Transfer was a bit poor, we've used the company before and had the minibuses that zip along. This time we got a midi bus, about 25 of us in all. It as a bit old, and more than a bit slow up the mountains! We hit Marmaris mid afternoon with tons of traffic, waiting over 30 minutes in a queue to drop 4 girls off at the marina. So, in total, took longer than the night transfers when the driver goes round in circles looking for hotels - 3 hours and 20 mins to get to our hotel, and we were the first Icmeler drop off. Stayed once again at the Eda. We stayed there in May, and found it pleasant enough, if a little noisy. It's a good value hotel, very basic but ideally located in the centre with a pleasant family that run it. Well, it was in May anyhow. We asked for a top floor room to overcome the noise issue we'd experienced, we got one. It was tiny. OK in itself and suited us ok, but not in a particularly good state of repair. The wall light was rusty, the switches by the bed sparked blue when used, bits of wood coming off the wardrobe and stool, only one of the wall sockets worked and we had to hold the curtains shut with a hair clip! There were no covers on the beds, just a sheet over the mattress and some towels. Not great, but not so bad really, when we consider what we paid for it, so just got on with the holiday knowing we don't spend that much time in the room anyway.
Sadly, our experience was changed considerably when I had to ask after 6 days how often the rooms should be cleaned, bed linen & towels changed etc. I was told every 3 days, in 6 we'd had the loo bin emptied once and that was it. The poor cleaning girl was balled out by one of the brothers, I found her sobbing upstairs about an hour later. From that point the attitude of the brothers changed totally. I asked when we arrived how much it would be to keep the room for late check out - 50tl, when I went to pay it I was told I could have the room til 4.30 for that price, even though I'd confirmed earlier we'd be picked up at 10pm. He now wanted 80tl to keep the room til 10, I told him he was out of order for changing the price from what had been agreed, his answer, as it was to most topics, was to tell us how much he paid to rent the hotel (which hadn't changed from when he was charging 50tl!). He often started converstations about money with my OH, who politely joined in, only for him to say "you're always talking about money, it's not very nice" to my OH on more than one occasion. The icing on the cake for us there was the silly overcharge for a dash of lime in a lager. All over Icmeler my OH had lime in his Efes, not one single place charged for this, although a small extra charge was expected, as you get in the UK. One afternoon in the hotel bar he had 3 Efes, all with a dash. When we paid the bill it was an extra 4.5tl - we asked what this was for, to be told 1.5tl per dash of lime. What a silly price, totally out of proportion, but it was typical of the change in their attitude from May. One the brothers asked if I was OK after he'd told us that, I said I was in shock, his reply was "some people spend 150tl here each day". I've no idea what that had to do with anything! Anyhow, short and long - the Eda is a cheap hotel, with a good location, badly in need of an update and improvement in cleaning and hygiene standards, and very badly in need of some customer service training for the 2 brothers. We won't be staying there again.
Icmeler itself in July was incredibly hot. We were out there July last year, but found this year much hotter. Everyone wants sun on their holiday, but we did start to pray for some of the rain the UK was getting. 2 weeks of not a single cloud and relentless heat was wonderful, but just a bit too much. Most days we headed for the shady bars with good strong fans and water mists. As always we spent a lot of time at the Broadway Bar, and got thoroughly spoilt by Ibo and the boys, including for my OH's birthday where we found a decorated table and a gorgeous birthday cake from them. The food there is superb, if you've not been, they won't hassle you to go in, it's not their style, but give them a go cause their chef is excellent. Also good is Mr Cook, really nice chicken kebab lunches, also good bacon and sausage sandwiches and chicken burgers. Efes is just 3tl there, so good value. 3 Bells as always, very good, I tried their Korean food for the first time - out of this world! Very sad that the Unicorn had closed, we enjoyed our chats there during the day, but understand his reasons for needing to call it a day. Had 2 days fishing from Marmaris, first time was great, caught loads, second time, not so good, caught a good tan though
. Had a night out in Marmaris meeting up with some friends. It was a reminder at just how beautiful Icmeler is, and why we go there rather than Marmaris! You can't beat No Name Bar!Great place to go on the beach - right along to the end by the Munamar, then round the corner a little heading for the harbour - first chap there is Ibo (another one!) and looks after you really well. He doesn't charge daft prices for his drinks, and his service is attentive but not intrusive. It's a nice little corner of the beach next to the watersports and surprisingly peaceful. We're not particularly big beach lovers, but we had a few days down here being looked after as it was just so very relaxing.
All in all, we had a wonderful time, as we always do. We don't pay a great deal for our holidays so we can go more than once a year, and we don't expect a lot in return. Icmeler is such a lovely town. I really hope that the AI brigade don't bring any more to Icmeler, it's suffering enough from the one's it already has, and it would be such an absolute shame if more of the wonderful bars and restaurants had to close. A real shame that there are only new lights by the canal (welcome to Omeler???) and nothing to replace the charm and chaos of the stalls. Still, it won't stop us returning, we'll be there again before the end of the season.
