Accommodation: Aqua Hotel
Board basis: HB+ (free drinks with evening meal only)
Dates: 20 August - 3 September 2010
Operator: T***** C***
Party: two adults + one child (8 year-old daughter)
Photos: viewtopic.php?f=30&p=106320#p106320
Overall rating:
Excellent! Other than a very annoying mixup both ways re: seats on the plane everything was truly great. We were even upgraded to a corner suite for our last few days, which was a nice bonus. Rosie and Sophie were both ill for the first couple of days, but in no way attributable to the hotel or anywhere else we ate.
Hotel:
- reasonable number of sunbeds, so no need to get up too early, but do run out by about 9.30am
- pool is large and clean, though nothing special for kids (one small slide in baby/toddler section)
- food is good quality, if a little repetitive, though the free drinks with the evening meal help a little
- rooms were large enough (even before the upgrade) and in a very good (though not excellent) state of repair/cleanliness.
- cold towels brought to you by the pool mid-afternoon is a really, really nice touch
Trips:
- Marmaris (water taxi there, dolmus back) for some shopping and lunch
New friends met:
- Aziz and the rest at Pier 15
- Dr Errol (lovely man, but no offence, ideally we'd not have met him
)Old friends found in new places:
- Ibo and Hakan (Alvaro -> Red Lion)
- Murfit (Bamboo -> Portofino)
- Kurtulus (Pier 15 -> Buffalo)
- Ahmed (Villa Kontes / Dolce Vita -> Romance)
Old friends found just where we'd expect to:
- Eddie at the Alvaro
- Fred, Josef and Lee at Venice
- Said at Dolce Vita
- Speedy at Sports Bar
Old friends sadly missing:
- Apo from Bamboo
- Mustafa from Sports Bar
Lunch time eating:
- Pier 15 (lots of times, everything we tried was excellent, though the Penne Arabiata was hotter than I expected
)- Coco Beach (food good, and extremely relaxed service - we enjoyed it, but people in a hurry might not)
- Bonjour (food as good as ever, and no hassle like in May)
- Venice (fine, though we didn't eat here enough to notice there was a new chef)
- Sports Bar (again fine, and lovely cold beer
)Evening meals out (even HB you have to go out now and again
):- Dolce Vita (excellent steak - back to its best again!)
- Pier 15 (steak very good, and the best selection of veg I've had in Icmeler)
- Venice (not quite a fair comparison, as I had an Adana kebab instead of a steak, but still really good)
Favourite menu quote:
- Pier 15 vegetarian casserole has fillet steak in it!
In short, we would thoroughly recommend the Aqua to anyone, and HB+ (rather than AI) is nice if like us you know plenty of nice places around Icmeler that you want to eat at. That said we've stayed at the Aqua for two years running now, so next year are booked up back at the Marti for a change, and to see how that's changed since we were last there a few years back.
- Paul, Rosie & Sophie.
