Turkey

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Travel Companions - KC, Laurence and Jen

Duration – 6 nights

Movies Watched – none - slept (with my mouth wide open, according to Laurence)

Sitting next to - an old dude on the way there and an old couple on the way back



So, lets recap as its been a while....last trip was Zurich with my good friends Anna, Remy and Joseph. I arrived home on Wednesday and had a 15 hour turnaround before the next flight to Oludeniz, Turkey. First time in Turkey and those who know me well would probably be surprised I was making the trip there. My friend Hannah exclaimed 'Turkey! I cannot believe you are going there! You will not like the men but Oludeniz is nice'. She was right about both. So, the alarm went off at 3:30am and I headed back to Gatwick South Terminal for a 7am flight and to meet up with my great mate Kacey and her bf Laurence. We hugged it out and hit the Lounge for some breakfast and boarded that plane. I couldn't hit the sack fast enough. My flight companion told me we were heading to the 'Chelsea' of the region.

Landed at Dalaman airport and Kacey had sorted out a private transfer for the 1 hour drive to Oludeniz. We soon found out that our hotel is actually in Hisaronu, which I named Hercules, for easy reference. We dumped our bags and headed out to buy bottled water and explore the town in 30+ degree weather. We had no idea about our hotel or where it was situated....it was chosen due to price and the fact that it had water slides. We drove along barren land all along wondering 'where the hell are we staying' and then all of a sudden there was the town. We were happy to find we were walking distance from a number of bars, pubs and eateries but what I did not expect to find was streets lined with the tackiest rip offs. Laurence likened it to Benidorm and nicknamed the town 'Tackistan'. This does not mean we did not love the town or the people. It just wasn't as picturesque as Santorini. You want to buy fakes, go to Hisaronu. I could not believe the things on offer, the prices and the shop names! They were all rip offs from the UK....but bloody good ones! This made for plenty of laughs. I love how the vendors would bargain with us and took pride in the tack. I have never bought fakes but decided to help the Hisaronu economy.

Our hotel was all-inclusive (I have become a fan) and it was ace! We soon realised that we were one of 11 people there. We pretty much had the place to ourselves and it wasn't long before Laurence was pally with all the bar staff and the Turkish bath dude (Laurence's advice to Kacey was 'don't make eye contact, don't make eye contact' but it was too late - he had them hook, line and sinker). The staff loved Laurence and, as a result, we were waited on hand and foot. 'Is this what is feels like to be loaded and live in a mansion', I thought, as I sipped my vodka and lemonade by the pool. We drank them out of lemonade the first night. We kicked back and had dinner. The food in this place was awesome - all home made and reminded me of Serbian cuisine. We definitely over ate at every meal. Jen (who has been touring and hiking her way around Europe) appeared later in the evening, but not before her transfer sent her to the wrong hotel. We headed out for a few drinks to this outdoor pub and listened to a really bad band and sipped on cocktails. I recall Laurence ordering the worst cocktail I have ever tried and the barman having gorgeous green eyes. That is one thing about the Turkish men - they have beautiful eyes and they were very friendly (especially to Jen but more about that later)!

Friday, we awoke to rain and as I walked to breakfast the staff told me that Jen had gone for a walk and the other two were still sleeping. Mansion life was great! We hung around the hotel for a bit, waiting for the rain to ease and became familiar with the timings of the ezan (call to prayer). Sun came out, and much to Jen's delight, we headed out to Oludeniz to check out the beach. Whilst we relaxed on the beach, trying to catch the last rays of the day, Jen went on a cocktail run and met Sal. This meeting had potential for a holiday romance. En route home we stopped at Hamish McTurk and booked a boat trip for the following day. I can't exactly remember but we didn't go out the Friday and/or Saturday....we spent one night playing pool and drinking and the other night we became properly acquainted with Jen's admirer - our bar man, Jan, aka Bruno Mars. He was smitten and I told Laurence he had to play wingman. He obliged quickly, asking Jan what time he finished work. Brilliant work but after copious amounts of flirting it was not his night.

Saturday we headed to Oludeniz for our boat trip. We had several stops which included Butterfly Valley (we did not see any butterflies), Blue Cave (we did not end up stopping there) and St. Nicholas Island (where Jen climbed to the top of the ruins whilst we stayed below and swam in the bay). We were entertained by the pervy male staff and their attempts to sell us cold drinks, 'Do you want an ice-cream? Do you want me' and 'Hello baby'. To get them off my back I told them I was interested in women. It worked. We got back into town early evening and I think we chilled around the hotel pool and went down the waterslides.

Sunday. Our last day in Hisaronu. Jen and I boarded a courtesy bus to one of the beach clubs in Oludeniz to see what this lagoon (the most photographed lagoon) was all about. We saw the lagoon and were so disappointed. I did not even take a photo. 'Is this is?' we exclaimed. Yes, it was. It was a lovely mix of blues but not as grand as it looked from the photos. We walked back into Oludeniz, walked around a bit and went to catch the local bus to Hisaronu. It is here that Jen asked the bus driver if the bus was going to Hercules. As you can imagine this caused me great amusement. We arrived back to the hotel to find Laurence well pissed up (it was 1pm) and drinking with the wait staff. They thought we were his harem. We booked in with Murat the massage and Turkish bath guy. That was an experience. In the evening we headed into town for a spot of shopping, midnight pedicures and a few 'goodbye' cocktails.

Monday was a massively long travel day. Kacey, Laurence and I headed to the airport...they were heading back to Blighty and I was heading to Cappadocia. Jen stayed and moved closer to the beach (closer to Sal, maybe :-)). I was super early and had two flights which had a total of two hours. However, i was in transit for 12 hours! Stuck in the domestic terminal at Dalaman airport I made friends with an English lady who talked a lot about her life....it was great as helped kill time. She went and I was stuck there, eating a massive pack of Doritos and this is where I think I opened my book and read a few pages. Soon, I was en route to Keyseri via Istanbul. Arrived at Istanbul and was well impressed with their airport. It is pretty good. By the time I made it to the Kelebek hotel it was late and pitch black outside. In my 10 minutes of exploring the hotel i met the young bar boy and he told me to wake early to watch all the hot air balloons.

It took ages to get to sleep due to an inconsiderate Yank who was in the hotel bar and laughed like a hyena. I then awoke during the night to what I thought was my alarm clock. But it wasn't. It was the ezan...at 3:30am! I was up at 5am and headed to the outdoor breakfast area to check out all the hot air balloons and take some photos. There was only a few of us up and bar boy was good to serve us coffees. It was such a peaceful part of my travels.....standing there, all quiet and watching all these colourful balloons in such a beautiful environment. After 2 hours I got bored and headed back to bed for a bit. Spent most of the day walking and exploring the town. It could not have been more different to Hisaronu. Lots of culture and very old skool. I loved it. Was early to bed as Wednesday was hot air balloon day.

The alarm went at 4am and I boarded a mini bus with a bunch of Yanks. I made friends with Josh and he told me they were there doing their MBA. The dudes were nice and the girl was annoying. The hot air balloon flight was awesome. Our pilot did not look 10 years old and had years of experience. He was really good and made a perfect landing! We had great banter and everyone was in the same boat - shitting themselves a little bit! We finished with champagne and this is where I met the lovely Joana. We quickly became friends for the remaining 20 minute duration. I got back to the hotel and went to King Valley for breakfast. The owner of the hotel took us on a tour and we had breakfast at his future 'retirement' home. The place was built down a valley. It was amazing! Made it back to the hotel, with an hour to spare, before my airport transfer arrived. It managed to piss it down just as my transfer arrived. Luckily, the youngsters at the hotel had me covered with umbrellas and were wheeling my luggage. The hotel was ace and i could have done with another day there to relax by the pool. It had such beautiful surroundings. This part was short but sweet and well worth the visit. Traveled back home with Turkish Airlines...they are a great airline and I was pleasantly surprised. I think I watched a movie, in between, getting up for the lady next to me (so she could run to the toilet and be sick) and having my hair pulled by the kid sat behind me.

Now listen, kids, I am a little/very behind on my blogs....the next stop is Mexico (even though I actually did the trip 4 weeks ago - oops)! You wont get that one for a while, so, until then, adios!

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