October 8 to 15th

[blondie]

Well, daughter and I set off from Edinburgh Airport on Thursday, October 8. Flew with Onur Air for the first time - no problems at all. Rather long queues at check-in but they did go down pretty quickly. Not a lot of legroom on the outbound flight, but seemed to have more room coming home, although we were in exactly the same seats!
Arrived at Dalaman slightly ahead of schedule to be met by ICR driver and whisked off to Icmeler and to the Bonjour Hotel.
As we arrived in the wee small hours, we went straight to bed for a few hours before venturing through for some breakfast. We were staying bed and breakfast and I have to say the Bonjour is fantastic! You can choose anything from the breakfast menu from a Turkish breakfast to a full English - or anything in between!
The staff are brilliant - so friendly and welcoming and will go out of their way to make your holiday special. Apart from our breakfasts, we ate at the Bonjour twice in the evenings and the food was delicious. The leg of lamb simply melted in the mouth.
Popped into the ICR office to say hi to everyone before having a wander around to see if there had been any changes since we last visited in June.
The Bonjour itself is a real gem - the rooms are spacious and spotlessly clean with good facilities, nice pool (even a jacuzzi!) and I really couldn't say a bad word about the place. It's in an excellent location too - very central but not at all noisy. Let's just say I can't wait to come back again - the sooner, the better!
The weather during our week was great - torrential night in the early hours one morning, but we didn't know anything about it until we got up! A wee bit overcast and windy one day, but it didn't spoil things at all. Daughter and I spent a chilled-out, lazy week relaxing on the beach, enjoying gorgeous meals and cocktails in the evening - the buy-one, get one free deal at the Florida was especially popular!
Apart from the Bonjour, we ate out at the Lemon Tree, Harry's Steakhouse, the Taj Mahal and Venice - where we also saw the male belly dancer - great entertainment!
The highlight of our holiday, however, had to be our trip to the Cinar restaurant outside Marmaris. We had met a lovely couple who were also staying at the Bonjour and they invited us to have breakfast there with them, accompanied by Turbo chef from the Bonjour. The Cinar is fantastic - lovely setting and the Turkish breakfast is to die for! We were stuffed - the table was groaning with everything from freshly baked bread and eggs to local honey and preserves - yummy!
Icmeler itself has lost none of its charm for me - I still cant get over being greeted like long-lost friends by staff in the bars and restaurants - how they manage to remember you when they must see thousands of visitors is beyond me.
Sadly, all too soon it was time to return home - our transfer back to the airport with ICR was speedy and smooth, as was our flight back to Edinburgh.
All I can say is, roll on 2010 when we will hopefully be returning to Icmeler - and to the Bonjour. Can't recommend it highly enough.