10th - 17th September 2007

Monday 10th September.

The wife and I, Departed from Luton airport at 09:50, under the grey skies that has plagued England all this summer, for the 4 hour flight to Dalaman Airport in Turkey, with no delays.

When entering Turkey you have to get a Visa, a tax I guess costing £10, to enter the country. This looks like an extra large postage stamp and is stuck into your passport and datestamped, and is good for 90 days. Every tourist getting off every plane needs one, and you queue. Now you would think the same person could then do passport control, oh no, you then get in another queue for that.

From Dalaman Airport we were transferred to Olu Deniz, by coach, which took about an hour and a half. Once in Olu Deniz we dropped off people at about 3 other hotels, in close proximity to ours before it was our turn and arrived at the Mavruka Hotel about 18:30. I chose this hotel because it was only finished in 2006 and it didn't disappoint inside or out.

This is the view from my sun lounger of the pool and the back of the hotel. Having hung up some of our clothes in the wardrobes we headed out to eat, and meet up with the bride and groom and another couple there for the wedding. (There won't be any wedding pictures on this blog, until at least 30th September, until the happy couple have returned from Turkey, and shown people their pictures themselves first. I don't wish to steal their Thunder).

We met up with them in the BuzzBeachBar restaurant that I had put a web cam link to on this blog. What the web cam doesn't show is this bar/restaurant also has an upstairs with a better view of the setting sun over the Mediterranean, more of that to follow.

Tuesday 11th September.

Their is a market held every Tuesday in another town called Fethiye, near to where we were staying, so we hopped onto a Dolmus to take us their. A Dolmus is basically a minibus that will hold about 12 people. It cost us 3 Turkish Lira each, approximately £1.25, each way, for a journey up and down the mountain of about 10 miles. The driver goes along slowly until he's filled all the seats, then turns into Lewis Hamilton on winding mountain roads that have no crash barriers.

The market sells fresh fruit and veg including chillies, pistachio nuts, Turkish delight, leather and clothing goods (all genuine brands - not).

The overhead cover is to keep the sun off, unlike Bury market where its rain covers. The temperature was in the low 30's the whole week and I never saw a cloud in the sky.

Tuesday evening and the wife and I were having our evening meal, the wife was writing her postcards (I'd done mine, they're in the post !) and I notice this large sign over her shoulder, not that I have a medical requirement for them.

Wednesday 12th September.

Today was a pool day. The hotel features a poolside bar and restaurant. We just went bed and breakfast because I prefer to eat in a different restaurant each night. Food and drink at our hotel is charged to your room number so you don't need your money around the pool. The mountains rise up behind and create such nice scenery.

This is Mohamet who works the bar from lunchtime until the last person leaves at night and he closes up. He was always ready with a card trick when it wasn't busy, and wouldn't explain how it was done. He had studied English and was an entertaining guy.

Wednesday evening, England v Russia. We went to eat at a restaurant on the sea front called Help. This was the view from my table as the sun went down. With a sirloin steak and topped with Prawns (surf and turf), washed down with a couple of glasses of Turkish red wine - Perfect.

After the meal I done the gentlemanly thing and walked my wife back to the hotel before I went back out to see the football. I had been told of a bar (Phillips bar) that would have good atmosphere showing the game, and made my way back out to it. I walked past other bars on the way, also with it on, but got to it before kick-off, it started at 10pm Turkish time. Great result 3-0 England, I hope now McClaren now sticks with the same players who covered for injuries, for the next game.

After the game, walking back to the hotel, I saw this truck laden with wood, pull up and couldn't help take a picture of it.

Thursday 13th September.

Day of the wedding, and the wife had the responsibility of doing the brides make-up, she used to work on an Elizabeth Arden counter. She showered and hung about in the hotel room to avoid getting hot and sweaty, and left, via a Taxi at 2:15pm, to the bride and grooms hotel just 2 miles up the road.

I chilled out around the pool, had a shower, put on a shirt, tie and trousers, and also had a taxi to the happy couples hotel, at about 4:30pm. On the way there I was surprised to see a Camel on the side of the road.

It was a wedding where the service and reception is at the same place. It was hot weather for a shirt and tie, and while waiting for the service to start I seeked shade and a cold beer.

The groom came down, and the 20 odd guests including the wife, made our way to the area of the hotel, outdoors, that the service would take place at. When the bride arrived escorted by her father and bridesmaids, my wife had done a good job, she'd done the bridesmaids make-up as well. I looked at my wife and I could see her eyes well up with tears of happiness, at how beautiful they all looked.

After the service and many photographs being taken, we had a meal, followed by the speeches. The best man said "I was asked if I was nervous" to which he replied "yes I'm nervous, my 19 year old son is at home alone in my house!"

As mentioned, pic's to follow at a later date.

Friday 14th September.

The day after the wedding, and after a short time spent at the pool during which time I finished a book I had taken with me to read, it was Lance Armstrong's autobiography. It is an amazing story, he's never known his father, of his battle with testicular, lung and brain cancer before going on to be seven times Tour de France winner, it was followed by a walk around the shops in Olu Deniz to get some souvenirs.

At the bottom of the road you can just make out the sea between the buildings and trees. When we ate out that evening, I found the meal disappointing as it was bland and tasteless, in a restaurant called "Waterside".

Saturday 15th September

We arranged to meet the happy couple and the other couple, that met with us Monday night, and went on a boat trip for 15 Lira, approx £6 each. These are the excursion boats lined up ready to take out their day trippers.

When we got to the seafront I was hoping that it was this ship, that had moored up in the bay, that we were going on, as I hadn't made the booking. The ship has a Helicopter on the back of it. The ship's name was Anna, and was registered in George Town, if anyone knows how to look up how to find who its owner is let me know.

This is the view of Olu Deniz looking back from the stern of the boat I was on, the Voltan 4. If you enlarge the picture you can see the road, on the left, coming down the mountain that all the traffic has to use to get here.

The boat stopped in many places allowing us to dive in off the top of it, swim, paddle, snorkel and also had a built in flume that started on the top deck and plummeted down through the hull and threw people out into the sea. It also had a barbecue on the back and everybody had the choice of chicken or trout for lunch included in the excursion fee.

Another stop and this time at St.Nicholas island complete with ruins. The big posh ship was still in the bay when we got back at about 17:30.

Sunday 16th September.

Last day and in the afternoon I watched the Belgium Grand Prix beside the pool, then in the evening going to watch the glorious sunset for the last time on this trip. The coach was picking us up at 02:15 Monday, and we decided to just stay up all night, after packing our cases, to go back to Dalaman for our 06:40 flight back home to cloudy Luton.

It was a great place to visit and if you're inspired to go there it was made special by a great hotel. http://www.mavrukahotel.net/ To which I would like to go back to sometime. Thomas Cook offers a package including the transfers.

No.5