First Day

Sunday 30th

I awoke just before seven and as I pulled back the curtain to see for the first time what we had before us, the sun popped up over a mountain across the bay, like a piece of toast from a toaster, and lit up the most impossibly beautiful view one could hope to have from a hotel room.

Kumlumbuk Bay is a semi-circular arc situated on a peninsula in such a way that our view is back along the Turkish Lycian coast. Ranges of mountains and islands rise before us in various shades of bluey-grey, one stacked on top of another. At this time of the morning the sea looks very flat and calm and there was only one solitary yacht making its way out of the bay. Behind us the mountain rises, covered in rocky outcrops and scrubby bushes, up to a glorious cloudless blue sky. Fantastic.

Inside the room, things aren’t quite so perfect for Debrah’s design sensibilities, but it is comfortable and functional and the only thing we intend to do in the room is wash and sleep. It has a carved front door with the ubiquitous Turkish eye symbol above it, used to ward off evil spirits. This leads into a living/sleeping area with a separate washing and toilet facilities beyond. It has a large window, which makes the most of the dramatic view and a small terrace with chairs and a table, which does the same. It has a pretty fair copy on the walls of the sort of stipple shite I have encountered in France, prompting Debrah to remark that I could have these walls smooth by the time we leave! In fact, I had had to do some toilet maintenance already in the middle of the night – the ball cock got jammed and wouldn’t close off properly such that the water was running constantly – now sorted.

Being our first day we decided to stay in the hotel, get our bearings on where everything was and how it worked, get our first dose of sunshine, our first swim and catch up on much needed sleep. There was to be an introductory talk from our reps after breakfast about the hotel and available activities and excursions, but first we wanted some breakfast.

Breakfast is laid out buffet style in the restaurant next to the pool – bowls of fresh fruit, yoghurt, honey and nuts on one table, plates of tomatoes, cucumber, olives and cheese on another (the breakfast salad as Debrah terms it) and a small cooker where staff whip up an omelette or scrambled eggs on another. There is a small wood-fired oven behind from which comes a steady stream of freshly baked Turkish flatbreads and small rolls covered in sesame seeds and the like. Unlike Spain, there was no breakfast wine or cava available, which is a good thing, but you can have a steady supply of good Turkish coffee to get your day started with a buzz and shaky hands.

In the bar area afterwards we met Ata, the local Tourist Board and Exclusive Escapes representative, as well as Annabelle and another rep. Their talk didn’t tell us much that we didn’t already know but gave us a chance to continue assessing our fellow guests who appeared to be mostly mature couples, some who had clearly been to this resort before, two single ladies travelling together, two young lovers etc etc. Debrah will give a greater insight into our guests at the end of this piece and all future pieces as my guest blogger for the duration of this trip.

We immediately booked up a couple of dinners and a shopping trip to Marmaris, which I will describe as we go along, and then hot-footed it down to the spa and treatment centre as Debrah was keen to book some stuff there as well. We had been led to believe that this gets very booked up in advance but found a bored looking young lady with a clearly empty appointments book in front of her. An hour later found us both face down on a treatment table – Debrah getting a pre-tanning exfoliation and body scrub (having a good wash?) and me a full body massage and very good it was too.

We had, by now, managed to fill our first morning without so much as sun lounger or pool involved. It was obvious where the afternoon would be spent. Naturally, there were by now no clean pool towels and belongings were strewn across loungers in all directions. There is a common misconception about the Germans always grabbing the best spots with their beach towels out early – in my experience the British are no less ridiculous in rushing down before breakfast to stake a claim to a lounger whether they are actually using it for the next few hours or not.

We had a simple bar lunch of salad and toasted sandwich and chips and then dipped in and out of the pool all afternoon in-between sleeping and reading – heaven.

In the early evening, I sorted out the internet connection on my computer with the hotel staff, to allow me to post this blog on a regular basis and then hauled my way back up the mountain to find Debrah still fast asleep 15 minutes before we were due to leave for the Beach Club for supper. Ten minutes later and Debrah was dressed, made-up and looking beautiful – what a girl!

The Beach Club is owned by the same owners as the hotel but is run as a separate operation. It is exclusive to the hotel during the day but the restaurant is open to other visitors at night. The terrace there has a lovely setting just metres from the shore and there is nothing nicer than eating dinner in the open air with just the sound of your fellow guests and the waves gently lapping on the beach – in fact we could do without the fellow guests to be honest. But then we wouldn’t be able to watch them and make up our own stories about them, would we?

We also had the sound of the hotel’s gulet boat turning over its engines with a deep burble burble every so often. They were getting it ready to take out on an all day cruise the next day and we will be doing the same on Thursday.

We passed a lovely evening under the stars, eating fabulous food – mezes, sea bream, rack of lamb – and drinking a sumptuous bottle of Turkish red wine from the Ankara region that would compete with ease with the best from the Languedoc. Rounding the day off in the style that it had started, the horizon very suddenly lightened with a ghostly luminescence and with enormous speed the moon rose from across the bay casting its magical silvery light, initially in a narrow beam across the water and then, as it rose higher, across the whole bay. We attempted to round off our dinner with two tempting desserts of chocolate pudding and berry fruit ice cream and a Turkish coffee pannacotta with vanilla ice cream, but it turned out to be a step too far and far from rounding it off, it finished us off for the night.

•••••••GUEST BLOGSPOT•••••••

For two weeks only I am doing the guest spot on this blog - not that I am an interfering control freak or anything... anyway, I thought i might introduce all Peters blog readers to a little game we play called 'wheat or chaff'. The premise is, of course, a little bit mean, but we find it invaluable for passing the time on long journeys, holidays etc. Simply put, all you do is a sweepiing assessment on the people around you and decide whether they are 'wheat' (worth keeping) or 'chaff' (to be thrown away at the first opportunity)....mean...but fun.

Here are the first conclusions from the observation deck that is our holiday so far:

candidate 1 - "howard's way"
"Howards way" is a lady so stuck in the 1970s she is almost 'fashion foward'. We can't help but hum the theme to 'howards way' as she sashays into breakfast, hair like Farrah Fawcett Majors, flowing skirts, cheese cloth halter neck and sunglasses that could be from Marc Jacobs current retro collection but, I sense, are from the original decade...
verdict: WHEAT

candidate 2 - "russian brides"
Endlessly entertaining, there are two glamourous baltic type ladies here on the arms of two dreary essex types. These chaps can hardly believe their luck and genuinely think the gals are fascinated and amused by their dull conversation. The men have at least twenty years on the lasses and probably run a small building company and drive one of the lower class of mercedes. The girls giggle and flatter the gawping dullards whilst clearly spanking the poor saps credit cards every weekend and ordering taxis, cocktails and gucci outfits like they are going out of fashion. It'll be good til the money runs out .. but hey, I'd expect plenty before I went down on one of them - you go girls - they are working hard for the money.
verdict: WHEAT, and then some...

canidate 3 - "queen bee"
Frightful old bag that acts like visiting royalty..."Mehmet, how laaavely to see you again...how is nina? would you be an absolute daaarling and bring me a gin and tonic, change the direction of the sun and have that tree cut down - it's blocking my view". She does have a husband but we've yet to hear a peep out of him. the poor man obviously decided it was pointless expressing views of his own and probably hasn't spoken since about 1982. bugger off back to Barbados love and leave us in peace.
verdict: CHAFF

more to follow