Its Thursday evening and Part II of my holiday begins. I’m flying out with one of my best friends Debs to Fethyie, Turkey for a week in the sunshine,having book a last minute cheepie deal on Teletext.
booking in at Gatwick starts at 7pm but Deb’s train is delayed so we reach the check-in desk about 7.20pm to be greeted with huge queues of people and no check-in staff…not good!
About 30 mins later a guy arrives to tell us their computer systems are down so check in will have to be done manually, so it will be slow and our flight may have to be delayed.
The queue moves painfully slowly, but in the end we get to check in, then just have time to change some money & buy some duty frees before our flight boarding in is announced.
We board the plane pretty quickly. Because it was a manual check in there are no allocated seats,so we try and find some that aren’t located near any kids!! We manage to find a row of three and sit either end,hoping that the plane isn’t full and we can keep our extra space.
How wrong we were! A group of girls with babies& kids turn up on the plane 30 minutes late and then start moaning in very loud voices about why can’t they sit together ( Err turn up on time!!) and yes you guessed they sit surrounding us. I do my bit my moving to the middle seat so that one of the kids can sit across the aisle from her mum,unlike the people in the row behind.
The flight eventually leaves,about an hour late and the first couple of hours are uneventful. I try to get some shut-eye as its now 2am,but I’m woken by a little ‘un in front hanging over her seat. I look up to see where the noise is coming from,but when I see its a little one I know there is nothing I can do about it. This happens a couple of time and then the little girls mother starts screaming at me from across the aisle not to give her daughter the evil eye and that she will scratch my eyes out if I do it again! I try to reason with her ,but with her attitude there is just no point. They then proceed to encourage the little girl to sing nursery rhymes and make as much noise as they can screeching to each other.
The flight lands and we pick up our transfer,only to find this lot are on our transfer…nightmare! We are both praying that they will not be staying at our hotel.
About 20 minutes from the hotel ,the driver stops for a fag break…welcome to Turkey where it almost feels that smoking is mandatory!
Ciggie break stop
We arrive at the hotel and breath a huge sigh of relief when they don’t get off!
It is now 5.30 am ( 3.30am GMT)
view from our balcony
We watch the most beautiful sunrise
The staff are up and about cleaning the pool, so we are able to make a coffee which we are gasping for!
We then sit and wait for breakfast at 8am.
Before grabbing ourselves sun beds to spend the rest of the day lounging round the pool.
We get chatting to a girl sitting next to us on the sun beds-she has been coming to this hotel for the last 10 years-she says there are many others who are regular returners,which says great things about the hotel.
We are staying at Chalis beach which is just outside Fethyie.
In the evening we walk down to the beach and catch the water ferry across to Fethyie. This runs every half an hour and costs 5lira one way
River boats
View of Fethyie across the lagoon
From the boat you can see the stone tombs above the town
We walk along the harbour front,with its many boats moored and ready to take tourists on the many trips they offer
We head inland and wander round the old town with its bazaar of shops,then through the small streets lined with restaurants,where we are hassled left,right and centre by the waiters trying to get us in to eat at their place. We really are not in the mood for this having been awake for 24 hours!
We spot a travel agents that is open and pop in to see if they have a map of the town that could give us. The lady in there is English & VERY helpful,recommending various restaurants and explaining where the fish market is as we had read you can eat there.
We would never have found it on our own,but her directions take us to a terracotta roofed building. Inside there is an open courtyard with a huge round stall selling fish in the middle.
you buy your fresh fish here and then pay one of the many small restaurants on the edge of the courtyard 5 lira per person to cook it-for this you also get bread and salad.
The fish on the left were huge,about 2ft long
We choose a kilo of prawns which costs 30 lira,about £14 pound-which they clean & shell and send over to the restaurant
Prawns cooked in Garlic and Chilli-just the best meal!
As we walk back towards the harbour,we pass our travel agent lady having dinner and say what a great meal we have had-she then recommends a bar to go to-the Car Cemetery Bar
You can’t miss it,as there are 2 cars sticking out the front!
We decide to go for cocktails-I have my usual favourite Caprihanna while Debs goes for an exotic combination with fruits.
Deb’s cocktail
We quite fancied one of these too!!
After our drink we catch the river taxi back to Chalis Beach
Lights shining on edge of lagoon
It has been a great first day in Turkey!
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