On The Island

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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We took Rosie and then a busy day trying to get things sorted for our absence, a week in Turkey for Mal’s birthday.

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Mal and I went to the shops and he also had his hair cut. On the way down in Incesu, a hoopoe flew right in front of the car windscreen. The photo attached is not mine, as it kept flying but it is the first time we have seen one in Cyprus,or anywhere else for that matter.

We took Rosie out and this morning found some more orchids, in fact we have now found four of this particular orchid, the Eastern Woodcock . We have yet to find a bee orchid!

We spent the rest of the day gardening.

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