A little taste of Turkey

Well, we’re home from Turkey! What an interesting trip! My new opinion on “all inclusive” vacation packages? Mmmmmmmmmmm.....not so much my favorite choice. So we definitely enjoyed ourselves……..,well, except for the 5 am flight for which we had to be at the airport at 2 in the morning (the airport here is actually quite the happening place at that hour of the morning) and the wicked migraine I had for the first 24+ hours of our vacation. It was so bad that three of my ultra expensive scary brain altering migraine pills did nothing but tease me for a few hours by easing the pain ever so slightly before coming back again with a vengeance. But this so-called five star resort? Yeah, not so much. Maybe we give it a three……apparently the ratings over here don’t really mean too much. Seriously, I think they rate themselves. And we were a little nervous when we were greeted with this sign first thing after we arrived at the airport…………

In case you can't read it clearly, it says if any one forces you to perform work with no pay please call this helpline. Luckily no one forced us to "work" for free while we were there.

So we arrived in the early morning (in Antalya, Turkey) and of course were not allowed to check in until 2 in the afternoon. No problem we thought……we’ll just grab some breakfast and hang out by the pool or beach until we can get into our room. Sounds easy, except for the fact that the staff downright refused to give us towels before we officially had checked in and had a room. Five star service? Not so much. Apparently they have a weird thing about their beach towels (which really are not that nice to begin with—one of ours was stained) because they only put them in your room once you check in, you only have a small two hour window each day to exchange it for a new one and god forbid if you accidentally leave it at the pool or beach—they slap you with a 10 Euro ($15) charge. For being five star they were certainly stingy!

So Debbie and I found some shade in some trees a little away from the pool and rested in the lounge chairs sans towels while Adam and Phil made plans for golf the next day. Once we were finally able to check in we were less than thrilled with our 5 star accommodations (although they were leaps and bounds ahead of the Shalom Inn—no fighter jets here!) but were really too tired to care. We immediately fell into our uncomfortable twin beds, and fell asleep for a few hours in our balmy room with a barely working air conditioner. Unfortunately my headache persisted but I tried to be a trooper and join the group for dinner later on.

Phil and Debbie managed to weasel themselves (and Adam and I of course) into the supposedly booked (in fact it was actually totally empty) Chinese restaurant and we sat down for a delicious dinner that I, unfortunately, totally did not get to enjoy. We actually even got 5 star service at the restaurant, and Phil even had the waiter standing on a chair unscrewing light bulbs because it was too bright for me and my almost exploding brain. Even after the lights were dimmed and the music was turned off (that only happened because of a miscommunication and the language barrier but we were all eternally grateful),I still could not handle it and half way through my wonton soup I had to bolt for the room where I curled into the fetal position and slept until the next morning. Apparently the food there was excellent but sadly I shall never know. (This is where you are supposed to feel sorry for me!) Damn you migraines!!!!!

The next morning the guys left early to play a round of golf and got an unpleasant surprise when they got into the car and saw that the gas tank was not actually full like the man had told them but actually past empty with the gas light on. So they had to immediately find a gas station where they proceeded to spend $130 to fill up the tiny rental car with gas. Those of you in the US who are whining about gas being $4 a gallon, listen up………we’re IN the Middle East and yet gas prices here are outrageous! Gas in Israel is $7-$8 a gallon (supposedly because they ship it first to the US who then kindly ships it back to Israel since Israel and the oil producing countries don't play nicely together) and in Turkey it was around $13 a gallon (I don't know what their excuse is). So everyone else can just shut the hell up!

So while the guys enjoyed their expensive round of golf, Debbie and I enjoyed a lovely massage at the Spa. Which was very beautiful and at least it deserved the 5 star rating. I rationalized getting the hour long massage by thinking that it might help me relax and help my migraine go away. Plus Phil was kind enough to suggest that I go get a massage while they were gone for the day. What a nice Hubby I have! It totally didn’t help my migraine one iota, but I did thoroughly enjoy it. Even though, hmmmmmmmm…..how should I put this? Let’s just say they are not as careful in Turkey about respecting your personal privacy as most massage places in the US. And let’s just say that I am glad I asked for the female masseuse and not a male or it may have been just a wee bit awkward and I probably would have bolted out of the room. I’ll just leave it at that.

After the boys got back from golf we all enjoyed some time at the beach (I was almost starting to feel like a normal person again by this time) and then we got cleaned up and headed down to dinner. Each night there was a dinner buffet but also there were four restaurants that you could make a reservation for one day in advance. And they always filled up except for the Chinese place we ate at the day before because it cost 15 extra Euros per person and apparently nobody ever wants to pay the extra money. (Either that or they are saving it in case they lose their towel later. Or their 5 cent cheap plastic key that the resort also charges you 15 Euros for if you lose.) So judging by the sub-par selection of food at the breakfast and lunch buffets (I'm convinced it is impossible to make excellent food for the masses. Although Robert Irvine always manages to do it on Dinner Impossible and I don't care what you say the Foodnetwork is real life), we decided to try to eat at the restaurants every night if we could get a reservation. (They had one computer that you had to stand in line at eleven o'clock every day to make reservations for the next day.) So this night we ate at the Turkish restaurant and enjoyed some really great food, in particular the lamb chops which were super moist and tender. (Since I have finally learned that lamb is not actually a baby sheep but just a sheep (or so they tell me), I have come to grow quite fond of it.) And although I still did not feel well enough to enjoy a glass of wine with my dinner, at least I was able to make it through the entire meal and savor the delicious food with out having to bolt to the bedroom and hole up in my cave while waiting for my head to explode.


The next day we decided we had to make use of our $130 dollars worth of gas and we hit the rode. First we went to find some waterfalls that were not too far from the hotel. We had pretty sketchy directions from the rental car guy (the same one that told us the gas tank was going to be full) so I am amazed at how easy it actually was to find. As you can see from the pictures they were absolutely beautiful and the color of the water was an awesome aqua blue color. Somehow no matter how many waterfalls you see, they just never get old. Then we headed further down the road in search of a restaurant that the same guy had recommended. (Also the same guy that felt absolutely no remose for giving us a car with no gas and refused to give any of our money back.) Turned out it was actually the name of a town, Ulupinar, with several restaurants, not an actual restaurant. But with a few stops to ask for directions and clarification we were able to find the town which had several seafood restaurants situated right on the river.

As you can tell from the pictures, we chose a restaurant that was actually in the river. It was actually pretty neat and very relaxing to have the water flowing underneath you. And we had some cute widdle fuzzy duckies that joined us for our lunch as well. And a beautiful mallard that was oh-so-cooperative in posing for the camera. For our meal we got to pick out the fish we wanted and then they took it up to the grill, filleted it open and threw it on while we enjoyed some delicious (and very puffy) bread and salad. I think we all agreed that it was one of the most delicious fish meals we have all had. And I forgot to take a picture of it at the end but we pretty much picked the damn thing to the bone it was so incredibly delicious. After our relaxing lunch we headed back along the coast back to Antalya for our last night at the resort.

For our last night we ate at the Mexican restaurant, which trust me, we entered into with some (okay a lot) of hesitation! Considering we're from NM (and let's face it, Mexican food snobs), and Mexican food tends to get increasingly worse as you get farther from the state (even Colorado can't quite get it right), we didn't exactly have high expectations. We figured if it was terrible we could hit the buffet afterwards. Mostly we were just curious and wanted to see what it was like and if it even resembled Mexican food at all. So they sort of passed the first test--they passed out shots of Tequila. But with lemon not limes. Again with the damn limes! They passed the second test with the Chile con Carne (it was actually quite delicious) but didn't do so well with the spelling--Chile corn Carne. Then they served Doritos in lieu of tortilla chips and served them with sour cream, salsa (very bad salsa), guacamole (incredibly bad, perhaps not even made from real avocados) and barbecue sauce (just plain weird!). But apparently that was for the next course which they totally got wrong by serving onion rings(fake and processed) and chicken wings. Not sure how they thought that was Mexican but anyway.... The last course was fajitas (beef and chicken) and enchiladas (which they burned and didn't want to serve us but we asked to have it anyway because we wanted to taste it). The fajitas were actually pretty good except for the bad guacamole we had to put on top. But we did get to sit next to this dude, so I guess that makes it worth it.........

So all in all it was a good trip. (Except for the dead battery we had in the car when we got back to the airport. I was soooooooo expecting to be sitting in the hot sun for 2 hours waiting for someone to pick us up but luckily we were able to get a jump from the service desk there and we were on our way home in no time.) So there are definitely pluses (never having to worry about where to find food and drinks) and minuses (having to eat sub-par food and having little control over your choices) to the all inclusive vacation. We were hesitant at first of even booking it but considering that is pretty much all they offer in Southern Turkey, and we were definitely interested in going there, we just had to go for it and make the most of it. I know that Phil and Adam enjoyed the weekend of relaxation with no cell phones or laptops! Plus we discovered the wonderful world of duty free shopping (at three in the morning). Which before has never meant much to either of us but now that we are in Israel and paying outrageous prices for many imported goods here, duty free had taken on a whole new meaning for us. You can even buy it when you are leaving the country and they will hold it for you to pick up once you return. Alas, I have my Grey Goose!

So that's about all from us. I guess that was a lot....do you feel like you got another ear full!?!?!?! I tend to be a bit wordy when I am blogging. And detail oriented. It's just that I wanted you all to feel like you were in Turkey with us!