Tales from Turkey: Mel's Week

Hello: I’m Mel, Friendship Travel’s overseas manager looking after our single travellers throughout Europe – from my base in Turkey.  Never blogged before, so I thought I’d start by sharing a typically busy week with you…

Dalaman airport on Monday was heaving when I went to meet and greet newly-arriving guests.  They all looked very happy to get through baggage reclaim (eventually, after the carousel had stopped due to a local power cut).  I guess the leap in temperature from cool and showery in the UK to 35 degrees of sunshine and clear blue skies might have had something to do with it!

Most of us went off to Nightshift on Tuesday night – one of our fave places in the Olu Deniz area.  After a few cocktails, the dancing started (it doesn’t take long!). Ibo, one of Friendship Travel’s hosts at the Era Hotel, then demonstrated how to stay on the Bucking Bronco (let’s face it, he’s had plenty of practise) and in no time at all the guys were lining up to have a go themselves….. It was a very late night for some, but a good one, judging by the tales I heard at breakfast the next day.

Wednesday morning my bag was packed and I headed off to Bodrum to drop in on our singles week at the 4Reasons Hotel. I drove through the mountains: just lovely, with amazing views out to sea (though you need to keep your eyes on the road in Turkey really!), but it’s a journey I love doing – one of those times when I feel really luck to be working in Turkey.

Mind you, I still managed to get lost in Yalikavak before I found the 4Reasons: the cold drink Priscilla handed me was very welcome.  (Priscilla is Hosting at the 4Reasons for us.) It was a nice surprise to see some familiar faces in the bar – two or three guests I’d previously met on holiday at the Era, or at one of our UK weekends for singles.

Dinner at the 4Reasons was fab: I opted for prawns for my main course, which were cooked in a clay pot – a bit like a chicken brick I guess – anyway, they just melted in the mouth.  And then I succumbed to the cheesecake, which was well worth the calories: undoubtedly the best version I’ve ever had in Turkey.

This morning, two of our guests went off to try scuba diving and a bunch headed  into town to browse the shops, have a coffee etc, while the rest were ‘just’ relaxing around the pool… so I said my goodbyes and headed back to Olu Deniz (got a bit lost again!).

Later…  As I’ve been writing this, back beside the pool at the Era, the sun is still beating down and I’ve been juggling my first blog in between sending one guest off to Dalyan, sorting out a beauty treatment booking for another and fixing restaurant reservations for the last night.  Better get on with it all.  Bye!