are HAPPY to SEE your money ...

Dont get me wrong .... , but we as a family are happy with the straight talking turks/kurds...... yet Greece trys to comply with the EU..and as a result you have greedy Greeks who will rip you off with the Euro...

I blame the EU and not the Greek.

[John V]

Haste ye back again Hillbilly,
We agree its nice to visit other places but unfortunately a comparison is always made with your most favored Icmeler which still retains its number one position.

[viking pete]

We went to a lot of the Greek Islands before discovering Icmeler.

I think the Euro together with the Athens Olympics has a lot to answer for.
We where in Kos the year before the Euro - 560 Drachma to the £ . A large Amstell 250 Drachma approx both we and the Greeks very happy and hospitable.
The year after in Crete very different, the costs to the locals went up dramatically without their income increasing so not so happy and not so good value.

We went to Rhodes the year before the Olmpics and most of the building had stopped eg Airport improvements as the money was being diverted towards the games costs.

The locals where also complaining about the impact of AI on the bars, restaurants etc.

Hope Turkey stays independant.

[jambogarry]

We went to a lot of the Greek Islands before discovering Icmeler.

I think the Euro together with the Athens Olympics has a lot to answer for.
We where in Kos the year before the Euro - 560 Drachma to the £ . A large Amstell 250 Drachma approx both we and the Greeks very happy and hospitable.
The year after in Crete very different, the costs to the locals went up dramatically without their income increasing so not so happy and not so good value.

We went to Rhodes the year before the Olmpics and most of the building had stopped eg Airport improvements as the money was being diverted towards the games costs.

The locals where also complaining about the impact of AI on the bars, restaurants etc.

Hope Turkey stays independant.

I remember thoose days well Pete


560 drachma to the £ and amstell 200 drcm.. Mythos only 150 Drachmas , Gyros 200 drachmas and home made Ouzo ...
The Euro has killed Greece IMO and it is not just the tourist industry but the whole way of greek life.

I made a good few friends while in greece and still speak to each other to this day. It's sad to hear they are in dire straights just now .

A wee story for you...........One year in Crete I went walking up the hills in the afternoon, I did not plan on going far but came across a shepherd with his goats, he asked me to sit down and share is water, bread and cheese.
After 1hr I started making my way back down the hills only for darkness to draw in. I got lost after 20 mins and it was pitch black . I could see the lights from the area I wanted to go but could not find my way down the hill.

I passed a house and knocked the door looking for directions home, To my surprise he spoke very good english and told me to sit down and wait a few mins and he would drive me back to Stalis. 5 mins later his whole family ( mum, dad , sister, brothers must have been at least 12 of them ) appeared and started laying the outside table for dinner.

Anyway the long and short of it was that I was only getting a lift back to my apartment after I had a ten course meal with them all.... Talk about hospitality.
It was after 11pm before I got back to the apartment only for me to see the police standing with jacqui ( she thought I was lost and was wanting a full scale search for me ).
I tried to offer the guy some money for his trouble and the only thing he could say to me was next time bring your wife with you .
One of the fondest holiday moments I have ever had.


Sorry for ranting on.

Garry.

[viking pete]

Great story Gary,

like you Ithought the greeks where lovely people especially compared to the Spanish, So there is a sort of progression there; Spain - Greece - Icmeler.

we are recent addicts to Icmeler so hopefully it will stay the way it is for as long as possible.

[tamii]

lovely story - could def see something like that happening in Turkey as well. The world would be a far nicer placer if everyone was so kind and hospitable

[jambogarry]

Great story Gary,

like you Ithought the greeks where lovely people especially compared to the Spanish, So there is a sort of progression there; Spain - Greece - Icmeler.

we are recent addicts to Icmeler so hopefully it will stay the way it is for as long as possible.

same here pete..... Spain once and once was enough I dont know what it is... but Spain does my head in .


This will be our 2nd visit to Icmeler as a family and we love the place .

One of my wishes is to go sailing round the Greek isles , but I think we will wait untill the kids have flown the nest
so to speak.

[John V]

Like most people are saying we used to have all of our holidays in Greece and Cyprus and great times were had until we discovered Turkey and Icmeler in particular over 20 years ago.
We have been back on only a few occasions since but Icmeler is our main place where we never have less than two holidays in hand already booked......... enjoy Icmeler

[jayjay1950]

We also used to always go to Kos,Greece till the euro was worth the same as our £1 making it an expensive place to holiday. We have met some lovely friendly people over there,even invited back to their homes. We wouldn't even consider going to Spain or France so decided to try Turkey. We tried Side first on a recomendation from a friend, it was nice but i don't think we would go back again. Last year we decided to try Turkey again and opted for Icmeler after reading reviews for it and now we are well and truely hooked. I just hope Turkey doesn't go down the same road as Greece has gone down because we are so looking foreward to our future trips in the years to come. Icmeler is so beautiful, the people so friendly and i for one want to thank everyone in Icmeler for making it a holiday to remember year after year.

[acko338]

After Altinkum for several years twice a year (16 times) and several other one off resorts in Turkey, we took some advice and tried Icmeler and it's our favourite resort now.

We still have more personal friends in Altinkum, but the facilities and cleanliness of Icmeler, as well as the greenery of the mountains makes Icmeler special to us as a couple who like to have a good walk and a few drinks en route after our evening meal.

Altinkum changed to "buy a turkish home.com!" with nine great Turkish craft shops changing over one season into estate agencies.

They now struggle to get people into restaurants as everyone goes home to cook their food and only eat out once a week, or stroll out for a couple of late beers. Apparently nearly 3000 British owned holiday homes in the Altinkum area - with bingo, English run quizzes, and open the box in many pubs now. Not for me !

[robert123]

We tried Portugal last year after 5 year going to Icemler, it was OK and not as expensive as we thought it would be (apart from the trips) but not a patch on Turkey

Sometimes it's good to have a change, but we are back this year for our Honeymoon going on Thursday