Hi all,

Just back from my 8th visit to Club Turquoise. I quite like it there Left Glasgow Airport 28 July 06, flight on time and no problems. Decent flight (MyTravel) although not alot of leg room and I'm not the tallest. Arrived at the new Dalaman terminal and first impressions are it will be great when everything is finished .. We had no problems there at all as I went to the Visa queue while the wife stood in the passport queue. Met up when she was nearing the kiosk.

Interesting (well I thought so ..) to note that on the luggage carousel there seems to be some sort of 'magic eye' which can detect if the belt is full of cases and won't let any more come on. Great idea if everyone arrives to pick up their luggage at the same time, however ... if several families are stuck waiting for their visa and their luggage comes off first .. you get a bit of a backlog. Directed to the buses and I would say it took us about an hour all in from landing to the bus leaving.

Arrived at Club Turquoise and made our way to the apartment. It was around 4.00am and the place was quiet. Decided however to make our way to the poolside bar and had my first Efes five minutes later ... just the one of course and headed for a couple of hours sleep. The apartments haven't changed at all really in all the time we have been going but I'll mention more about that when I do a Hotel Review.

Staff at the Turquoise haven't changed much and all the regulars were there Jumali, Erkan, Hussain and Serkan etc for those who know them. The entertainment team led by Yilmas was the same as last year Ali, Izo and young Shooie. There was a change midway through the hol though when Ali had to go and work at Club Alize. He was replaced by Matt, nice guy. The entertainment is much the same but why change I say as everyone has a great time.

Visited some of our regular eating places to include 'The Garden' and met up with Hussain and Carlos. Again those who know the place will know who I mean. Had a couple of meals in there and is still of a very high standard. Also ate in the 'Beefeater', Natalies, the new Adam & Eves and up into Armutalan where we went back to Elvis's. Have to say we find the food excellent wherever you go in Marmaris and we were paying between 60-70 ytl most nights for the two of us and always with a bottle of wine (around £25). Also had a great meal in 'Le Madri' which is an Italian/Chinese/Indian/Mexican restaurant, the food was great but there was two guys on accoustic guitars playing some great stuff ranging from the Eagles to REM .. brilliant. To close on the food part of the post we went through to Icmeler and had a fantastic meal in the 'Love Boat'. Visited the Old Famous for a quick drink when through but no sign of JT. Sorry, nearly forgot, ate in the new Taj Mahal too and this was first class.

Couple of other highlights of the fortnight was the Lazy Day boat trip arranged through 'The Garden' regulars, £14 for AI and a fantastic day out. Also went to the home of the Turquoise manager (Irfan) for a BBQ, splendid night with great food (Irfan cooked ..) and tasty wine.

Not a cloud in the sky during our stay with the temps staying in the high thirties into the forties all the time.

It's at this point I always think my post could have been cut and pasted from previous entries by me as we always do the same things. However, that's why we like the place so much and for us we don't want to change.

The numbers a definately down in Marmaris this year but it was certainly far from a ghost town. I have to say though that much of the resort continues to be improved and the area around the Taj Mahal (Karacen Plazza) looks really good. Silly wee thing, but I noticed there is obviously an ongoing programme to upgrade all the local public parks/play areas and this is helping with the overall look of the place.

The events in the UK had us worried about our return journey (11 August) but all turned out to be unfounded. The longest wait we had was the queue for the check in. Prices still high if you want to buy food etc in the airport but most are aware of this now. Liked the Duty Free Shops where there is now no hassle and picked up a Litre of Smirnoff for 11.5 euros and 400 B&H for 35.50 euros (they will convert to any currency you want). (Vodka for me, fags for a friend ..) I thought these prices were ok. Flight left on time and we were 20 minutes early in arriving at Glasgow.

In closing, Marmaris continues to have it's knockers but for us it has some great memories, fantastic restaurants, a beautiful coastline and friend for life. We will be back ! (next year .. )

Wilson