First times... Turkey and Neilson
Despite waking up a little grumpy after a delayed flight but after a caffeine injection over breakfast we were awake enough to go along to the kids club welcome meeting.
It was a bit of a scrum to sign up for activities but I secured my first win (and probably only sporting victory of the week) by booking in for tennis and sailing both for beginners, a bike ride around Marmaris, and booked a slot in the spa..... happy days.
There are a few kids clubs split up by age. I loved the fact that the kids were issued with rash vests, each club had a different colour which made it easy to spot your child’s group when they were out on the high seas, or throwing themselves off the pontoon! Our son, Rhys, threw himself into everything his Sharks’ club offered: Sailing, paddle boarding, tennis, writing and performing in a short play, he even managed to try water skiing. He made new friends, tried new sports and it’s his second best holiday EVER!
I love the tagline that you can ‘relax as hard as you want’: That’s exactly how my holiday was. I started the week with a very gentle bike ride, exploring Marmaris and the surrounding area. Each day I had tennis coaching for total beginners with Ed and Brad, and then I scooted off to sailing with beachy Ben. The afternoons were far more chilled!! I took a cookery lesson with the chef, had an amazingly relaxing time at the spa and read a whole book by the pool! I even managed to drop in for 2 pilates classes which were great, out on the deck with super sea views.
The boat over to Marmaris was a great change of scenery: 2 evenings in the week childcare worked the late shift, 2:30 – 11pm. We made the most of this and headed over to Marmaris for shopping and dinner. It's great fun to barter in the bazaar and even more fun to head back to the hotel to spot who is wearing this season’s fakes! I can highly recommend Dede restaurant looking out onto the marina. We shared a meze to start, then clearly I had to tuck into a kebab for my main. The food was great and the friendly service even better, even Turkish wine was good!
Hubby was kept busy kayaking and cycling, I think next time he might try the power boat course as the whims of the wind frustrated him! It was a perfectly balanced holiday, time for each of us as individuals, date night and brilliant shared family time.
A little bit about the hotel - the resort is small enough for the children to have some freedom but adults can still have space if they don’t fancy the evening entertainment! The daily cocktail special at the pool bar was always worth trying before dinner! The buffet service restaurant had a great selection of salads and Turkish breads, and there was a wonderful range of fresh hot foods such as grilled fish, rotisserie chicken and local kebabs.
I think it’s a mum thing but I was really impressed with the staff, their levels of energy, enthusiasm and also the safety. It was the end of the season, and the nannies still had plenty of reserves left for the last group of kids! On the day Rhys was due to do his water ski taster, the waves were pretty bumpy, so the instructor was at risk of disappointing a 9 year old boy for all the right reasons. He said no skiing BUT he came up with a plan B, and so Rhys had the time of his life with a body board attached to the end of the tow rope. He then squeezed Rhys in for the real thing the next day!
Conclusion…. Everybody had a fab holiday. We’ll do it again!
