Migraine!

It has been almost a month since our return to Kenya and I have not gone outside of Karen, and after today's experience I decided, that was the best decision ever! I do not drive outside of Karen for obvious reasons, so our driver joined me today for furniture shopping, it is not actually shopping though. I just like checking the furniture, styles, wood, I really do! We went to Mombasa Road, or I must say we tried to go! It took one hour to get there, we left home at noon to thinking there wont be any traffic! But this is Nairobi, traffic has no common routine! After driving around for hours to get from one place to another my migraine started! Believe me, I never had migraine in my life, even talking about it makes me feel bad! I am ageing or what?? Anyways, by 2:30pm I gave up, I just could not do this torture to Mike anymore!

Interestingly, the never ending road constructions keep going all over the city, and it looks like all the drivers are stuck in a labirent, that they keep driving round and round, and somehow road conditions never get better! Am I missing something here?! Is there a light at the end of the tunnel! I wish there is, otherwise patient and calm Kenyans will go crazy sooner than later, expats are already gone crazy if I may say...:)

After two Panadol pills, I feel much better right now, found myself in front of my Surface and lovely blog. How much I miss writing:)

Things to do in İzmir

If I did not write a blog about Izmir I would definitely feel guilty! I mean, I got my college degree there, and at the end lived thee for 4 years! I owe at least a honest blog to this ancient city:) So, here is list of things to do in İzmir.

1-Ephesus Museum: This is a must do even though you are not into ancient history. The city built by Greeks and Romans, by that time it was by the sea, not it is miles away! Ephesus is located in Selcuk, only 30min by car to İzmir, there are signs along the road. You can either get a guide or use the rental audio, which I highly recommend. The tiles, frescos and pillars are well reserved as well as the amphitheater. Imagine the site gets 1.5 million visitor every year itself! Be prepared it is going to be a long walk, if you go during the summer time make sure to have bottle of water, sun screen and a hat!

2-Clock Tower: Clock Tower is the symbol of this ancient city, built in 1901. It is meeting point for locals, or people go there with their kids to feed the pigeons. İt is accessible by walk from Konak, Alsancak and Kemeraltı.

3-Agora Open Air Museum: If you want to see new and old, this is the place to go. Best part is, it is conveniently located, and you can also go below ground. Many paintings and church kept very well, entrance fee is very little, definitely worth to see!

4-Asansor: If you did not go to Asansor you did not go to İzmir! It is a hidden gem, for some reason it is hard to find it! Anyways, Asansor is one of the landmark for the city. It has one of the best view so far, there is also a restaurant on top where you can have a lunch or a nice coffee. Interestingly it does not look very tall from a far, but when you go up, no doubt you would love it. Try to go during sunset, it has quite an impressive panoramic view.

5- Kordon: Stroll along Kordon and enjoy a coffee or a cold beer. Just take your time, make sure to go there late in the afternoon.

6-Kemeralti: Hidden gem for crazy shoppers. It is much smaller than Grand Bazaar, so make sure your expectations are not too high:) You will be very much surprised when you heard the deals! Often quality is pretty good, and plenty of choices. There are many local lokantas (restaurants) and coffees in Kemeralti. If you like to try new tastes, this is the place! Depending on the time and date, it can get pretty crazy with sellers yelling around to get potential buyers attention!

7-St. Polycarp Church: This ancient church is conveniently located across Hilton Hotel. Inside is pretty impressive, and its door welcomes everyone. Only problem is, it is hard to find it open! So if you plan to visit make sure to ask around for hours.

8-Hisar Cami (Mosque): Hisar Cami is 400 years old and located in Kemeralti. So, you can visit all at once! It is from 16th century and oldest and largest mosque in Izmir. As long as you cover your head and shoulders everybody is welcomed inside, by the way you need to take your shoes off. Try to go during the prayer, have no doubt you will be impressed, it is very quite, calm and peaceful.

9-Synagogue Street (Havra Sokagi): This is not a miss, if you are around Kemeralti, another place to visit. Make sure to ask around, otherwise you may never find the synagogue. Inside is very impressive, calms and kept very well. It is unfortunate to think about past, cannot even imagine how was it before, nowadays it feels like synagogue is trying to hide itself...I can see how vibrant the Jewish community by that time, such a melting point and times in Izmir cultures and religions were living together peacefully and happily...

10-Alsancak: It is the melting point of Izmir where wealthy locals and expats live. It is located one street up to the sea, walking distance to Kordon or Kemeralti (ok, you gotta be fit to walk it is not that close!). You can find all the upscale shops, stores, and restaurants in Alsancak. It is a happening place! Young crowd hang out and pack the restaurants, coffees and bars at night. During the high season, summer months, it is almost empty due to the melting high degree! People start to show up after 6pm! If you have time, take a walk you will enjoy laid back lifestyle of locals.

By the way, in the second picture I am enjoying my limonate with mint (popular drink during the summer), must try!

Cute fisherman's village: Foça

Foça is place to go if you want to have a quite and boutique type of vacation. It is only 70kms away from downtown Izmir, road is very nice, especially once you are off to highway scenery gets pretty impressive. Interstingly this little town is divided into two parts, Yeni Foça (New Foça) and Eski Foça (Old Foça), not far from each other they are different by distance such that Yeni Foça is 20km away from Foça itself.

This little town gets crowded during summer with Izmir localies or tourists who like casual type of vacation, season starts in May until mid September. It is famous with its fresh fish. The shoreline is closed to traffic, there are many seafood restaurants and coffees on the line. What makes Foça different from other famous summer town, it is quiet, never gets over crowded, nightlife is not as crazy as Bodrum or Kusadasi, people are much more relaxed, does not seem to bother with wearing fancy clothing, neither never saw ladies in high heels, seriously. There were tons of fishermen boat in every corner, with big cats waiting to be feed:) Some fisherman even build a small bed for them, is not that something:)

Many parts of this little town is under strict environmental protection. Hotel or residential constructions are not permitted, it is set to preserve its natural characteristics. Foça is home for three protected marine areas. Due to the value of flora and fauna, small caves and bays Yeni Foça and Eski Foça are place to visit.

During our visit to my sister in Izmir, we spent half day in Foça and loved it. Hundred years old Castle of Foça was going through major restoration which was very impressive. We walked around the shoreline, people were relaxed, it was a very casual atmosphere. People were having their afternoon tea at their balcony, I had a sense that these people were living in a peaceful and wonderful neighborhood which I envy a lot. It is really hard to come by these days...

After we had our simply grilled fish at one of the seafood restaurant, we took a walk and surprised to see people were getting ready for a swim at 8pm! Than my sister told me, that is a tradition among locals, they do not swim really, they just socialize in the water! So we spotted many heads in the water children to adults to elderly, loved it:)

So if you are around, definitely recommend a day trip to Foça, restaurants are not over priced, you will get warm Turkish hospitality in every step you take, and you won't be disappointed.

Finally made it:)

After few unsuccessful attempts, now cucumbers, green and red leaf lettuce, iceberg, carrot and parsley are ready to eat. All I need to do just go and pick them up from my garden:) Thanks to my dear organic farmer friend, Paul, now we have beautiful little farm in our backyard. It was not an easy job! There was not much rain this year, so we had to keep the soil wet.  We had few problems on the way, like cucumber bugs, fungus soil, and yes birds !!!  Last time we tried planting tomatoes,  they ended up with bugs in them, birds did not have any complain though, at least tomatoes did not get wasted, what can I say! To keep the birds away, I tried every solution out there but nothing stopped them! Up until Paul just put simple green trash bags on sticks and put it onto soil! Just like that! and they never came back again! It was that easy, obviously no fancy solutions needed!!!!

The climate is wonderful in here, so whatever you plant, it just grows itself, just need water and you gotta keep an eye on the birds:)

Friends are forever

How can one survive without a good friend in life, a person who knows you for ages, first person to call when something happens good or bad, or who do you call when you go through a break-up, sometimes you do not even need to talk for weeks or months, but when you do, you pick up where you left off, nothing is a miss.

Me and my best friend, Senem, met when we both were 17s! We were recent high school graduates going through college transition, getting ready for big government exam, a transition of  life time! We were the opposites, she was very tall, I am average, she has curly hair so curly that you can not put a comb in! I had straight hair, she was loud energetic and very outgoing, she would say whatever comes into her mind, I was reserved, cautious, Senem still says I am way too kind! She is edgy and I am way too proper.

We met through our moms, since we both have did not have many friends our moms decided we were a perfect fit! Seriously, because of their hard work we exchanged phone numbers, and she called me and we went to see a movie together! Ah that sounds so awkward!!! Honestly, when we met I thought she was weird, after years later, I also learned she thought the same for me!!!!! So, moms were right, we were a perfect fit indeed:) That's how we became best friends. When were young ( am not that old, ok!) we did not have cell phones or ipads, we only had land line phones! We got in touch through our moms. Every six months either I would go to Istanbul to see her, or we would just meet in the middle! Because where I went to college was 9 hrs drive to Istanbul! Than  after college graduation, I made a decision to study my masters in US, she was the one who supported me and promised she would come and see me, we had no idea how though! But she did for real:)

So right after I turned 23, I moved to US and lived majority of my life out of Turkey.  But we made it, lots of things changed in our lives but our friendship was one thing never changed! Somehow if something happened in our lives, we knew it, even though we were thousand of miles away. Our friendship got stronger each and every year.  She was my witness in my marriage ceremony, I was her's (her's did not last long though, hey I have done my part!). We gave birth 5 weeks apart, we were the first people to hold our babies. We spent so many New Year Eves together. When I took my first baby to ER she was the one who came there with big balloons to cheer us up. Or when I was in the hospital she was the one who held my hand and told me our funny stories to make me laugh.

Probably she is the only one person whom I wait for the birthday phone call every year, and I know she is the same. And no matter what our birthday gifts would be ready months ahead, and we always give each other clues. And that's one gift box I cannot wait to open:) Even our husbands know this and accept it!

Still, whenever I go back home, third day is always our day, and every single person in our families know this! I jump on the car and we meet for lengthy breakfast, jumping from one subject to another!

Senem, this blog is for you and our true friendship...

Movenpick is the hotel to stay in Izmir

If you plan to visit Izmir, I definitely recommend Movenpick Hotel. It has the best location so far, right in the middle of the city, popular business and leisure districts such as Alsancak, Konak and Kordon are accessible by walk. There are lots of shops, restaurants, bars and coffees within the walking distance. Popular Kordon (city's famous seaside) is only few minutes away. If you are around you should definitely have a drink in Kordon. It is always busy, you can see the locals hanging around. There is also a big green area where locals have picnic or eat their snacks, kids run around, in the afternoon till midnight.

Hotel offers spacious rooms easily accommodates family of four like us. Our room rate included breakfast, the only complain I have is dining area is kinda too small for a hotel this size. Saturday morning we had a hard time to find a table, we had to wait a little.  Since I booked an executive room, we were able access executive level, accessible with a card, it offered snack type of foods, cold and hot drinks, free wifi throughout the day and alcohol after 6pm. It located on top floor, so had great view. Hotel rate also included usage of gym, steam room, sauna and indoor pool. Pool looked quite big, but I did not have time to use it.

By the way this city has a special meaning for me, have I mentioned I studied my Bachelor degree in Izmir:) My older sister still lives there, actually she is a phsiciatrist and academician (I mean she is a Professor!) in one of the university hospitals in town. So, Izmir has always in my list to visit whenever I go back home. This summer was no exception. Actually if you plan to visit Izmir, summer may be the best time of the year because city is almost empty, literally, because majority of Izmir locale's have summer homes in surrounding areas they all come back right before schools are open. The only problem with visiting city during summer season is sweltering heat!

One of the greatest thing about Izmir, it is close to all major holiday towns, such as Cesme, Foca, Kusadasi and Marmaris. They are only an hour drive away! When I was in school, whenever we found time, we would go to Cesme with my friends. Now it has become one of the top holiday destination in Turkey.

If you want to visit local shops, restaurants, or coffees Alsancak is where you need to go. Than you can talk a nice walk from Alsancak to Kordon to have a drink. If you want to have a dessert or speciality Turkish cakes and dessert Sevinc Pastanesi (Patisserie) is the place to go, this is where you see all Izmir localies. If you want to have a fresh fish Kordon is place to go, restaurants display fresh fish right in front of their doors, but make sure to ask for the price! Ferry ride from Alsancak to Karsiyaka is a must do, you will love it! For a nominal fee you can enjoy the breeze and view of the whole city.

Clock Tower in Konak is a popular destination to take memorable pictures and feed the friendly pigeons. There is also Konak Pier opposite direction right busy road. When we were there pier was going through major restoration and construction. There are many chic bars, restaurants and shops. If you like good deals when you shop Basmane is place to go, once you arrive Konak you can ask around, it is few kms away from Clock Tower. Be prepared Basmane is always very crowded and busy, but I have no doubt if you are one of those crazy shoppers you will find greatest deals for goods, souvenirs and etc.

Unexpected visitor

When I was working in my garden with Paul this weekend (he is an organic farmer) we heard a noise coming from right behind. There, it was a little vulture (not so little:)), trying to fly, this amazing wild creature trying so hard to fly but just couldn't. I was not sure what to do, it was in our garden and seriously, this is a wild animal! So we just waited there to decide what to do. We noticed there was blood on the ground and was coming from one of it's wing. And all of suddent it noticed us, and just laid there without moving. Paul said it is pretending to be dead to protect himself from us. Paul said he grow-up in a village with so many wild animals. There he walked to the vulture, me following him right his behind:). In front of my eye without a hesitation he hold him up. And opened its wing, and we saw where the injury was. This animal that looks so wild and sometimes scary from below to us all of a sudden was so helpless and weak. Luckliy, Paul knew a rescue center that run by volunteer expats in Karen. We put him into a box with my children and took him to veterinary and than to rescuse center. They said it is only 12 weeks old, just a baby, ruptured one of its wing and luckly they were able to fix it. It will be kept safely in center until our little friend is ready to go back to its wild life. Yesterday I took my children to visit,  they were so happy to see our little friend. We cannot wait for him to reach the sky and makes us scared again:)

Something to smile about:)

I missed writing so much, you can probably tell from my nonstop postings since we arrived:) To be able to write and reach so many people is amazing and motivating.

 Few months back, read an article about blogging, the argument was about %90 of first time bloggers drop out in first few months. Yuppi, I passed that mark:) I always loved reading, but never thought of writing myself, actually when I started I would give up eventually, but still here! My future plan is to create a website that will gather all the information from my blog.

Last week, got an email from expatarrivals (I contribute to this expat website since we moved here), and being told they chose me 'expert spotlight'. What an honour, who would think my amateur writings would be listed on an independent website one day:) when you click www.expatarrivals.com just scroll down, it would be me on the left:)

Developed fear of flying!

It's been long time coming, knew it! Finally I have developed a fear of flying! With each and every flying experience my scare is getting worse, cannot help it! I try every relaxing method out there, breathing technics, trying to think something else (all I think of my fear and anxiety!!), watching a movie (cannot even pay attention, in my last trip I watched four movies and cannot remember which movies I watched!!!), playing sudoku and freecell! (I always loose), reading a book (all of a sudden I became illiterate!).

My fear gets worse if I see other traveller's scared faces, they do not say anything but we have something in common, feeling is out there! And than, there are kids scream or cry, sometimes I wish I was one of them, at least I could take my stress out by screaming!

Turbulence, how can I forget it! Once I read planes never crash because of turbulence, but tell that to me! During the flight I find myself counting how many turbulence there are and just anxiously wait for captain's next announcement!

Worst thing is, I try so hard to hide this from my children. During our last trip, my daughter said 'don't worry mom, it will be over soon, just think about something else!'  I guess I am not successful with hiding stuff from my kids! When I travel with my husband at least I have someone to lean on, well, he sleeps when plane takes off and wakes up when it lands! Ooh, such a support!

We all know the statistics, there are twice to three times more car accidents than plane accidents, but still this does not help when I am up on the air!

The funny thing is, the more my fear gets worse, the more I have to fly! Cannot wait for my next air trip!

Back in town!

During our return flight from Istanbul to Nairobi, my daughter said 'you know what mom, Kenya is my first home, I love Kenya', I had a glimpse of her and noticed happiness in her face and in her voice. For an eight years old, who changed so many schools, homes, places and friends she is never be the one who complains. And each and every experience she feels home and safe.

After a smooth landing, 'Welcome back to Nairobi mom' my daughter said again when we arrived Jomo Kenyatta International Airport this past Saturday at 1am. When we were getting out of the plane, I saw Kenyans and their smiling warm faces, it really did feel like a home. So my view on 'home' has changed so much after all these experiences. I used to think, home is where I was born and grow up. (Probably that's where my confusion started! because I was born in US and spent half of my life in Turkey and half of it in US, now adding Kenya into equation!). Now home is where we make our living with all ups and downs as a family.

I must admit living an expat life is no easy. You gotta have a patience and flexibility to ever changing locations, climate, air travels, food and so much more. Before each holiday season you have to find a place to stay unless you have a house! After staying in rental houses last years, this year we decided to stay at my parents house. I actually thought if I planned everything ahead it would be much easier. But let me tell you something, it is never easy to stay even at parents' house after certain age and it becomes really complicated when you have a husband and two children! Before we went away, I made my plans and thought they were perfect! I planned sending my kids to summer schools. We would have one week between until my husband arrives and we would go on a holiday. During those two weeks we would stay at resort hotel. Than we would visit in-laws for five days, and go to Izmir to see my sister. Everything worked out well with few exceptions which is well expected. As a person who would never make big deal of packing and unpacking, or travelling long hours, this time I felt little bit overwhelmed. Because doing all these things only for yourself is one thing but packing/unpacking, making reservations for hotels, cancelling, renting cars, organising beds, adjusting children ever changing environment, picking out restaurants for four people is totally something!!!! By the end of our 2 months vacation, when I opened my eyes in my bed, I took a deep breath and I felt at ease. I was happy and relieved to be home.

Fabulous Voyage Belek Golf & Spa

We spent one whole week at Voyage Belek, and it was not enough! The only problem was there were way too many activities for us, and we were going through our list every day not to miss any!

Voyage is located in resort part of town Belek, where all the inclusive hotels are situated one after another. All these five start resorts share the same beach and they almost provide same type of service with few differences. Since I heard so much about Voyage hotels in the past through my best friend, Senem, this time we decided to spend our summer vacation at Voyage Belek. And it was one of the best stays ever so far. 

To make our reservation and get an idea about the hotels, there are two websites I always use, one is local travel agency's www.etstur.com and other one is of course expedia. ETS travel agency is well organised, and their annual rates are listed on their website before the season starts, ETS works very professional, it provides pick-up from the airport for a reasonable fee or like us you can opt to use taxi (taxi fares are listed outside at the airport, so there are no surprises). 

Once we arrived at the hotel, we were greeted by smiling faces with cold drinks and Turkish delight:) What a custom, right:). As long as you arrive around noon, rooms are always ready (it was the same case for all the hotels we stayed in so far). After a plane trip with two kids, all I want to have a quick check in and go to poolside right away! 

Voyage was spacious, but not too big, where you get tired to go from one point to another. Rooms and villas were situated in the middle, away from pool and attraction areas, so noise was never an issue. We were able to stay in regular size room with our two children, room size was good enough, it was not too big or too small. Customer service was almost perfect, all the workers greeted us in the morning and our room was cleaned every day without any exception. Mini bar was full with drinks, snacks and water. There were open buffet restaurant along with a la carte restaurants serving Italian,
Asian, Turkish,  Greek Tavern, Seafood, Mexican and Japanese. Like other hotels, visitors had only one dining options at each whole stay, which is fair enough. All we needed to do is to call a number to make a reservation, lines were open at 9am, if you call at 9:30am there were no seats available!! You gotta hurry!!! Good news is, buffet dining changed its menu every day, so you never get bored of eating the same food. There were also snack bar, patisserie, ha,burger stand in the afternoon, also Turkish pide (pizza) baked everyday at the beach. Have I mentioned there were also ice cream stands every corner? Heaven for kids:) On the third day, I gave up on checking my children after I caught them almost glued themselves to ice cream stands!!!! It was such a scene, seriously! Setting up rules for ice cream on vacation was not a good idea I guess! 

One of the reason I chose Voyage was it offered so many activities for children. When planning a vacation, there is only one important rule! you gotta make your kids happy and keep them busy, otherwise whole vacation can become a nightmare!!! So, not only there were four different water slides, there were also open playground, kids club for different age groups, huge trampoline, jumping castle, and yes amusement park right on the beach.

Voyage was hidden behind trees, the building never got my attention, it felt like vacationing in the forest. Even cicadas were making a nice background sounds at night.  It was one of the greenest and environmental friendly hotel, the grounds kept very green, clean and professional. We never felt to hot even though the temperature was showing 38 C degrees! The trees provided nice breeze at night, and wonderful shade during the day. 

Throughout the day, entertainment team kept the guests happy and active. From outside it seemed like people had fun, unfortunately I could not join much of the activities, I was busy keeping my kids entertained!

Pool was big enough, hotel was full but never felt too crowded. Beach area was also well kept, divided into two different sections, '+16' where children not allowed (I dreamed about being there, nice and quite :)) and other section for people with children like us! Little info: In Turkey, all beaches are public, so anyone can use them without paying any fee, and government controls all the areas for
safety.

It was a wonderful gateway at the end:)

My view on Istanbul

I have written three or four pieces about Istanbul by now, that probably shows how much I love this city:) I have been visiting different parts of Istanbul throughout our stay. Thankfully the city was not as crowded because of holiday season, Istanbul traffic can become such a headache...We also made few trips to the museums, but not as much as I wanted...

I was shocked to see the nonstop ongoing constructions in ancient city, at some point I felt helpless and sad... Sometimes it is hard to see the sky because of sky scrappers.

Few weeks after I arrived I was brave enough to hop onto Havatas (nonstop bus, picks up from Sabiha Gokcen Airport and arrives to Taksim, it runs every hour and it is faster and cheaper! than driving own car, only 50 minutes for 10TL) I went to European side, and could not recognise it, how much can a city change in only one year...While I was walking to the metro station, at one point I felt claustrophobic, and sadness covered me. I looked around, suddenly felt very helpless and alone. Could not recognise where exactly I was. I was surrounded by people who seemed like they were all late for something, their faces did not show any sign of emotion...Than I noticed I was in the middle of Taksim square, which became one ugly concrete! (little info, Taksim is the area where historical Gezi demonstrations took place last year). Obviously, city governor kept his promise, and built the ugliest walkway I have ever seen in my life! There were cheap looking mid size pots sitting in the middle, with few plants in them that looked like they were trying to stay alive in this ugliness! I thought 'this is got to be a joke!' With one senseless and arrogant move, ancient Taksim area became dull and soulless place...It lost its charm and character forever...

The city is developing that's for sure, but I hope sooner rather than later government and city governor will stop this, otherwise this beautiful ancient never sleeping city will become one big concrete megapol...

The funniest thing is government advertise this as 'the new Dubai'!  I even saw one of the mall named as 'Mall of Istanbul', what a creativity! Dubai has a mall with almost same design named 'Mall of Emirates!'  I can't help it, this makes me ask 'Why would you want to change Istanbul's unique character and imitate somebody Else's success story, can not you create your own'??

There are newly opened shopping malls in every corner, seems like it is never enough...On the other hand there are not as many parks, playgrounds and green areas. Even mother nature shows red lag all of these, this summer there were more than 5 small size tornadoes in Istanbul. Locals were all shocked and scared, people did not know what to do, they were just frozen when it happened. Thankfully no body was injured. There was also water shortage, local news were saying all dams in Istanbul were in lowest level after 50 years. Are not all this say something??

Too much politics:) But at the same time, I want to be honest and open in my pieces/blogs either it is about Kenya, Turkey or somewhere else.

Two weeks break at the coast in Turkey

With only few exceptions, last 13 years no matter where we lived we spent our summer vacations in Turkey. Not only our parents live in Turkey we also enjoy very much Istanbul and coastal towns.

Like past years, we went to Belek, Antalya. After we had our first child, we opted to spend our vacations in all-inclusive child friendly resorts where you never worry about what to eat and where to eat. There are tons of fun activities for children ageing 2-15 years old. Don't we all say 'Happy child happy mom and dad:).

Turkey is home for thousands of hotels and resorts, they range two to five stars. Depending on your budget you can stay either at B&B or all inclusive hotels.

One of my hobby is read and search on the internet for resorts, boutique hotels or tiny B&B. Once we decide on our destination, I start my research right away. I have a list of websites that never change, like Expedia, Tripadvisor,  Booking, ETS (Turkish travel agency), Kayak, live forums, and hotel websites. Sometimes I feel like I should have been a travel agent! But seriously, I once read 'you gotta to do what you like to be successful'. Anyways.

This was our fourth stay at Belek area. Each and every visit we stayed at different resorts. So far, we vacationed at Rixos Belek, Hilton Dalaman Golf&Spa, Cornelia Golf&Spa, and very recently at Voyage Belek.

Let me give little bit of info about Belek: Belek, holiday riviera in Antalya Province, is one of the most popular touristic destination in Turkey. This cute little town is home for two to five stars hotels that serve every budget. Belek is only 40 minutes drive from downtown Antalya. Visitors have many transportation options, bus to taxi to rental cars. Busses are very reliable, depending on your destination taxi fees are also fixed and they are displayed openly at Antalya Airport. Last few years,
Belek has also made quite a name for its championship golf courses not only in Middle East and also in Europe. The climate is very pleasant throughout the year, high season starts around May till October. The temperature can get as high as 40 C degrees! Make sure you pack lots of sunscreens!!!!

Belek has also home for historical sites, Hellenistic city Perge which is rated second after Ephesus and great Amphitheatre Aspendos,  can still hold up to 15,000 people! The ancient Aspendos still hosts many ballet and opera festivals. The Roman ruins at Perge is also one of the best preserved archaeological site. All the beaches are blue flag, and all of them provide on site parking, showers, changing rooms and clean toilets, majority of them free of charge to the public with few exceptions.

If you choose to stay in one of these all inclusive hotels, you never get to bother to go out, because all hotels offer their own entertaining options throughout the day, aqua gym to yoga to midnight parties. So there is something for everyone. If you ever plan to go to Belek, I advise you to read and search enough to get a sense what you really want from your stay.

Tourists mostly use air travel to get to Belek, majority airlines either fly via Istanbul or direct from
Russia or some European cities.

Highest season starts right after school closes, so by the end of June till September nightly rates are much higher. But if you are flexible with your dates, it makes a huge difference to stay during months of May,  June, September or October. Reservations are made months ahead, and all hotels work in full capacity. So if you ever stay at one of these hotels do not be surprised of high volume!