Author Topic: Holiday Highlights  (Read 2957 times)

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Offline Scunner

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Holiday Highlights
« on: October 19, 2016, 22:56:13 PM »
Back from a wonderful 9 day break in Calis - and I thought I'd do a "Highlander" type of report

Highlights:

Weather - perfect (unlike last October but that was a week later)

Seeing and spending time with friends who live there or were over on hols at the same time (far too many to mention      ;) )

Hotel Delta - lovely hotel, such professional staff and not a bit rough around the edges like many hotels. Free sunsets from the balcony.

Fantastic boat trip - many a laugh all day long :D

Great meals at (amongst others) Receps in Fish Market, Mancero (with birthday surprise for girls), Bella Mammas (Swedish Steak - magnificent), Yengec, Pasa Kebap, Sahil Lokantasi

Lovely lunch at the Shanghai Blues Chinese Restaurant with Mustafa (Inspector on CBF) and our respective families. He is such a nice guy and so very knowledgeable about how to get things done and cut through red tape. Food was fabulous too.

Many an evening kicked off with a bit of people watching at Kerim - always felt very welcome by George etc

Several doner wrap lunches at Mangal (feel disloyal to Frank Cannon a bit but their wine is truly awful)

First visit to the Erasta (?) shopping centre (very nice but it's not like Fethiye is it :D )

Very emotional return to Ata school for the girls, just for a look round the outside - many lost memories reappeared there and then

Seeing our Abbie up belly dancing at the King's Garden Turkish night

Great evenings ended at Dawn Beach with friends - and bumping into friends there. Echo and the team really do know how to run a bar!

The pleasure of simply having the time and opportunity to take the water taxi rather than the dolmus.

Having desserts brought across to us in one restaurant where someone had noticed we had posted from (on Facebook) and phoned the owners!!

The ultimate in holiday people watching - a chicken doner half bread and freshly squeezed orange juice in the Sunday market with Kenkay

Seeing the girls into the hairdressers in Gunlukbasi then going off for my traditional Turkish shave followed by lentil soup at Seckin

Breakfast at Ada Restaurant - sensational. Boat sent (private transfer      ;) ) breakfast selection wonderful, service perfect. Not the cheapest but so worth it.

After 6 days of teararsing around here there and everywhere finally getting a couple of chances to do nothing - and so many thanks to my old buddy Mete for letting us use Golden Moon - a little tranquil oasis.

That was quite a list (and I've left out loads!!)

So the NOT so good:

Service in Calis restaurants etc - often very slack. For a bad season it was disappointing to see so many instances of us waiting for ages for anyone to come near us - not because the staff were busy but because they were talking amongst themselves (or to the table with the young blonde on it). We left more than one place.

New dolmuses - blimey Highlander wasn't kidding, the legroom is a joke! Like John I don't need much, just a lot more than that.

Mozaik Bahce - food perfect (no change from the N&D days), service fairly poor. The waiter who took the order then collected up all the menus and hadn't even noticed he hadn't asked me what I wanted! When I asked him if he wanted to take my order at all, he sort of looked at me and said yes ok if you insist, not oh sorry about that or anything :o  - Later nobody came near us even when we were down to just 3 tables, nobody near our table for the best part of half an hour. Finally they produced a big Kangol type dog which they were running around between the tables having great fun which was my cue to leave. I do wonder if the new owners are happy with this because there was certainly no sign of them. If the chef goes and sets up elsewhere it could be curtains as sadly for me the charm has all but gone and I would return purely for the food (or follow the chef).

Dogs - definitely more around, more turf wars on the prom (quite interesting to watch from the balcony), more vicious moments.

Lack of street vendors - Willie Thorne, rose lady and Adem shoe shine all about but lots gone - sunglasses/perfume guys, flashy flying tat guy etc all very much gone. Bit of Calis gone IMO.

Needless dumping of rubbish - not good in parts of Calis but terrible on Sovalye Island - general rubbish dumped anywhere, builders rubble, old plastic sunloungers, just thrown in a hedge or down a slope off a pathway.

Some properties I know well from new looking tired, faded and fairly shabby these days.

The number of totally empty bars and restaurants - often big favourites like Brothers were totally empty some nights


But what a holiday! Calis gives us something we simply cannot find anywhere else, and we've tried loads of places!!!

Thanks to all for a great holiday (you know who you are      :) )



Offline Highlander

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Re: Holiday Highlights
« Reply #1 on: October 20, 2016, 16:13:53 PM »
Glad to hear you had such a nice time.   :)

Is it too early to say that you will be returning in 2017 ?

Offline Anne

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Re: Holiday Highlights
« Reply #2 on: October 20, 2016, 17:18:12 PM »
It was great to catch up with you all.  Even if it was just for a drink or two.

Offline Scunner

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Re: Holiday Highlights
« Reply #3 on: October 20, 2016, 18:08:33 PM »
Amazingly it appears not H. Due to other commitments, 2017 seems like it will be the first time since 2001 that we haven't been to Turkey some time during the year.

Great to see you & Billy too Anne, it wouldn't have felt right to have just missed each other when 2,000 miles from hame  ;)

Offline Diverbaz 1

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Re: Holiday Highlights
« Reply #4 on: October 21, 2016, 07:31:38 AM »

Oh No, another tradition gone :'( :'( :'(  ;)

Offline mercury

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Re: Holiday Highlights
« Reply #5 on: October 21, 2016, 19:29:17 PM »
great to see you all again. thanks for drinking with us cheapskates..

Offline Scunner

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Re: Holiday Highlights
« Reply #6 on: October 23, 2016, 21:23:40 PM »
Amazingly it appears not H. Due to other commitments, 2017 seems like it will be the first time since 2001 that we haven't been to Turkey some time during the year.


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