Author: Maggie Daniel

Mal and I decided to go into Antalya and caught the bus outside the hotel. We got off the bus at the huge ‘Pazaar’ and decided to start here. Unfortunately we were there early and so they had very few customers which meant we were harassed at every single stall. By the time we had done a quarter of the pazaar, which was huge, we had seriously had enough. Mal managed to buy a pair of nice hand made leather sandals which we haggled for a very good price and I bought some silver ear rings, also a good price. It was so much effort telling each and every stall holder, no we didn’t want to view their wares, drink their cay and then have to spend half an hour beating them down on price. etc etc

We waited for the bus back! In the afternoon we sat in the beach bar. Shortly after we arrived back in the room, a knock at the door and someone came to look at the air con….oh yes he said, it isn’t working properly. Someone will come to fix it tomorrow. In true 5 star hotel tradition, they offered us another room…NOT!!!

Our room was so hot that it started giving me a head ache. We went and had dinner, all the tables in the outside restaurant were full so we had to eat inside. So stuffy again. Dinner was unexciting and after we had finished we walked to the beach and layed on sun beds at the end of the pier, with the sea lapping around us, at least we had some fresh air. We went to the ‘Wine House’. It was shut, even though it should have been open. Again we slept with the doors wide open to get some air in our room.

Having left the air con on while we were away from the room the previous evening, on returning discovered it was far hotter than outside, so we slept with the balcony door open. The consequence of this was being woken up several times during the night by the noise. The hotel is glass everywhere and so our room was getting very hot.

After breakfast, where we discovered omelettes were the best thing to be had, we went to see ‘guest relations’ to ask about our air con. She tried to fob us off with ‘it is controlled centrally’ but finally said she would get someone to check it out and also open our locked safe. Would we be in the room at 3.00pm, so we spent the rest of the day on the beach returning at 3. We sat in a stifling hot room until 3.30 and in the end Mal went downstairs and found one of the managers. Quite frankly he didn’t give a damn and said there was nothing wrong with the air con but someone did come back with Mal to open our safe. Mal came back to the room fuming because this is supposed to be a 5 star hotel!! The attitude of the staff is not good.

We ate our dinner in the outside restaurant and then went to the Agat Bar for cocktails. We tried two and they were awful. We weren’t the only ones who just left them on the tables, so downstairs to listen to the pianist who was very good.

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Our alarm went off at 01.30, hardly worth going to bed and we drove to the airport. The flight was on time, our resort hoppa lift was waiting for us and we arrived at the Kervansaray Lara Hotel at 6.40am! We were so tired and decided if they wouldn’t let us into a room (official checking in time 2.00pm), that we would sleep in the reception lobby. The guy behind reception remarked how early we were but said it was no problem and gave us the key. The porter took our cases up to the room. Our first impressions of the hotel was how dark everything was with under floor minimal lighting, the porter told us that lighting went off at 5.00am and it doesn’t get light until about 7.

By this time it was breakfast time, so down to breakfast, then back to our room for a sleep. An hour and we were fine to go exploring the hotel and grounds. We were not given a map of where all the facilities were, they don’t seem to have one. We spent most of the day on the pier down at the beach and in the beach bar which was really nice. Lunch was fresh barbecued fish, Mal had burger and chips!! I can imagine an ambiance like the beach bar, right on the beach in Cyprus, the cost for two sunbeds, our lunch and drinks alone would work out the same price as we have paid for the entire day and night here, including our board.

I have to say we felt it was not the standard of the Concorde Hotel where we had stayed previously but once we discovered things like the machine coffee was awful but if you have espresso and then topped it up with cappuccino then it was much improved. Food choice was plentiful and whatever your taste, you would have found something to your liking although we discovered some things that weren’t to our taste and we are not fussy eaters. Mal was disappointed that there was no Efes, in fact no bottled beers at all, just Tuborg on draught. Our mini ‘bar’ in the room only had one carton of fruit juice, a small bottle of Pepsi, a fizzy water and a large bottle of water, hardly a bar!

In the evening we ate our dinner in the outside area of the main restaurant, again masses of choice and some excellent fruit and vegetable sculptures on one of the many buffet tables. The all inclusive house wine was very good, which is unusual. The classification of this hotel was 5 star, more like a UK 3 star but value for the money we paid. It was a long day so after coffees and brandy we went to bed so didn’t sample the entertainment, another day! One of the features of the hotel is the dim lighting and a lot is under glass on the floor, it takes some getting used to! A red stripe of light also goes through the floor of your room and outside to show up your room number, again on the floor.

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We spent most of the day finishing off jobs and tidying up the house ready to leave for a holiday in Turkey the following day. We took Rosie over to Lena at the kennels early evening and packed. Off to bed early as our flight was at 05.15 from Ercan. Having booked the 09.30 flight to Antalya, CTA rang us to say they had changed the time of the flight to the ungodly hour of 05.15!

Mal finished off the painting and I carried on gardening, our oranges are coming along nicely. We heard a dog howling but couldn’t find where it was. Later Lena rang to say it was Freddy 2 outside her kennels. We thought perhaps he had been hurt but on getting near him, he wasn’t. So, Lena and I took him back home again to where he belongs in the village. They didn’t seem at all concerned as he is let to wander as he pleases. Later in the evening Mal saw Freddy 2 had returned to the same place! Perhaps he wants to join in all the fun at the kennels.

It was a very humid day.

More painting and gardening during the day. Late afternoon we went to Ercan aiprort to collect Jill and Val who had been holidaying in Turkey. We waited outside the aiprort for their arrival and were so amused by the policeman with his whistle ‘moving cars on’ from the front entrance. They would move after another 5 minutes, do a circuit round the car park and reappear. There are a lot of people who don’t like paying for the car park meaning it is chaos just outside the terminal. Jill and Val had an excellent time. We dropped them off and then went and had dinner in Dolphin (Alsancak village). I had a really good fish sis and Mal had the mixed kebab, he usually does as it is normally the biggest meal! He had a beer and I had a brandy sour (a good one!) Before the meal came we were given huge home baked bread and two dips. We also had a large bottle of water and two very good Turkish coffees. When Mal asked for the bill, they just said ’50tl please’. We didn’t get an itemised bill but for that price we weren’t complaing. To be recommended.

We popped down to see Gary in the morning and then went on to do some shopping in Ileli. Mal found a bottle of Shepherd Neame real ale but was a little shocked when it went through the till at 9.75tl, so changed it for two bottles of different real ales that came to the same price. We then went on to Hur Deniz to buy some sea bass. It is on offer at the moment for 13tl a kilo. Mal cooked as he his speciality is to stuff it with spring onions and ginger and cook it in the microwave. It was delicious.

I went into the garden to deadhead some roses and look what I found eating them!

In the afternoon we watched the footie. Chelsea LOST to Villa but Man U won. They were both good games.

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