Blondie's review May 27-June 3

[blondie]

Well, I know I've posted a couple of blog pieces about our holidays (as well as a link to pics in the photo gallery), but I did promise a proper review too, so here we go:

Flew from Edinburgh with Easyjet - only took hand luggage this time, so no waiting to check-in, just straight through to departure lounge, stopping at Boots to pick up some toiletries on the way. Flight was fine - nice new plane with loads of legroom (same on return leg too). Arrived at Dalaman and through passport control with only a short queue - they just stamped the passport and didn't ask to see the paper copy of our evisas. With no luggage to collect, we went straight out to find our private transfer, which was ready and waiting and had a nice smooth and quick journey to Icmeler.

Arrived at our hotel, the Mavera and were shown to our rooms on the first floor, overlooking the pool. The Mavera is a nice little hotel (only around 20 rooms) just up from the Winehouse restaurant. The rooms are basic, but spotlessly clean - nice bathroom with a fantastic shower and plenty of hot water. Pool area is lovely with great comfy sun loungers. We were bed and breakfast, and their Turkish breakfasts were very good - apart from that, we only had lunch at the hotel, but what we did have was very good indeed. The manager, George, is a lovely guy who can't do enough for you, and the rest of the staff are also very friendly, although they speak less English. I would definitely recommend the Mavera - good location, just a few minutes' walk from the beach, but not noisy at all. Air con was included, and they made us some lovely sandwiches to take to the airport with us - we always do this to avoid paying the horrendous rip-off prices at Dalaman!

Eating out: we had some fantastic meals during our week, all lovely Turkish food - Alin's, Kardelen, the Holiday, Meryem Yemek Evi, Hanedan, Kayra Pide, Burcu, and Ugra. We also had Turkish breakfasts at the Deniz Kapisi one morning, just for a wee change. Prices have risen slightly for meals, but you can still eat some fantastic food at great value prices too. Set menus offer especially good value, and there is plenty of choice in most places. Beer prices seem to average around 7-8TL for Efes, although my husband has now discovered Bomonti and reckons it's nicer as it's less gassy than the Efes.

I would urge anyone to try the little local places where the Turkish people eat - the food is no frills, nothing fancy, but great Turkish cooking and in some cases, unbelievably cheap. We had a great two-course set menu lunch at Burcu (just round the corner from Tansas) - soup, followed by chicken cutlets, rice and salad - and all for only the equivalent of £6. That's not £6 each by the way - £6 for all three of us, including our soft drinks! The set menu changes daily. Give these little Turkish places a go - they are scattered around the resort, but if you see the locals eating there, it's always a good sign. Had some nice cakes and coffee at both Cafe Anne's and Cafe Yavuz too.

Weather was, on the whole, not too bad during the week, although we did have torrential rain and thunder and lightning in the early hours one morning, as well as a couple of showers on other days.

We felt the resort was relatively quiet, but starting to get a bit busier towards the end of our week. The changes honestly did not bother us in the slightest - in fact, we felt it was more like the Icmeler we fell in love with all those years ago. Whatever anyone may say, there IS still entertainment on in some places...I know not everyone likes karaoke for instance (I loathe it with a passion myself!) but various places were doing it, and other places had stuff like bingo and quiz nights on. People were up dancing in various bars - and the new Tiki Beach down on the beachfront at the Marti (used to be La Grotta) had live Turkish music on. Unfortunately, they were just finishing up when we passed, but from what we did see and hear, it seemed very good and people seemed to be enjoying it. Some places are getting round the new rules on entertainment by various methods - some quite ingenious! - but only time will tell what effect it will have overall on the resort. Wonderbar, Romance, No Name Bar, Hobnobs and Rush all seemed to be doing ok.

We had always intended this to be a quiet, relaxing week - so we didn't do any trips or excursions, except for catching the dolmus into Marmaris one day then hopping on another dolmus to Hisaronu (the one on the Bozburun peninsula, not the one near Olu Deniz), which was a nice wee trip. We also went up to the Icmeler Animal Welfare dog shelter and took a couple of the dogs out for walks, which both we and they enjoyed very much! For any animal lovers, you will be welcomed with open arms by Janet and Semin who run the shelter, and the dogs just love being taken out and made a fuss of! We also had the famous Dolly the Icmeler legend for company on the beach at Deniz Kapisi for much of our time there, and got our Dolly fridge magnets (which also raise money for the animals).

All in all, we enjoyed our week and Icmeler has certainly lost none of its charm as far as we are concerned. Not sure if we will be back again this year - only because we're keen to explore other areas of Turkey again and are currently contemplating combining a few days in Istanbul (which we did last year) with possibly Northern Cyprus later in the year.