JUST BACK,Longish review best to grab a cuppa

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JUST BACK,Longish review best to grab a cuppa

Postby smc4761 » 31 May 2015 14:02

Just back from my annual jaunt to Icmeler in May, thought I would share my thoughts and experiences. Icmeler has changed over the years, is it for the better, some will say yes, others no, this is simply my opinion.

Getting there

Booked flights, early with Easyjet for £450 for 2 from Edinburgh, booked Oren Hill aprtments with Icmeler onLine plus the shuttle transfer. Great service as always from ICR. They even phoned me at apartments to see how things were. A lovely touch and what makes ICR stand out from the rest.

Flight from Edinburgh left on time, newish plane plenty of legroom and we actually arrived 20 minutes early on a busy plane only a few spare seats.

Passport control was a bit of a nightmare as usual. 4 flights had arrived about the same time and the passport control guys were in no rush as usual. Took about 40 minutes to get through. On the plus side when we went to get cases they were already on carousel and these were quickly collected

I had booked the basic shuttle transfer. Quickly found the desk checked in, had to wait about 15 mins for bus to arrive. 12 of us boarded a minibus and off we went with the usual 15 min stop, which turned out to be nerly 25 mins. One stop at Green Nature hotel, in Marmaris which looked fabulous, then onto Icmler. As we were at back of village, we dropped 3 other couples off and we were last. Took about 2h 10 mins in total

APARTMENTS

Oren Hill apts are situated close to the high school next to dry canal. I would highly recommend these. Huge swimming pool, plenty sunbeds, nice bar area and great staff. Air con is £35 pw safe is £10 pw

Inside apt, bedroom had 2 single beds but only 1 wardrobe. With the amount of close Mrs smc4761 takes with her I think I managed to hang up 1 shirt. 2 small bedside tables to put small etc into.Bedrooms are at back of building so pretty quiet

Shower in bathroom was excellent, plenty hot water and quite powerful. What might annoy some is that there is only a shower curtain and the floor does get wet. There is also a hairdryer in bathroom, which s fully tiled. I have no idea why but apartments only ever seem to give you 1 toilet roll for the duration of your stay, extra ones were 1 lira

2 large chairs in living area which will double up as beds. 2 ring hob, kettle and fridge and a decent selection of cutlery and a limited amount of storage space for stuff. Outside a balcony was a decent size with table and 4 chairs, along with a fixed clothes line. All balconies have pool view which get the sun in the morning

Staff were friendly, no hassle at all to eat or drink there, kept the place immaculately clean, the rooms and the pool side area. Did eat there a few times food was good, same price as in town as were the drinks prices

There were 39 apartments but only around 5 of them were occupied, so very quiet around pool and at night. The biggest pain was the barking on occasions from some dogs, in nearby private houses, obviously not a lot the aaprtments can do about that.

To get into town, a 2 minute walk to the school which is right at dry canal, turn right and keep walking for about 15 minutes which takes you out at Cafe Anne. Plenty of dolmus ran at all times.

Nearby pubs, were Tommys, just over 5 minute waalk in one direction or Backstage, Lovestar Wembly Sidik etc about 10 mins other way.

I would definetley stay here again

PRICES

These are typical prices depending where you shop/eat/drink. Exchange rate was around 3.95--

4 lira to pound

Beer 8-10 lira

Soft drink 4-6 lira

Local spirit 11-13 lira

Cocktails 12-15 lira

Latte 6-8 lira

Fresh orange 6 lira

Chicken/pasta set meal 24-28 lira

Steak set meal 35-45 lira

Chicken dish 22-28 lira

Steak dish 32-45 lira

starters eg soups 6-8 lira

starters eg garlic mushroom 10 lira

English brekkie 8-12 lira, mainly 8 lira

Scottish brekkie 10 lira, Florida's is quite excellent

1 litre coke 2.35 lira

can of coke 1.5 lira

small bottle water 0.6 lira

5 litre water 2.5 lira

bread 1 lira

cooked chicken 10 lira

most fruit and veg under 4 lira a kilo

milk 2.5 lira a litre

Breakfast cereal 6--10 lira depending on size/ brand, mainly Coco Pops and Specail K, or cornflakes

Can of Efes 5.5 lira

Crisps 2-3 lira

Chocolate bar eg snickers 1.25 lira

eggs 5 lira 15 eggs

Packet soups, very tasty 1 lira

Manicure 6--7 pounds

Pedicure 8--10 pounds

Shave 4 pounds

Vans, 3 pairs for 20 pounds

BBQ boat trip 10 pounds, or 15 pounds all inclusive

Jeep safari 15 pounds

Turkish bath from 5 pounds

This year there is a newish craze for the small electric scooters that you can either stand on or sit on 20 lira per hour, or the much larger what looks like a large double disability style scooter for 40 lira per hour. These can reach about 15 miles per hour. Dont want to be party pooper here but I can see a few folks having accidents with these, we all know how mad driving can be in Turkey.

BARS /RESTAURANTS

Where have all the tourists gone. In the 2 weeks i was there the majority of restautants were either quiet or very quiet. By this I mean they would have less than 4 tables taken at any one time, some had less or none at all.

Hanedan, Meryem, Lovestar,Wembley Backstage, Sylvias, Dela Vu Wayside, all in the village very quiet, only slightly busy place was Linekers and to be honest even that was not that busy. Kayra and Nefis pide were again quiet.

Going into town, Titanic, Fryer Tucks, Charlies place, Turkish Delight, YOLO, Friends Masala, Tandoori Sizzler Mandalin,Loveboat, Chef, Florida all very quiet. Venice was about half full when normally that place was packed out.

Same situation in the bars, most were very quiet. My usual haunt of Tin Tins generally would have about 25/30 people in every night, some nights only around 8/10 people in. Buffalo bar with its £1 per pint, even that was not doing that well. We passed the Geordie fun pub, Vodka bar and LFC bar one night around 11.30 and there were 4 people in total in all 3 bars

Speaking to the owners they were worried and things will need to pick up or I can see a few not opening again.

Excellent meals were had in Meryem, Nefis, Kayra, Robin Hood, Tommys. Elsewhere, Backstage was OK as was Captain Sinbads

A couple of places I would recommend, are Eric travel agency for trips, Greay guy very helpful, not at all pushy and gives good advice depending on your requirements. Wanted a quiet boat that stopped at Turunc for an hour or so and got that with the Mehmet Reis boat. Great food as well for lunch and plenty of it

Mrs smc wanted a new handbag(another one) Went to Denis handbag shop who has been in resort of 16 years and you can see why. Handbag shops come and go each year, but Denis is always there. Quality handbags, good prices, no hassle lets you browse until if you need any help he is there.

Mrs smc also went to manicure and pedicure at Istanbul, near Wayside, she has been going there for years and they did a great job. Of course since she is on her holibags she needs this done again on her last day. This time she went to Show in village and again a brilliant job.

OUT AND ABOUT.

This is where the changes are or are they. Befoe the season started there were many folks who had booked the Aqua worrying about the new path/ the gardens that now ran through. To be honest not a lot has changed. Sure this is a new path that runs right outside the Aqua and Marti, and I cannot see the point of this, it serves no real purpose. Both hotels still have the grounds and they were looking good, so no real change as such.

There was still a bit of building work going on even at end of May, mainly at the old Blue Rainbow, which I think would impact on anyone at Casa and Blanca. The old Yakamoz which was knocked down, one day a cement mixer appeared and a new floor was being laid. Went back a few days later and a bar???? was being built and the guys were still working away

A few places closed , Red Lion, Kardelen, Bamboo as well as a few apartments, Varol hotel and Villimar looked empty. In the village Blue Star, Adler had gone, all closed up. The old Majestic apart, now called the CAN apart were still being worked on, hopefully opening soon.

Biggest change for me however was the fact that all goods are now inside the shops, no displays outside at all. I know lots of Brits etc like to browse at clothes etc but unless you go into the shop, dont think the shop owners are too happy about that.

Noise from the bars was much much less this year. Did not see a lot of dancing waiters but I am sure if you want this they will be there. Even the ridiculously loud, Dream 3 bells and the place opposite were fairly quiet with there music, the fact that not many were in of course may have contributed to that.

GOING HOME

Picked up 5 minutes early, with only another 3 pick ups in Marmaris. Flight took off on time, with a larger aircraft this time again fairly full and arrived bang on time, back to the rain

To summarise, all i wanted was a quiet laid back holiday with no hassle, a chance to relax and switch off and this is exactly what I got. There will be folks who will be going who are looking for something more lively and I am sure it will be there, you just need to go the right places for that, Irish bar, Blues Brothers, Wonder bar.

I can only hope the tourist start to go as if this continues for the next month or so some bars/restaurants will not make it. I have been going in May for over 10 years and never seen it so quiet

So folks enjoy your holidays, go with an open mind, make new friends, you have worked hard for your holidays
smc4761
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Re: JUST BACK,Longish review best to grab a cuppa

Postby gez45 » 01 Jun 2015 17:12

Great review , thanks for putting in the prices , love to see how much things are going to cost , cheers.
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Re: JUST BACK,Longish review best to grab a cuppa

Postby dodge » 07 Jun 2015 08:36

Great review smc we go just under 8 weeks hope it does pick up they work so hard we have been going for 14 years this year going for 4 weeks woo hoo but thanks for your review glad you had a relaxing time :-)
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