Flew from Gatwick airport, the queue for check in check in was extremely long but operators were quite speedy in the process so no complaints. My luggage allowance had been changed from 20kg to 15kg as the agent who I had originally purchased my flights from had gone bust and had been purchased from another agent but I was not aware of this until 3 days before I left. I was still on the original flight I had booked which was with Onur air leaving Gatwick at 22:00. Suitcase weighed in at 23 kg and luckily for me they did not charge for the excess luggage. Made my way to duty free and took advantage of the offer of 2ltrs Dark Rum for only £18. After that sat in the departure lounge just listening to my I pod and watching the monitors for the announcement of which gate I would be boarding from. By 22:00 there had still not announced which gate and people was starting to get twitchy thinking we was in for a delay but at 22:10 the gate was announced and at 22:12 the monitors stated that the gate was closing it was a mad dash for everyone to the gate and passports and boarding cards were shown and everyone went straight on the plane.
The flight was ok although I wish I could have managed some sleep as I had been awake since Thursday afternoon from about 4pm as being a night shift worker I work from 22:00 -06:00 and had gone to work as normal on the Thursday night and then packed and drove to my sisters who lives near Gatwick. There was no in flight entertainment on board so just listened to my ipod. Purchase 400 B & H which were only £31.00, Onur air is still cheaper than Gatwick for the cigarettes. Flight was smooth and on time.
Transfer
Transfer to Icmeler was as painful as ever (Not ICR) had to wait about 45 mins for everyone to get on before we set off, the rep explained the wait was due to a family that had not shown up. Stopped halfway at the open restaurant for people to have a cig/toilet/stretch their legs for 15 minutes. During the 15 minutes the phantom family showed up and quite angry that their transfer had not waited for them as they was on a different flight. It was at this point that the rep decided to check the names on the register for the transfer only to find out that there was 3 people on the bus who should have been on another bus but had been misinformed of the number of the bus. The rep actually asked that the family move on to the correct bus but the family quite rightfully refused as they was also going to Icmeler and the bus would just have to go out of its way for them. Driver was selling cold water for 2 for a £1.
Transfer was comfortable until we reached the outskirts of Marmaris and the young girl behind me was threw up a few times which also made me a bit queasy so I was really pleased when we finally reached our accommodation.
Accommodation _ Prestij Apartments ( ICR Accommodation but it was not booked with ICR)
I had emailed the hotel prior to staying requesting a room overlooking the pool and received a curt response that this would not be possible as they was already reserved, I then requested a room that was at the front of the building and not above the noisy fun pub Déjà Vu, I also enquired about the boat trips that was run by the hotel but no response was received from them for either enquiries.
I was checked in by the owner himself and was shown to my accommodation and was very disappointed to find that I had been allocated a room (107) at the back of the hotel above Déjà Vu. The accommodation itself is clean and tidy and basic, stairs are very steep. I made a request to move rooms to the English receptionist Claire who informed me that “it was not possible to move me as it would mean moving 20 other people". I informed her that I did not expect to be moved today or that week but would expect a move within my 3 week stay, once again she refused this request stating that all rooms were fully booked. I was not happy with this explanation and informed her that I found her approach to my problem with the room was unhelpful and that she had no desire to help solve the problem, she merely shrugged her shoulders. I was not happy with the hotels response to my request and decided that I was just going to have to put up with it but as the hotel was not willing to help make my stay enjoyable I would not use their facilities. Found a fantastic place (***** apartments –non ICR) near the Prestij and went for breakfast and lunch their everyday and spent my days by their pool. As I was not spending any money at the Prestij, this caused most of the staff at the Prestij to mostly just ignore me. The receptionist did not utter one word to me until my final day when I was checking out and she actually thanked me for the key, she was always too busy playing solitaire on the computer!
The hotel owner Ramazan. is very rude and pushy and was very rude to a female English friend who came to see me once in the afternoon to borrow a hairdryer he saw us in the corridor and shouted after us to follow him into reception and proceeded to shout and tell her to get out as she was not a guest of the hotel. We explained that she was just coming to my apartment to collect a hairdryer and would then be returning to her own apartment, he refused to listen and just kept repeating for her to get out. This was done in the reception area which is an open area to the restaurant and pool area which was very busy with guests at the time. It was at this point that I did think about moving to another hotel but I refused to be bullied into leaving.
The hotel is kept very clean and linen/towels were changed 3 times a week. I did not purchase the air conditioning or the safety deposit box.
I arrived at 09:20 and had booked a Turkish bath for 11:00 which was absolutely fantastic but I cannot name as it was non ICR. After the Turkish bath I returned to my accommodation to change and have a little walkabout. Went to the Melissa bar for lunch and to see Mehmet and catch up with what has been happening in Icmeler. We always ate out for breakfast, lunch and dinner and tried to frequent as many different places as we could however we did end up frequenting some places a few times as the food was so good.
Breakfasts
Sempati Bar – Full English 7 lira (Proper English sausage)
Senem Apts – Full English 5 lira
Both extremely good.
Lunches
Good choice of menu at the Sempati bar where the chef Denis takes extreme pride salads that look like a work of art, plus salads , pizza etc all reasonably priced. Senem apartments are also good for lunches one of them is only 7 lira which consists of huge pitta bread filled with either chicken/lamb or beef a massive salad and home made chips. Can also recommend their waffles with vanilla ice-cream strawberries and chocolate sauce. Thank you Patrick (Fikret) for adding another few inches on my ever increasing waistline.
Dinners
Oozy’s’ – Highly recommended ate here several times and all the meals were superb, thanks to Chef Jeff for the great food. This restaurant is now one of my favorites and the prices are one of the best in Icmeler but really good quality food. Listed below are some of the meals we ate here:
Fillet steak
Fish and Chips
Salmon
Kebab
Chicken Madras
Chicken Fajitas
De Ja Vu
Fillet steak –ok but cannot recommend as the cut of meat was not fillet but they still charged fillet prices this happened quite a lot and we did not return to these restaurants
Sea bream – very nice.
Captain Bullsh*ts
Fillet steak – once again the cut of meat was not fillet and was very small disappointed with the CB’s as previous meals had also been good, did not return.
Lighthouse
Steak in Béarnaise sauce
Fillet Steak
Both meals beautiful and will return to the Lighthouse.
Cupids
Fillet steak –
Chicken Sizzler
Beef Sizzler
All meals beautifully cooked and presented also good value for money in lovely surroundings. It was great to see Alex (ex Champagne who is positively thriving in his new job) also got to meet the lady who is making Alex so happy his fiancée Dee). Also ate here several times.
3 / 4 Bells
Roast Beef with veg and humongous Yorkshire puddings. Great food but those yorkies are so big we were unable to finish. We ate outside and those yorkies were almost the cause of several accidents when people walking by was doing a double take and tripping up.
Florida
Chicken
Fillet Steak
Excellent meals and will definitely return to this restaurant.
Went to the Venice bar a few times but the bar is missing the regular waiters Ismail , Hamish and Apo. The Venice used to run like a very slick machine but even though it was not that busy we had trouble finding a waiter to take our order for drinks and when we did they was a long time coming. The break dancers are superb and the belly dancer Ibo justify going to the Venice, although this is the first time we have not eaten there as normally we visit a few times during our holiday. Also visited the Wonder boys and all the boys with the exception of one are great fun. I am sure he will not be there long as he is new and extremely rude to customers. My friend saw the Tina Turner show for the first time in the Wonder boys and her face was a picture at some of the moves he makes.
People I met
Met Sue Prior and Ken at the Sempati bar who kindly invited me to her birthday party at the Havana, bless her as she also gave John the items for the dog’s home. Thanks again Sue and John. Red Rhino was also there with Anne who was exhausted from the walk up to the flag. We actually watched part of the walk from the pool where we was sat drinking an Efes or too. We did wave as you was doing the walk!
Met a great bunch from Hull who was an absolute scream and we are planning on meeting up at Lisa’s wedding . Hired a boat with the hooligans from Hull for an all inclusive boat trip and we had a superb time, we really missed them when they went home.
Already looking for another holiday in September and my friend who was on her visit to Icmeler was crying her eyes out when she left and is now hooked on Icmeler and wants to revisit in September.
Return transfer
Return transfer was on time and comfortable and got us to the airport in time.
Dalaman
Was charged by Pegasus airlines 72 Lira for excessive luggage allowance, I had thrown away as much as I could and I had not bought anything in Icmeler but my case still weighed in at 18.9kg. I did not buy anything at Dalaman as most of my money had gone on the payment for excessive luggage.
Flight home
The flight was on time but there was quite a bit of turbulence. The pilot made us laugh when he announced that we would be arriving at Stanstead in 30 minutes everyone was looking at one another mouthing “Stanstead”. But there was no need to worry it was just a slip of the tongue.
Spent 3 weeks in Icmeler and I was not ready to come home, 3 months would be perfect.
