Our holiday 9-23 July
Posted: 29 Jul 2009 08:48Hi everyone
After a horrendous build up to our holiday with lost passport, my husbands car breaking down and last minute flight change (told we were leaving 23 instead of 24 2 days before our holiday) I thought I'd give you my review!
Left home at 09:30 on the 9th, there were 9 of us in total going and four cars, as my husbands car had decided to completely pack in the day before we went, we ended up using my eldest sons car as he was going off the Ireland.
Had plenty stops on the way down to Edinburgh, but arrived at the park & fly in good time. Just as we got into the airport, we noticed a great long queue for check-in, but as our seats were reserved we weren't too worried.
Flight left 5 minutes early and arrived in Dalaman 20 minutes early thanks to a tail wind! We had booked ICR transfers and as our flight was 25 minutes early, I didn't think they would be there, but as we came through the door, a welcomed sight met us - our ICR transfer was already there and waiting. Smooth journey to the hotel, we requested a 'comfort break' so three of us to could have a smoke and it was nice to stretch the legs too after such a long day. The transfer with ICR was great and I would highly recommend it to anyone, thanks Sharon for all your help with our last minute change of flight!
Arrived at Golmar Beach at 02:15 and fell into bed after such a long day. Up bright and early on the Friday and got unpacked and went straight down to sunbathe.
Went to the Hamam on the Saturday and had my first ever Turkish bath and lovely massage - it was excellent!
Went to lots of different places to eat, my favourites were: Kingsland Chinese - Meze's free, starter, main and a bottle of wine for £6.99 - went there four times in total and the group of us sampled many different things on the menu, my son says their chicken biryani is to die for! Also loved The lighthouse - very attentive waiters without being intrusive and the food was excellent - huge portions! Mr. Cook's was great, my mum said they had the best chicken schnitzel ever! Cahmpagne bar, always a nice meal, Golmar Beach restaurant - excellent. We had two big disappointments, the first was the chef - we have always loved this place, Elvis has never changed still as funny, all the staff were great, but the meal was a bit of a letdown, just not as good as previous years - maybe just having a bad night, but we were left disappointed as we went there for my husbands birthday. The second one was The Stella show - the show itself was fantastic, cannot fault it, but the food and the service was disgraceful, they brought my meal out before everyone else's and when I asked how long there's was all going to be I was told 10 minutes, I asked for my meal to be taken away and brought out the same time as our family - when it did come back it was stone cold, my daughter-in-law's was cold and her pasta wasn't cooked properly. When we asked for hesap - they had charged us for 7 efes instead of 2 - two of the waitors starting fighting in the middle of the restaurant. I was left feeling very flat after what was going to be a great night. I must stress though - Stella was fantastic!
We took a taxi boat to Turunc and went there for the day - it was lovely, no hassle, lovely breeze - really nice.
Word of warning for anyone who likes dreamboys - we hadn't gone in this year and passed by a couple of times, the last time we passed by Dennis came out and was trying to get us into the restaurant, we told him we had other arrangements, he started shouting at my mum and told her her was very angry with us as he thought we were all friends. Apparently he's been doing it to quite a few regulars and has got himself a bit of a reputation.
The highlight of my last night in Icmeler was I got a tatoo!!! Not my first by any means, but my first in Icmeler! It's beautiful and I'm so happy with it as it was a tribute to my late grandmother and it's sweet peas flowers on my wrist, I went to Dragon Tattoo for it. They hadn't heard of sweet peas before, but I showed him a picture on the internet and he drew it out for me. His wife done the outine and he done the shading - it's beautiful!
After saying all our sad farewells to our wonderful friends, our transfer came at 10:15am to take us back to Dalaman, again, smooth and comfortable transfer and another comfort break for us smokers! Flight going back left bang on time and again another quick flight. Landed about 16:40, got our lift to the park and fly only to discover that the girl there I reported our change of flight to, hadn't informed anyone else to take our cars out for us, there was some hairy moments seeing our cars coming out the middle of a couple of hundred cars, but they got them out without any damage-phew!
Got home safe and sound at 11:30 pm a bit shattered and a bit dispondant - but hey, we've got lots of wonderful pics, I will see my hubby to help me put some on the forum for me!
Thanks to everyone who made our holiday so wonderful, we all loved it!
After a horrendous build up to our holiday with lost passport, my husbands car breaking down and last minute flight change (told we were leaving 23 instead of 24 2 days before our holiday) I thought I'd give you my review!
Left home at 09:30 on the 9th, there were 9 of us in total going and four cars, as my husbands car had decided to completely pack in the day before we went, we ended up using my eldest sons car as he was going off the Ireland.
Had plenty stops on the way down to Edinburgh, but arrived at the park & fly in good time. Just as we got into the airport, we noticed a great long queue for check-in, but as our seats were reserved we weren't too worried.
Flight left 5 minutes early and arrived in Dalaman 20 minutes early thanks to a tail wind! We had booked ICR transfers and as our flight was 25 minutes early, I didn't think they would be there, but as we came through the door, a welcomed sight met us - our ICR transfer was already there and waiting. Smooth journey to the hotel, we requested a 'comfort break' so three of us to could have a smoke and it was nice to stretch the legs too after such a long day. The transfer with ICR was great and I would highly recommend it to anyone, thanks Sharon for all your help with our last minute change of flight!
Arrived at Golmar Beach at 02:15 and fell into bed after such a long day. Up bright and early on the Friday and got unpacked and went straight down to sunbathe.
Went to the Hamam on the Saturday and had my first ever Turkish bath and lovely massage - it was excellent!
Went to lots of different places to eat, my favourites were: Kingsland Chinese - Meze's free, starter, main and a bottle of wine for £6.99 - went there four times in total and the group of us sampled many different things on the menu, my son says their chicken biryani is to die for! Also loved The lighthouse - very attentive waiters without being intrusive and the food was excellent - huge portions! Mr. Cook's was great, my mum said they had the best chicken schnitzel ever! Cahmpagne bar, always a nice meal, Golmar Beach restaurant - excellent. We had two big disappointments, the first was the chef - we have always loved this place, Elvis has never changed still as funny, all the staff were great, but the meal was a bit of a letdown, just not as good as previous years - maybe just having a bad night, but we were left disappointed as we went there for my husbands birthday. The second one was The Stella show - the show itself was fantastic, cannot fault it, but the food and the service was disgraceful, they brought my meal out before everyone else's and when I asked how long there's was all going to be I was told 10 minutes, I asked for my meal to be taken away and brought out the same time as our family - when it did come back it was stone cold, my daughter-in-law's was cold and her pasta wasn't cooked properly. When we asked for hesap - they had charged us for 7 efes instead of 2 - two of the waitors starting fighting in the middle of the restaurant. I was left feeling very flat after what was going to be a great night. I must stress though - Stella was fantastic!
We took a taxi boat to Turunc and went there for the day - it was lovely, no hassle, lovely breeze - really nice.
Word of warning for anyone who likes dreamboys - we hadn't gone in this year and passed by a couple of times, the last time we passed by Dennis came out and was trying to get us into the restaurant, we told him we had other arrangements, he started shouting at my mum and told her her was very angry with us as he thought we were all friends. Apparently he's been doing it to quite a few regulars and has got himself a bit of a reputation.
The highlight of my last night in Icmeler was I got a tatoo!!! Not my first by any means, but my first in Icmeler! It's beautiful and I'm so happy with it as it was a tribute to my late grandmother and it's sweet peas flowers on my wrist, I went to Dragon Tattoo for it. They hadn't heard of sweet peas before, but I showed him a picture on the internet and he drew it out for me. His wife done the outine and he done the shading - it's beautiful!
After saying all our sad farewells to our wonderful friends, our transfer came at 10:15am to take us back to Dalaman, again, smooth and comfortable transfer and another comfort break for us smokers! Flight going back left bang on time and again another quick flight. Landed about 16:40, got our lift to the park and fly only to discover that the girl there I reported our change of flight to, hadn't informed anyone else to take our cars out for us, there was some hairy moments seeing our cars coming out the middle of a couple of hundred cars, but they got them out without any damage-phew!
Got home safe and sound at 11:30 pm a bit shattered and a bit dispondant - but hey, we've got lots of wonderful pics, I will see my hubby to help me put some on the forum for me!
Thanks to everyone who made our holiday so wonderful, we all loved it!