Holiday destinations - Antalya, Turkey

[Taz]

I'm looking to take a late Summer holiday to Antalya, Turkey in the middle of September. I've never been there before. Does anybody have any experience of Antalya? Recommendations, advice, etc., all welcome.

[Clunk]

yes, i have, but you really dont want to know what happened if you have already booked and paid for it. ill just say that it was the worst place ive ever been.

edit: scratch that, it was Alanya, we landed at Antalya airport. sorry.

[Taz]

Phew!

[ctid]

So what happened to you in Alanya Clunk?

[Clunk]

long story, so briefly...

Went with the ex mrs, 8 hour drive from the airport to some little shanti town that only had one road, and that was also the beach! hotel room was swarming with some odd insects that stung/bite. went down to have our dinner and the hotel restaurant was outside and there was only candle light, so anyway, my non-seafood salad came...served in a giant starfish, and as i was picking at it, i felt something on my leg, and then again, and then again, ouch you little bastads...i lit my cig lighter under the table and the restaurant tables and chairs were on a bed of giant ants, it was crawling, everywhere, and these were huge ants, in fact the biggest ive ever seen, and they were fireproof. so straight to the rep, get us out of here, even though we arent celebrities etc...anyway, the following day, we get moved to Alanya. hmmm looks ok, nice beaches with big surfing type waves, nightclubs, bars, lots of restaurants. so we venture out to look for a good place to eat. one of the reps recommended a place called the "Class Restaurant". we got there and there was nobody else in, so we ordered. i ordered a cheese salad with no seafood. anyway, my seafood and meat salad arrives and we are both picking at it and the mrs was eating the seafood and i notice there are small holes in the meat, not sure what meat it is, as it is cubed, looks like spam or something. anyway, we were quite a way into this big bowl of salad, when i flipped over this large piece of meat and it was writhing with maggots, cleverly hidden under a salad leaf, hundreds of them...kin orrible. i heard one of the turks say something and they all laughed, so i stood up and projectile vomited all over the table, and then ran to the toilets...oh my god the toilets! it was a hole in the floor, there were turds everywhere, smeared, loads of flies, you could smell the stale urine and it was potent. so im there blowing chunks in the bogs from hell, and the owner brought the bill over to my mrs and said she only had to pay for our drinks..i refused and they were going to call the police, but at that point i really didnt care.

so i decided to go veggie for the week. i had never been veggie before, and it was easy. if i got a craving for meat, i would think of the "Class Restaurant" and i would no longer be hungry.

so that night we decided to go out on the beer. we stopped at a lovely place and had a real veggie pizza with no seafood. anyway, we got talking to the owner (like you do), and he told us to be careful at night when using their public transport (dolmash sp?). these little white mini bus things, known as dolmash (not sure if i spelt it right) would drive up and down the seafront road, and pick people up and drop them off. they werent allowed to leave the main road, other than to turn round or get petrol....the owner of the bar we were at was telling us about some dutch girls that had been abducted, raped, murdered and then thrown off a mountain by some locals in one of these dolmash things.

so, there we are, the mrs is absolutely hammered, 3 in the morning, and im practically carrying her, and we flag down a dolmash. they take us towards our hotel and then suddenly veer off, and back the way they just came and pick up some more turkish blokes and then veer off again and the road we were on was a narrow dirt road leading up the mountain...well by this time i had suddenly become sober, i was shouting at them to stop and they were ignoring me, so i opened the door of the van, and luckily for me it hit a parked car and they stopped, loads more gathered as i was pulling the mrs out of the van, and we started to run. (i dont mind telling you that at this point i really though we were going to be beaten to death with flip flops and then chucked off the mountain.) we got round 2 corners and there was a big group of what looked like 'westerners', so got to them and told them what was going on and not one of them spoke english, they were all german. so, to cut a long story short, we went to the police the following day and gave a statement. they basically said that because we had both been drinking, and because the mrs had been wearing a short dress, we asked for it.

a few days passed, and i was 100% veggie. our hotel was actually quite clean, so the mrs decided she would have a cheeseburger as they were having an open barbeque type thing and did smell really nice...so she was sat there enjoying it and even the thoughts of the "Class Restaurant" werent working...so i ordered, went and got a cold beer and sat down to eat. lifted the lid to put some sauce on, and there was a couple of big thick black pubic hairs on the square of cheese....serving suggestion?.

theres lots more, but those are some of the highlights.

[dangel]

Holy cr@p.... that's awful! I'm glad you're both okay but whoaaaa... that's one of the worst holidays i've ever heard of!

[johnny02004976]

mate been to Turkey twice now, not been to Antalya (went to Bodrum and Marmaris) was excellent really enjoyed it - prob becuase both times it was 4* all inclusive , i drank myself silly everyday, the people are nice as well, just watch ur belongings if you visit markets etc etc, b*stard gypo's

EDIT: remember to take some Immodium - Turkey is known for causing dodgy stomaches - i had to run thru Gatwick airport as soon as we landed to find a toilet, my ass literally exploded the second i sat down

[Clunk]

johnny, antalya and alanya are on the middle eastern side of turkey rather than the western side. my mate recommended turkey, and he used to go to bodrum regularly.

and yeah about the immodium.. the only snag with immodium is that for them to work properly, you need to not eat anything for at least 12 hours....i have a way, just think "Class Restaurant".

[TWOTELLYS]

just got back from kusadasi and it was excellent cant say ive been to the part in question but i go to turkey every year and cant fault it.
been to fetihye,icmeler and kusadasi twice , bitez next year turkey is such a great place but i can imagine there is some s*** holes there but if you go to the resorts you should be ok

[mmh]

damn, thats one screwed up holiday experience!!?!?!