Traveller's Tales...

Altinkum, Turkey (Part 2)

On our second weekend in Turkey, us four youngsters decided we would head out for a night on the town. We had made friends with a few guys who worked in different bars, so they promised to take us to the best and liveliest. We started with WooWoo pitchers in a bar called Big Nose (bizarre I know!) and had a laugh doing horrendously in their music quiz. Afterwards we went to a couple more bars, Galaxy and Flamingo, before ending in Palm Beach. All the bars were playing really good up-to-date music, and the drinks were a little pricey, but not too bad. We got a taxi home afterwards and crashed into bed a little worse for wear at 4.30am.

The following day we went to the Apollo Temple, some Roman ruins a short Dolmus (local bus) ride away. It was magnificent, and despite all being hungover, we stayed for about an hour and a half before going back home to eat and sleep! On Monday we were fully recovered, and so the four of us left the adults at home and ventured to the water park. It was quite small, with about ten slides, but they were fun and it was a welcome change from the beach or pool. There was a foam cannon and wave pool which we messed about in for a while before sunbathing on the loungers there. It was only £12 which included the journey there and back, so we couldn't really complain.

On Tuesday we went on the boat trip again, purely as we enjoyed it so much the first time. It was mostly the same, except we stopped at slightly different spots, one which was a tiny cove with a private beach. We arranged to go on a night cruise the next evening for our 'blow-out night' which is a family tradition where we can order whatever we want, however expensive it is. Because we had made friends with the crew they put it on especially for us 8, as we had missed the allotted day. We all got dressed up and enjoyed a beautiful home-cooked meal, and then Dad, Abbey and I went swimming in the dark!

The next day was our last, and so we were up early to catch the last of the rays before we returned home. Unfortunately we had a four hour delay on the flight back, but it was really nice to sleep in my own bed when we eventually arrived back in Timperley. I had a whale of a time, and we all got on really well- I can't wait for my next holiday already!

Traveller's Tales...

Altinkum, Turkey (Part 1)

As you may have noticed, my posts have been severely lacking for the past three weeks. This is not due to laziness (heaven forbid) but because I have been sunning myself in Turkey- which is almost as bad! It is the seventh time I have been to the gorgeously hot country, and the third time in the particular resort we stayed in, Altinkum. I went with my sister and parents, and another family that we are good friends with, who have two girls that are the same age as Jasmine and I.

The first few days were spent settling in and chilling out by the pool. Luckily I still had a little base tan left from Benicassim, so it must be the first holiday I haven't burnt on! We went for a walk to the marina on one of the days, that has only been there for three years, and has some very impressive looking yachts moored up. On the first Saturday we went to Didim market, a huge weekly market that sells everything from olives to bath salts to fake handbags! It is all under canopy so is not unbearable in the daytime heat, and great for a good haggle. Because we were staying in a self-catered villa, we made use of the many vegetable stalls which were much cheaper than buying from the supermarkets.

On Bank Holiday Monday we went to the night market, which has lots of gorgeous restaurants situated along the coastline, with a perfect view of the sunset. Unfortunately we made the mistake of doing the shopping first, so missed it! We did have a stunning meal though, I chose the beef fajita, which was brought on a sizzling hotplate and smelt delicious.

On Wednesday we went to one of the restaurants near our villa for a curry night which was fun. After we had eaten they had a quiz which the adults won, and then a game called 'Paddles' which was like 'Mr and Mrs' where we were in pairs and had to match our answers with our partner. It was something different to do and created a few laughs!

On Friday we went on a boat trip aboard a ship called 'Sunshine'. We stopped at five different spots and had chance to do a bit of snorkelling, and some jumping off the top deck. The weather was perfect, and the food we got on the

boat was really good, considering the whole day cost us just £10 each. Four of us went on a water ride called 'Big Mable', which was basically a massive inflatable chair that was dragged behind a speedboat, it was awesome!