Taking holidays to Turkey - with a difference

Having spent the last 15 years taking holidays in Turkey my wife and I are always looking for a nice place to relax and escape the hordes of Brits and Russians that descend on Turkeys beach resorts during the summer months. Both of us are in the service industry so we are always desperate to "get away from it all". Why Holidays to Turkey all the time I hear you say? Well, my wife is Turkish and she wants to go there at least once a year so I don't really have much choice in the matter. She always has an excuse to go whether its visiting family or friends theirs always some one she hasn't seen for a while. This year we decided on a cheap family holiday and chose to visita friend who runs a camp site in a secluded valley about 20 miles away from the nearest major holiday town of Fethiye. Due to the fact of us travelling with our 1 year old son we decided to go on a schedule flight from London Gatwick to Dalaman in Turkey. The airline we chose on this occasion was an obscure schedule airline called Cyprus Turkish airlines which I had never flown with or heard of. The reason we chose to fly with them is that they offer a whooping 25 kilograms of luggage per person, where a lot of the cheap holiday charters to Turkey offer a tiny allowance of only 15 kilograms due to the fact we were well and truly stung the previous year, when we thought we had purchased a cheap flight to Turkey only to find that we had to pay £90 pounds worth of excess luggage (the flight only cost £123) - not a pleasant start to our first family holiday! This time we done our research and I must admit it paid off even though we paid a lot more we had free food and drink on board which a lot of the cheap holiday flights do not offer. Infact we were 10 kilos over our allowance due to the fact my wife likes to take most of our fixtures and fittings from our family home to our family holiday.

The flight was pleasant enough, no inflight entertainment but who needs that with a 1 year old baby in tow. On arrival to Dalaman we we picked up by a Turkish guy called Ahmed in a Massive 4x4 which looked like something out of monster trucks. It was a very pleasant drive to a point! We drove through beautiful Turkish holiday resorts such as Gocek, Calis beach, Fethiye and Olu-Deniz. After the holiday resort of Oludeniz the road turned in to a dust track and then its heart in your mouth time. The road between Oludeniz and Kabak (the campsite) is carved in to the side of huge cliffs 300 metres above sea level with no barriers to stop vehicles from plunging in to the azure sea below. Thankfully our driver could see the terror in our eyes and drove very calmly and carefully. On arrival to Kabak bay our driver let the 4x4 kick in and we started to descend using no more than a donkey track in the pitch black.

Once we arrived we were shown to our accommodation which was a consisted of a wooden hut with a balcony and also the added bonus of a shower and toilet (which we paid extra for) Turan camp consists of 16 bungalows 6 of which have shower and toilet facilities. My first night was spent eradicating our mosquito problem with my barehands. I finally managed to sleep and I was greeted by the most manigficvent view in the morning there I saw the beach with towering mountains all around us, it was truly awe inspiring. Unfortunatly this place does really no the meaning of health and safety on we were constantly chasing our baby boy around who always seem to find the most dangerous areas to play in and to top things off he came out in chicken pox on our second day. Kabak bay is on the ancient Lycian way which is a path a long the southwestrn coast line of Turkey. My plan was to walk some of it, but no chance, my days were spent looking after baby and keeping him out the sun and away from danger. Although we were in a truly amazing place it was not what I had in mind for a cheap family holiday. After 6 days the chicken spots had started to fade and my wife and I thought enough is enough and decided to check in to an All Inclusive family holiday resort in near Fethiye.

I would like to return there someday but defiantly with out the kids. So looks like I will be in my late fifties before I can enjoy an alternative holiday. So its All Inclusive holiday villages for the next 15 years or so...shame.