Icmeler Online Holiday Forum & Reviews - Turkey

Arrived back in sunny England Friday night/Saturday morning after 11 fantastic nights in Icmeler. This was our second visit to Icmeler having first visited August last year. Did we notice any changes? not many, missed the market and can't really understand why its been stopped when there are so many shops still selling the crap, I'm sure the mayor had his reasons. Still plenty of bars putting on the entertainment, didn't see any difference there, prices slightly higher than last year but not by too much. What I did notice an increase in was the hassle, read somewhere on this forum that under the new rules bar, restaurants and shops were banned from hassling people on the street, that's a joke, it was a complete nightmare and impossible to go anywhere without being followed down the street or called after or whistled at, very tiresome after a time, don't these business owners realise that if they actually gave you time to read the menu outside or look around the shop without being followed and hassled then more people might actually go in to eat, drink or buy something.

The No Hassle rule isn't new. It's been about for years, but nobody pays any attention to it. For some reason, turks seem to think if they pester you, you will eventually give in. I've tried to explain to many of them that that's just not the way we do things, but it makes no difference. I have a friend who owns a shop and we sat there for 2 hrs one night trying to persuade him to let people browse without any "help" from him. We nearly had to tie him down to stop him jumping on people as soon as they slowed down outside. Next night, he was back to his usual hassling. They will agree with you it doesn't work, but they still do it, even at the risk of being closed down for several days. It's only once they get to know you well that they leave you alone