We had a honeymoon!! After 5 years of marriage! We carted the kids off to my sisters for a week (thank you), and went to Turkey. We wanted to go a bit further than Europe but were also constrained to that 1 week of half term. My sister took a week off work too, so we couldn’t add on any days anywhere. With flights being so tight, we couldn’t really get any further. I looked at Thailand and Singapore, even Rio De Janeiro! However, Turkey fitted the bill for sun and beach, and flights.
Went to Bodrum. Olu Deniz was top of the list, but flights weren’t great to there. Would have missed 2 days as wouldn’t have arrived till 2 in the morning or summat, and then leave mega early on the last day. Char left all of this trip up to me, so a fair bit of pressure!
First bit was a fail. Not intentionally mind! Hotel I booked looked lovely. 5 Stars. Nice white and blue building. Beautiful infinity pool, smaller jacuzzi type pool. When we got there, it was a couple of weeks before season had properly started. Instead of the pools being pristine blue with clear water, they were green. Turns out they clean them next week before the season starts. Awesome. After a little whinge as the website said would be open, they said sorry and upgraded our room and gave us some fruit and that.
There was another pool which was fine, and indoor pool and all that, so wasn’t the end of the world!
Had a walk down to the beach. Was nice. As it wasn’t full season yet, it was fairly quiet. Some places were still finishing their painting and sorting their bars and that, others were fully open and enjoying the peace before they were over run by people like us. Chose a nicebar/restaurant thing on the beach, and relaxed. With a book. And no kids. Nice.
The restaurant was well cheap. Nice too! Apart from the pudding they gave us, some sort of milk-based thing. While we were there, a couple of dogs came and sat with us. When we left for a walk, they followed.Two dogs turned into three (not literally), and then four, and five! It was ace. Just cutting around with our little pack! They were all quite big too.
Stayed with us for about an hour. Turned around, went back to our new local, and found a cat. It was a nice heat there. Sometimes we needed the parasol, sometimes we didn’t. Walked back, found an ISIS holiday spot, and went home.
Bodrum Town
Next day, we got a taxi into the town. Stopped on a main road to see the amphitheatre. It’s ace as it’s just next to a main road. Awesome views over the town and the sea. Would have been ace back in the day, with them doing an Am Dram performance of Fiddler on the Roof or summat with the sun setting.
Walked through the winding streets, just heading down towards the sea. Was peaceful. Then came to the main bit and got lured into a restaurant promising the best kebab in town. It wasn’t. Walked through the shops bit, then to the harbour, and found a lovely café place on the beachfront. Spent ages here, reading, watching. Loads of folk in double denim. I pointed every single one out to Char. She got bored of that game quite quickly.
Kos
Next day, we decided to go to Kos. Why? Cos. Ha, get it?! We’d seen one of those ticket dudes who had a little beach shop in Bodrum, and we bought ferry tickets from him. We were his first customers of the season! Was an hour over to Greece by ferry. It was like a big bus, with rows of seats. On the Kos side, it took about half hour to get through customs. Stood outside in the sun, watching one custom worker getting through the whole ferry. Awesome. Luckily, they had a bit of sense and got people with kids through first, which I thought was fair.
Once through, we had a wander round. Only thing I wanted to see was Hippocrates’ tree. Which we did. It was a tree. With railings round it. We also saw a fair bit of destruction from the earthquake they had there the year before. 6.7 on the old Richter scale. Kos was nice, just a lot more expensive than Bodrum! Had a nice wander round. It was quite busy. Had lunch in square thing. Pizza for me. It’s always pizza for me. Oh, I also found another amphitheatre thing. I thought it would be interesting to see the difference between this and the one in Bodrum. Char didn’t. In fact, so much so that she left me go and see it on my own! I had to set up my phone to take a pic of myself.
Headed back to the ferry, got on, went to Bodrum, and went back to our local café to watch the sun go down. Was nice there. Peaceful and relaxed, yet a bustle on the street.
Next day, had a spa treatment and that. Was one woman in the spa who did the treatments. Char went for a chocolate body thing, I went for something else. Woman was nice, but she did this weird thing with my toes. You know when you hold hands with someone, and you interlock fingers, well she did that, but with my toes. It felt well weird!! After a while, the rest of it was relaxing. Had a sauna, had a swim, tidy. Went to the beach again and ended up seeing our mate at the beach hut and booked another trip! We were his first and second customers! We were gonna go scuba diving.
Scuba Diving
Car picked us up in the morning and took us to the sea, because that’s where the boat was. There was us two, and a couple of others who went. Minimal teaching, gave us wet suit and all that. Got us into the rig, and off we went! Was bloody freezing. Now, I hate the sea. I hate the salt water. I’m not great at swimming. Luckily, the guy was always next to us, doing the valve thing to make us go up and down. He would release mine, and just leave me on the sea bed, while he went to do summat else. I probably won’t do it again.
Awesome experience, seeing fish and that, but wasn’t a fan of the mouthpiece with water getting in, and purging and stuff. No ta. If I had one of the expensive full-face masks, I’d defo do it again. Char really surprised me, and was so happy she did it and as you can see enjoyed it! Straight in, and took to it like a fish to water. The fish wasn’t great at swimming, but defo was under the water! Had some pasta and that on the boat and headed back.
All in all, I enjoyed Turkey. Well, Bodrum. It’s a big country. Some people may be a bit sceptical about going, but I would defo recommend. The people were really nice and welcoming, apart from one douche in the market. Food and that was cheap, sun was nice. Would happily take the kids another time.
The toe thing was my highlight. SO gross xx