Dokodemo Door

Dates: 20/02/2010 to 27/02/2010

Visa: No visa needed as I held a Spanish passport

Bought a pack with Virgin Holidays including flight, 7 nights hotel in all-inclusive board and Airport transfers.

Flight details:

London Gatwick – Antigua nonstop flight with Virgin Atlantic airlines. Flight time was 8:40hs on the outbound flight and 7hs in the return one. Outbound was 45 min delayed while return was over 2hs delayed due to problems in San Juan (the flight connects with Puerto Rico). Both flights were full. Plane was a 747. Service was good, but in flight entertainment was just ok compared with other airlines.

Hotel:

Jolly Beach resort and Spa

http://www.jollybeachresort.com/sites/S1/index.php?p=1

Overall rate is good.

The location was excellent as Jolly Beach is one of the best beaches in Antigua and big enough so despite the size of the hotel it did not feel too crowded.

The resort is fairly big, but it has no big tall buildings so it mixes ok with the beach and the environment (or in other words could be much worse).

The room we got was facing the sea and just on the beach. It was a bit old and run down, but good enough for a week. Size was ok and the bed was comfortable. It had a fan, A/C and a TV. The terrace was big enough to sit outside for a drink and see the waves and the blue water.

The staff was really friendly and relaxed, and also cooperative when we needed them.

It has 3 international restaurants and it is mandatory to book beforehand for any of them so sometimes the queues can be very very long in the booking desk. Only 2 bookings per day. No booking needed for the open buffet or the outdoors grill.

There are 5 restaurants in total:

-          Bocciolo (Italian): has dress code. Food was ok but not much amount. It depended on the dish ordered as one of the nights the food was not good at all, the other 2 nights food was good. Desserts were good.

-          Lydia’s (fish&seafood). Good. If you want to have seafood or lobster you have to pay extra.

-          Hemispheres (varied buffet). Good. Plenty of variety and different food each day. Good deserts.

-          Utsav (Indian): acceptable. Not many dishes to choose.

-          Coconut grill: ok. burgers, hot dogs, chicken, fries. Open most of the day.

There are 2 bars where you can order as many drinks as you want. They have many different cocktails.

Car rental: After asking for prices at the hotel and in a company called Lion’s Cars we decided to book it with Hertz. (around US$20 cheaper in total).

The car was a Nissan Almera, automatic. Clean enough and not too worn out. More than enough for the island.

Price total for one day was US$95 (US$75 for the car including taxes and full insurance + US$20 for the local license). The local license payment is one-off and valid for 3 months, but is mandatory the first time you rent a car. We got the car around 10am and we had to give it back following day at the same time.

The only small thing was that the day we went for the car at the time they told us the office opened (9am), the office was closed and the employee did not arrive till 1 hour later.

Tlf: Head office: (268) 481-4440/1/2         Airport: 481-4455          Jolly Harbour: 481-4456      Royal Antiguan: 481-4457

www.hertz.com email: hertzag.resv@candw.ag

Price of the fuel was EC$11 per gallon. Driving around the island was easy, even when traffic around St John’s got really jammed. I definitely recommend it to go out of the resort and to be able to reach the east side of the island, much less touristic and fairly empty. In total we drove around 63 Km.

Diving:

Went diving with Jolly Dive and I was really happy with their service. Staff was extremely friendly and professional.

www.jollydive.com ph: 1-268-4628305

Price was US$120 for 2 dives in the morning including full equipment rental. Left around 9, back at the hotel around 13:30.

They decide the dive site on the same day depending on the weather, currents…

Both dives were excellent, with 2 instructors for 5 people. Equipment was in very good state.

ANTIGUA

St John’s:

We took bus number 20 from Jolly Beach area to go to the capital. Price for a single ride was EC$3.25. All public buses are vans or mini vans. It dropped us in the West Bus Station. On the way back we took same bus number in the station. The bus did not leave till it was completely full…what meant 35 minutes waiting under the sun and sweating…but always better to take public transport than expensive taxis where you don’t get to see and interact with friendly locals.

The capital of Antigua is interesting and has some character to it, mostly compared with many other areas of the island that are too touristic and they are not very inspiring.

The area around the harbour where the big cruise ships arrive is bustling with locals trying to get the tourists that just arrived in taxis or tours around the island. Tax free shops and buildings look much less shabbier around this area than they do in the rest of the city.

St John’s was quite busy on a Tuesday morning. We took a stroll around the fish market, the public market, the park by it with the tacky flashy coloured monument to VC Bird as pater patriaie…

The cathedral was bigger than expected. Dominates the capital and is a fine building, but it was in urgent need of a restoration, very run down. We could not go inside as it was closed.

The museum (price US$3) is in one of the most beautiful buildings of St John’s. The museum itself is kind of cute, very small. The panels with written history are interesting, especially the ones about sugar plantations and slavery trade, but there were not many objects on display (missed more naval stuff, coins…). Still worth a visit and we learned quite a few things about the island’s background. Really liked the wreck map.

Most of the buildings in St John’s (and all around the island) are wooden houses painted in different colors, sometimes vivid, sometimes more pale. I liked the typical Antigua house. Some were new and glittering, many others were crumbling down.

Fig Tree Drive

Driving through Fig Tree Drive was quite interesting, with pineapples, bananas and rainforest vegetation. Half way through it is the canopy ride, what proved to be very popular, with lots of people enjoying it.

Contact details are                        http://www.antiguarainforest.com/ email: arc@candw.ag phone: (268)562-6363

Falmouth and English Harbours / Nelson’s Dockyard

Stopped for a drink in Falmouth Harbour. Very touristic laid back atmosphere, with a few nice bars/restaurants. Big Harbour full of yachts.

Agree with LP that Nelson’s Dockyard is a must see. Price was EC$13. Very nice visit, well preserved, it is a great couple of hours strolling around learning about the military part of the colonial era and Nelson’s involvement in the area (Nelson had to stay 8 months in his ship without going ashore while he was on trial. He was not very confident of the outcome and was ready to flee). The museum was set in a nice building and the contents were interesting.

Shirley Heights:

Hill with outstanding views, not only over English harbour and Nelsons’ Dockyard but also over Montserrat. Entrance ticket was free for us as it was included in Virgin’s pack, if not is EC$13.

The sunset was gorgeous on a cloud free day. The sun just sets by Montserrat. The views and the sunset panorama makes worth it stopping here.

We also went to the famous Sunday evening party…and we did not like it at all. A drum band playing decaffeinated versions of Marley/UB40 and other famous songs from the 80s while flocks of tourists eat stuff from the grill…far too crowded…far too touristic. The price of the van from the Jolly was US$20 per person. And yes, the band improves after dark and it is a bit emptier but still better skip it…

Half Moon Bay and East side of the island

Half Moon Bay was one of my favourite spots of the island. We went there in the rental car. The beach was beautiful, big and it was almost empty (roughly 10-12 people, no more). Water was crystal clear.

We went to the south side of the beach and the snorkelling around the reefs was fantastic. By far the best I did in the island. Tons of many different fishes, beautiful marine landscape, nobody around…highly recommendable.

By the beach there is a place to eat and drink: Smiling Harris thirst quencher. The owner calls himself Samuel L Jackson (they definitely resembles the actor) and they serve chilled drinks and some quick bite like hamburgers, sandwiches or rice&beans). Tel: 722-3939.

Another thing that caught my attention is that there are some rooms built around Half Moon Bay, right on the south side of the beach and by it, but they were abandoned, probably because the East side is too far from everything and not touristic at all?

The East of the island has a complete different atmosphere. It reminds you that even in Antigua you can find your own spot and that crowds can be left behind.

Catamaran ride around the island:

We booked this with Virgin Holidays (as far as we were told the day tour around the island in the Excellence catamaran was exclusive to Virgin Holidays customers). Price was US$110 per person, drinks and lunch included. The catamaran was great, new, modern, clean…around 30/35 people, not too crowded. Staff was really friendly. Very relaxed and seemingly happy.

Day started at 8:30 from Jolly Beach. Stopped for some time at St John’s to pick up other people. The speaker was good fun and he was telling us lots of things about the stuff we could see from the boat. The lunch and snorkelling stop were in Green Island. The beach was very nice and the water was clear and clean. There was a snorkelling excursion along the reefs, with guide and rescue kayak. Snorkelling itself was ok, not great. Lunch was good: fish and salad buffet.

In total we stayed 3 hours stopped at green Island. After that we completed the circumnavigation of the island and they dropped us back at the hotel around 3pm.

I’d say it was a very nice laid back day out but not amazing (as Barbuda turned out to be). Still worth it.

BARBUDA

One of the highlights of the trip to Antigua&Barbuda, if not the best one was the visit to Barbuda, Antigua’s sister island.

We booked a day trip with Jenny Tours at the hotel:      www.jennytours.webs.com

Telephone: 1-268-461-9361 / Mobile: 1-268-722-8188/9092

Price was US$159 per person and included: transfer by van from the hotel (Jolly Beach) to Heritage Quay (at St John’s) and return, return ferry ticket to Barbuda in regular ferry service, pick up at ferry harbour in Barbuda, guided visit to Arawak Caves, guided boat visit to Codrington Lagoon and bird sanctuary, 2 hours at the beach with lobster/chicken/fish for lunch and drinks.

In fact booking it through Jenny Tours is the same that doing it directly with Barbuda Express in their homepage or directly at the dock:     http://www.antiguaferries.com/index.htm Phone: 268 560 7989

E-mail: barbudaexpress@yahoo.com

Just the return fare to Barbuda in the ferry (without the day tour) is US$80 per person. In the beginning we planned to go by ourselves without using a hired day tour, but it is not easy to move around in empty Barbuda unless you take a taxi, even getting from the ferry dock to Codrington was not that easy, so we finally decided to book the tour and it was worth every penny of it. They ask you to take the passport with you in case, although we were not asked for it at any moment.

During the ferry ride (both ways) we saw whales in the distance. The captain was really nice and he stopped the ferry and went closer to where the whales were, so we all could see it. The atmosphere in the ferry was relaxed and happy, hard to believe for a regular passenger ferry, felt more like an excursion. Ferry ride took 1h45 mins aprox. Once in Barbuda we were picked up by our guide in a 4×4, we were just 4 people, although the previous day there were up to 25 persons in the day trip, so we were just lucky.

The guide could not be nicer and more helpful. He was constantly telling us really interesting facts about the island and its people and he responded enthusiastically to my numerous questions on top of that. First we crossed the island from the south east (where the ferry dock is), through the capital and only village (Codrington) till the caves in the north east (Two Foot Bay) area.

The caves were ok, the views from the top were really nice, and the explanations from the guide about how they used the plants to be self efficient was simply great. Caves visit lasted around 45 min.

After that we were dropped at Codrington’s dock. The capital is a small and relaxed village, with just 1600 people and where all the barbudans live. Authentic caribbean atmosphere, laid back but not in the touristic way. Charming in its shabbiness.

We took a boat with another guide and he took us around the lagoon to the bird sanctuary, where we could see the frigate birds. It was a lovely ride, just our boat there, with the chance to see the frigates at very close range, just a few metres. The explanations from the guide were excellent again and the right amount of info and comments. Visit lasted 30 mins or so in total.

After that we headed for the beach break and lunch at Low Bay beach area. Just in front of Codrington on the other side of the lagoon. Stunning beach and blue blue sea, although the water was not transparent ad snorkelling was not possible. Empty, just the 4 of us. It had a wooden restaurant where we were served the yummy lobster with a chilling cold beer…no comments…

We had 2 hours to relax there and then we started the drive back to the dock, ferry ride back to Antigua and van to the hotel. Return time was around 15:45 and took another 1h45min. An absolute perfect day!

Some curious facts about Barbuda that the guide told me:

- Barbudans residents are the owners of the island land. If you want to build a house or anything you just mark the area with a bottle or a few rocks so people know is taken. There are no mortgages, you build when you have the money to do so, so it is common to see houses half built or in the process for long time.

- There are 250 acres of coconut trees in the south of the island. The locals use to export coconut oil, but after prices dropped they export now coconut soap.

- In the whole island there is just 1 bank and just 1 petrol station. Around 50 cars or so. And the crime rate is zero (“if someone steals my car, where is he going to go…we all know each other here…”)

- Despite the island being completely flat, nobody has ever died during a hurricane. There are shelters in Codrington to host all the barbudans.

- The Codrington family had the right to keep anything belonging to any wreck that happened in their coast…so they “kindly helped” the ships to wreck so they could get their bounty. In other words, they were under covered pirates.

Western Anatolia

Once we left Cappadocia we started driving back towards Izmir, with a sightseeing stop planned in Pamukkale. As mentioned in the car section I got a speeding ticket in one of the straight and boring roads between Konya and Aksaray. Local people recommended us the route that goes via Akşehir, and then just after passing Cay turning left and drive straight to Pamukkale/Denizli. It was a great tip, roads were good and totaltime and mileage were lower.

Akşehir: after a long drive we decided to spend the night at Akşehir. We slept at the best hotel in town Grand Bal Otel (recommended in the LP guide). The hotel is clean and modern. Price was 100TL breakfast included. Breakfast was good, better than average, served in the hotel top floor, with views.

Even if it was just a needed overnight stop it was quite enjoyable and with a couple of anecdotes. When we arrived in town we could not find the hotel, so we stopped in a petrol station and asked for directions. Surprisingly, one of the employees there asked me to let him drive (he did not speak any English) and he drove us to the hotel!!. After thanking him he replied (in Turkish) something like: “if you have problems go back to Total Petrol station”.

After we checked in at the hotel we went to a barber shop in front of the hotel. The barber was a Kurdish young guy called Chain, and he had a friend there who (luckily) spoke some english. They were really friendly. I got a almost-bald sharp haircut, he trimmed my nose, tried to trimmed my very bushy eyebrows (did not let him) and he used some kind of cotton bud in flames to “trim” by 2 day beard. I have to admit that I panicked a little bit. The haircut was just 7.5TL and we had a great time.

Following local recommendations we had dinner in a fantastic place called Şehir Lokantasi ( I think Hidirlik Orta Gazino was the name of the street as it was in turkish, so not sure, very close to the hotel anyway), tel 8135217. It was a beautiful old house. We had the best Kofta in the whole trip. Really recommended if you are around Akşehir for dinner. Price for several beers and 4 dishes for 2 persons was 45TL.

Pamukkale: after checking some of the places recommended by people and LP, like Venüs Pension and Koray Hotel (both were good and clean, and very cheap, they reduced the price up to 40TL per 2 persons breakfast included), we were looking for a spa type place and stayed at

PAMUKSU BOUTIQUE HOTEL, PAMUKKALE, TEL +90 258 272 2818

e-posta:info@pamuksuhotel.com                        www.pamuksuhotel.com

Price was 80TL including breakfast for 2 persons and extra 10TL per person for buffet dinner.

It was a poor choice. The hotel looked ok and it had a thermal bath. Once we checked in we found that the hotel was in urgent need of a full renovation, with faulty taps, worn out carpets and stained painting, the “thermal bath area” (just a warm water indoors swimming pool) was literally falling apart and rusty…and the breakfast was just ok. My wife had a massage and she found it not very hygienic and not very professional. I’d recommend avoiding this hotel and choosing somewhere else.

Eating: we had dinner at Venüs pansiyon          (www.venushotel.net)

Food was excellent and atmosphere really nice. Price was 53TL.

The visit to the archaeological site Pamukkale/Hierapolis was simply wonderful. Ticket price was 20TL per person. I found it very expensive and no single brochure explaining anything was given. Although it is well known that the famous travertines are running out water and dirty,  I think they are getting back in shape, with more water than what we expected after reading the LP guide. The travertines close to the south entrance were crowded as they let you walk around inside some if them and even lay down in shallow water areas. Still, there was a ward checking that people were not going outside the allowed areas.

The nice surprise was Hierapolis , the Roman Spa town. They ruins were beautiful and fairly well preserved, specially the necropolis, my favourite part, with amazing tombs and sarcophagus. The impressive size should not be so surprising as so many people went there to try to heal and it simply didn’t happen. We started the visit in the northern gate and walked down all the way to the southern gate. I think is better like this as the crowded area was the southern gate and you can get a better view of the city ahead. Our visit lasted over 3 hours.

After Side we hit the road heading into the inlands on our way to the Cappadocia. We left the coastal highway after Manavgat and drove over 150Km through a mountainous area with beautiful landscapes. The roads were still good, almost empty. When we were closer to Konya the road turned completely flat and straight, easy to drive although some bits of the road were not as good as before and under roadwork. This was the case during most of the drive from Konya to Göreme. From Side to Konya there are some 240Km, from Konya to Göreme roughly another 240Km. The whole journey was around 5:30-6hs, breaks included and not pushing the gas too much.

Göreme village: we decided to stay in Göreme and make it our operations base. What an amazing and unique place!! When we arrived we couldn’t stop looking around with our mouths opened.

Accommodation:

As a way of sightseeing we decided to see all the hotels and pansiyons in Göreme, as we were very curious about how the rooms would look in the caves. In the end we spent over 3 hours visiting quite a few hotels and rooms, it was really interesting, recommended.

Finally stayed at Arch Palace Hotel (mentioned in the LP guide):

http://archpalace.com/en/index.html

Gaferli Mah. No:14 – 50180 Goreme / TURKEY               Tel: +90 384 271 2575      Fax: +90 384 271 2698

info@archpalace.com

We partially disagree with the comments in the LP guide. It was clean, the rooms were good (we didn’t feel that the place was worn out), the terrace was really nice and its best asset is the owner Mustafa Yelkalan, incredibly helpful, very knowledgeable, extremely nice…but it was dead at night, not much atmosphere. Still, good value for money (price was 80TL per night for 2 persons breakfast included).

Some other accommodation we saw:

-          Kelebek Hotel: beautiful hotel, nice location and great views. They were full and offered us a room in another building, quite far from the main one and quite overpriced.

-          Canyon View: good location and views, it was full

-          Fairy Chimney Inn: average hotel, very overpriced

-          also checked Legend Cave, Göreme House, Cappadocia Cave Suites (really beautiful, very expensive), Anatolian Houses Göreme (outstanding, too expensive, 200€ per night, although they accepted to bargain)

Eating:

Sedef Restaurant: in Bilal Eroglu Cadessi No3, in front of the Ottogar, not in the LP guide. It was recommended to us by locals. We did not like it very much. Also it was overpriced. We paid 49TL for 2 drinks and 2 dishes.

Orient Restaurant: (in the LP guide): the other one recommended by locals. Really good, best food we had in Cappadocia. Agree with the LP comments. Price was good value for money: 39TL 2 dishes and 2 drinks.

Cappadocia Kebap Center: mentioned in the LP. Great place for a quick  good and cheap bite. 2 Kebaps and 2 drinks 17TL.

Apart of the visits once you are there,  Göreme is a wonder in itself. Unique and different to any other thing I had seen, just walking around makes you feel you are in an amazing place.

Göreme Open Air museum: primitive caves turned into delicious churches with exquisite frescoes. Ticket was 15TL per person. No brochure or extra info, although the most important caves have background info on a panel outside. We went around 2pm and there were not that many tour groups, so the visit was pleasant. Do your best to avoid the crowds as when one group goes into one of the caves there is hardly space for anyone else! We spent there around 2hs, what is enough for a relaxed visit.

Hot air balloon ride: Mustafa from the Arch Palace arranged the hot air balloon ride for us. The company we did it with was Kaya Balloons (the anagram has a plane circled in red with the letter THK 1925)

Kaya Balloons, Kayseri Casddesi 20, 50400, ürgüp, +90 384 341 20 21, www.kayaballooning.com

Price was 150€ per person if paid in cash (650TL both).

We really liked them. We were picked up at the hotel around 6am. The day was cloudy and it was drizzling. When we arrived at the take off place they informed us that we were suppose to leave at 7am, but we were going to wait to see how the weather would develop. We finally departed at 8am when the weather had cleared and even some sun rays had showed up. By that time most of the other companies had their balloons in the air, some were starting to land, so they did the whole ride raining, what I think it is not ideal, they seemed more greedy than our company.

Our pilot was really skilled and he was able to circle around the chimneys and we could see all fantastically well. Also the ride lasted 1h15min and not the hour they said. We felt very satisfied with their professionalism and I recommend them.

The hot air balloon ride was one an absolute highlight of the trip. It was the first time for both of us on a hot air balloon. So smooth, so peaceful, so stunning…expensive but worth it!!

Ürgüp and Mustafapaşa: decided to take a drive around these 2 smaller and not so touristy cappadocian villages.

Ürgüp had a lively city centre full of shops, despite being a monday there were many people in the street, almost of all them locals. There were some remarkable old houses mixed with more modern ones. We went up to Temenni Wishing Hill and the views of the area were very nice.

Mustafapaşa was very laid back. We really liked the main square, surrounded by old greek houses, some of them crumbling down but still with their charm and pride intact. Compared with Ürgüp (and not to mention Göreme) it was really quiet, with no tourists at all, a totally different atmosphere, more like a still village.

The drive between both villages was also very beautiful. Parked the car and walked towards the churches mentioned in the LP. A lovely walk away from the crowds of Cappadocia

Underground cities: we visited 2 underground cities, Kaymakli and Derinkuyu. Entrance was 15TL per person for each of them. They were both very impressive and also very different.

Kaymakli was a never-ending maze of tunnels and chambers, narrow most of the time and opening up to full size rooms at some points.

Derinkuyu had much wider rooms and chambers, even with a big church. The second one was much more crowded at the time of our visit, being difficult to move around.

It is hard to believe that up to a few thousand people could live over 6 months in any of these cities,  even taking their animals with them, waiting for the enemy to leave. It is worth stopping at some of the chambers and think how they could stay there and live daily. On the other hand, I found that to be a world heritage site everything was poorly informed and presented. They should have given a brochure with recreated images and even have some of the chambers with models showing how things could have been in the past. Definitely good and recommended, but could have been so much better.

Ihlara Valley: entrance was 5TL per person. I did not have time enough to hike all of it so I decided to go in through the middle entrance at Ihlara Vadisi Turistik Tesisleri, where most churches are.

I think it was a mistake. It is the main entrance and it was full of bus tours and literally packed with people, mostly families and tour groups. I found the valley stunningly beautiful but difficult to really enjoy it . Too busy, too noisy. I’d strongly recommend to visit some other part of it, or try to go during the week. When driving down the road by the valley it reinforced my opinion that it is a really beautiful place.

When driving from Selimiye to Kaş, we stopped and took a break at Iztuzu beach. As mentioned in the LP guide is a nice fine sand beach, good for swimming and sunbathing. Downside (for me) is that there were quite a few buses with tourists, so it was crowded, but the beach was big enough to find a spot that was quiet.

Entrance to the beach is 5TL for parking the car. We had a kebap at the snack bar and it was ok, paid 20TL for 2 beers and 2 kebaps.

The drive along the coast till Kaş was quite beautiful, not as much as the Marmaris area, but still worth it.

Kaş: we chose Kaş as the base to explore the area and stayed there for 3 nights / 4 days. It was a great choice, as it is a lively, beautiful and charming village. Very recommended as headquarters.

Accommodation: stayed at Kale Otel and Pansiyon (recommended in the LP guide).

Price was 50€ per night for 2 people breakfast included. It was a very good place to stay. Rooms were a bit small but big enough and very clean, with sea views. Staying at the hotel allowed you to use the “beach”(a concrete platform with a ladder) at a nearby restaurant, with beach towel included and that was a real added value. Starting a day with a swim from the hotel platform was wonderful. The best breakfast buffet we had in the trip, with gorgeous views and really pleasant garden area.

Also, we checked Kaş Otel (mentioned in the guides) but did not like it that much , rooms were a bit worn out.

Internet in Kaş costs around 2TL per hour.

Eating:

Çinarlar Pzzeria (recommended in the LP guide): nice courtyard, good Turkish pizzas, friendly staff. Starter +2 turkish pizzas + drinks=45TL.

Natur-el Restaurant (recommended in the LP guide): followed advice from local people and tried manti (turkish ravioli) and they were sooo good!! Very friendly staff. Starter + 2 ravioli dishes + 2 drinks=44TL.

Tried also a random Kebab place. Kebap was good and price was 10TL including drinks.

Patara Beach: Spent a wonderful half day at Patara beach and ruins. Entrance ticket was 5TL per person and parking was 1TL for the whole day.

The beach was one of the best we saw in Turkey: a wide and long  stripe of fine sand, surrounded by bushy hills. It was fairly crowded but as it is so big you only need to walk a little bit to be almost on your own. Rented an umbrella for 3TL.

The ruins were much better than we could expect. And almost empty, so you can wander around on your own. They are definitely in the process of being refurbished, with lots and lots of marked marble bits in the main esplanade. They are scattered in a fairly big area and good hour or hour and a half is needed to see most of it.

Kayaking around Kekova and Kaleköy: as recommended in the LP guide we decided to take a day tour kayaking around Kekova and the sunken city. Such a great day out!

After checking a few companies we booked the excursion with

Xanthos Adventure, Ibrahim Serin Sok No 5/A, 07580 Kaş. Tel +90 242 836 32 92, www.xanthostravel.com, info@xanthostravel.com

We were quite satisfied with them. Price was 60TL per person (most of places were the same price, just one of them was 55TL). Guide spoke very good English and he was fun and professional. Buffet in Kaleköy was ok. Kayaks were fairly new and easy to use. Help boat was following us all the time.

Left for Kekova at 8:30, once there we had a kayaking briefing. After paddling for an hour and a bit we stopped in a wonderful cove with transparent water where we could swim. After that we paddled over the sunken city (not that much could be seen, imagination needs to work a little bit) and stopped for lunch in Kaleköy. After lunch we had an hour to climb to the fortress on top on the hill, where the views were great. We were back at the hotel around 15:45.

Diving: after checking a few places I decided to go with

SIRENA DIVING CENTER (Hakan Nalcaci), Dogruyol Caddesi No. 35, 07580 Kas Antalya / Turkey

hakan@sirenadive.com        phone +90 242 836 3995       mobile +90 536 316 1327

http://www.sirenadive.com/ (they are also in facebook)

Price for one single dive was 50TL paying cash, including all the gear and some snacks onboard. Everything went perfect and I would definitely recommend them. I have the PADI but I´m still a beginner and I did the diving with an instructor for myself. Instructors and crew were very easy going and friendly. The diving spot was called flyfish and was beautiful, mostly the underwater landscape, although not many fish.

From Kaş we drove along the coast passing Demre, Finike, Kemer and Antalya. Before heading to the inlands we decided to take a break and spend the night in Side.

Side: really difficult to classify and to judge, bittersweet Side was one of the surprises of the trip. We are astonished by the beautiful ruins, the size and preservation of most of them  and the fact that you can wander around them with almost no restrictions or barriers. But we were also sadly surprised about what resorts and mass tourism have done to Side. The evening we arrived in Side had been pouring rain for hours, so by the time we made our way through the city all was flooded. We checked a few hotels and the rooms and the hallways were soaked, with huge puddles and all looked gloomy. We decided to go a bit into the new built hotels and horrible developed areas around Side and finally we managed to find a fairly tacky all included Hotel resort that was dry, clean and with nice rooms.

Hotel Loyal, Mah.inonu Cd. Antalya 7 07040 Side Turkey

http://www.myturkeyhotels.com/reservation/detail.asp?id=370

Price was 60€ per 2 persons, all included (wristband type). Dinner was really bad, breakfast was a bit better and after we had seen decided to skip lunch. In the all included was the beer…so basically you could drink as much Efes as you could handle. We were happy to find a dry, clean, new hotel but I would not recommend it unless you love mass tourism. The “activities” of the hotel were mainly closed or unavailable (table tennis, disco, pool…). Also, without a car you are trapped there as there are not many things around (Side is at least a pair of km away with nothing in between).