Month: March 2010

We had breakfast and then decided to take a walk to the shops. Apart from the exercise it is good for our Turkish as people here are far more inclined to speak Turkish to you than they are in Cyprus.  In one of the shops we were looking for butterflies to put under the terrace and couldn’t find them anywhere but we already have 2 from Antalya. Here we were given fruit tea and I  think we could have stayed there all day, they were particularly nice. Faruk gave us his email and said he would like to find a nice English girl and was dissapointed that we only had sons. Any offers? He is good looking, good at English and nearly finished his accountacy exams!! He is with Mal in the photo with the other two girls….one of whom wanted Mal as her ‘sugar daddy’!! Teachers command a lot of respect in Turkey (NOT so in England!) I think she was after his money..if only she knew!!

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Mal’s birthday!! He opened his presents and cards and also rang people to thank them. He said he wanted a lazy day, a bit like the last 5 days then! We did go for a walk. Rhys and Lou gave him some embroidered T shirts for his newspaper!! (Rhys’s business!) The sun was very warm but there was a really high wind, in fact we had heard it howling most of the night. It was fine sitting outside if you could barricade yourself in a corner out of the wind!

Following our after lunch coffee, we were in the lift with a German lady when the lift stopped mid floors…a power cut we thought. It is funny because Mal and I had already commented on the make of the lift…..”Schindler’s Lift”!! This is not the first time we have been stuck in a lift, in fact the last time it was 40 minutes in Dover, the hottest day of the summer. Thankfully just a couple of minutes and the lift jerked and started up again.  The other lady was just starting to panic and I have to say I wasn’t that amused.

More food and drink, entertainment in the piano bar followed by ‘Showtime’. Coincidently a lot of the animation team worked at Kervansaray when we were there in October. They must have thought the  same about that hotel as we did…never to return! Mal did not like the armchairs in the lounge at this hotel, as you can see in the picture. I told him  as he is a year older, I guess he now needs a straight back old man’s chair!

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We had every intention of going into Antalya and then the sun came out! So, we stayed by the pool and also played cards. Gukmen, one of the animation team seemed to like being with us. We had a mutual agreement that he taught us Turkish and we taught him English. He tries so hard and obviously the animation team have to mix with the guests but the only language he speaks is Turkish, so he struggles.

Another day by the pool, a walk, table tennis, food and more food and in the bar in the evening for cocktails.

It was Italian night in the restaurant and very good food it was too!

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Another sunny day and so we went out by the pool. Messaages from Torin and Rhys for Mothers Day. It was also River’s 13th birthday so we rang him to wish him a Happy Birthday. As a surprise Rhys was taking the three eldest boys to Old Trafford for the game against Fulham. Man U beat Fulham so 4 happy boys!

So, our first grandchild to reach their teens!

In the afternoon we went to book the Italian a la carte for Mal’s birthday on Tuesday only to be told that only the Turkish a la carte is open on Tuesday. We declined and decided we will eat in the main restaurant instead! Don’t forget anyone who was thinking of booking here, summer doesn’t begin until 1st May!! It has been 25 degrees today!

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We woke up to the SUN!!! We went down to the restaurant and had breakfast, yes we did just intend to have a  boiled egg but then we saw the selection!! Oh dear!  Then we went out to the beach, wonderful, 24 degrees and very few people out there. We did have a few too many kir royals and later played cards. I lost, may have been that I had trouble seeing the cards!

Everyone who stays here is given a complimentary 1 ct sapphire. We were just going to claim ours with our voucher when a kindly English lady explained the system to us….. they take you into Antalya city and then put pressure on you to buy other things…Mal screwed the voucher up. Instead we had a long chat with Jill and her husband. We have discovered far more Brits here than our previous visits to Antalya.

After dinner we went in the piano bar  and sunk more cocktails finishing the night with a lumamba. Mal and I decided between the two of them it tasted like half a bottle of brandy in them! We slept well!

Two of the pictures are the water slides and the kids play area but it is shut as it is ‘winter’. This is along with two of the a la carte restaurants! We did ask guest relations when they declared summer and she said 1st May! Crazy, we have never had this before in March!

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An equally good second day but we really didn’t appreciate David and Kenny texting us to say how hot it was in Cyprus when we had mist and cloud all day! We went for a long walk in the morning in search of a plug from two prongs to three for all our recharges. In the end, as everyone had sold out we bought one in the shop in the hotel at some extortianate price.  At least it will keep our laptops and phones going.

We had another energetic game of table tennis and after dinner (more food!) and more drinks, we took our lumamba’s (brandy, hot chocolate and cream!!) up to bed with us. Oh my goodness the food, cocktails and the rest of the drink is just too good here!

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Mal took Rosie out while I finished off the packing,not having a clue what to pack as while it is warm there seems to be a lot of mist around, so  a bit of everything! We then took Rosie across the road to the kennels for her holiday. Jill drove us to the airport for the 35 minute plane ride to Antalya. Again with CTA and there must have been a total of 50 people on the plane…what can I say?! Our transfer collected us and a short drive to the Royal Wings Hotel, Lara Beach.

By the time we had unpacked it was about 1/4 to 3 and discovered that the only eating place open was the Turkish tent so we went in there and had pide, made fresh as we waited. We did ask for Turkish coffee but they didn’t have any!! I always find that strange when you are in Turkey!! I guess these 5 * hotels cater mainly for Europeans.

We then went and played table tennis. Royal Wings is an all inclusive hotel and the food is top class but we also had to sample the cocktails.

We had an excellent meal in the main restaurant, then went into the piano bar, followed by the evenings entertainment.

A very good first day.

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