were off to the babadan on the 5th to, were a family of six plus the bro in law and his wife and kid (hopefully lose him in the first couple of days ). but we went to icmeler 2 years ago and took £1200 and had great meals and brought back loads of pressies and still had money left over. we used the bakers on a moring for fresh bread lovely with butter then went to the tansas for meat and cheese for snacks on an afternoon.

you will have a great time look out for a tattoo'ed geordie and 4 kids

I think it's cheaper to eat out....

we used the bread to fill the kids, we went out for a meal every night and had a good feed plus drinks

Please don't bring any English food with you..... If you can't afford to eat out every night just go into Gima or Tansas or Migros and pick something up to cook.. That would work out to be a lot cheaper than buying that stuff in the UK and bringing it out with you. Plus you can bring more clothes and shoes with you as you would have more room in your luggage

I agree you can get lots of things in the supermarkets in Turkey.

My children seem to need feeding 24 hours!!
What local restaraunts would you recomend?

it would depend if you and the kids have any particular fancies my family sometimes bring pot noodles, cheese, tea bags. yes you can buy turksih brands of these but not english. if you want me pm with any of yur fancies i will tell if you can get them here and how much.

i miss most gadburys chocolate, mature cheese, salad cream and tea bags.

Tokmak, I know what you mean about missing some of the British food when you live out here.. But when you are only here on a holiday for a couple of weeks?? You can surely live without all those things when you are on holiday for a short time...

P.S. If you miss mature chesse why don't you get some eski kasar? Its not the same stuff but pretty similar...

Talking of cheese-is all Turkish cheese sheep/goat?? - I have tried a few sorts over here and just cant seem to get to like it and I do like my cheese!
Jules

No, theres cow's cheese (which I prefer myself), sheep, sheep/cow mixed and goats cheese.

Wondered what cooking facilities etc are like.Any tips??
Also any foods you cant get over there.

Cooking facilities are usually minimal - two rings and a grill in most cases (I dont know the Babadan)

I know what you mean about trying to fill kids up - I have a 17 y/o step son and theres no filling him
When we go self catering, DH cant do without an egg and bacon or sausage butty mid morning, so I take enough to do us the two weeks,frozen and packed into a freezer bag. Eggs are pennies in Turkey, so is bread (and its to die for) We also buy fruit to fill up on in the day, might not be "pretty" but it tastes like fruit should, as do the tomatoes, cucumbers etc. You wont get ham and the children may not like the cheese, but you can get the equivilent of laughing cow, tuna etc to make up sarnies to keep them going. And Tanas have a lovely bakery dept - you have to try the bakalava. Turkish icecream is also really good and pretty cheap as well and theres a good selection of yoghurts etc

Generally you will find you can buy most things you are used to,just imported goods are more expensive then here so try to stick to Turkish brands

Eating out needn't be expensive in Icmeler - you could try somewhere like the Erdem Cafe down on the seafront next to the Aqua hotel - food's good there and very reasonably priced (I'm sure drinks are also a little cheaper there too - but i'm usually viewing the bill through a slight Efes haze )
But even places like the Chef, Venice and Old Famous Kitchen aren't that expensive, it depends on what you're ordering really.
And don't forget in most places you get the free mezzes starter - I very rarely feel the need a dessert!

hayal,

cant eat eski peynir at all its not like english mature plus i have oly seen it in white cheese and i cant eat white cheese anything goats or sheep im alergic too.

i could just eat a mature chedder cheese sandwich and saladcream now

Sorry if this is a bit off topic but I know there are different kinds of white cheese (beyaz peynir) There is one that I really like it is very smooth, creamyand mild not crumbly and not as sharp as a lot of the cheese Does anyone know the name of it? I would love to buy some to bring home this year
Fi

glad i'm not the only one who likes cheese and salad cream sarnies.sioux.

try chicken mudurnos in icmeler the food is great and really reasonable .aaall freshly cooked

sioux

i could eat them all day but cant find salad cream anywhere in icmeler or marmaris, last year i could was well expensive 9ytl a bottle and as for cheese no chance. wel not one i like or can eat here anyway

roll on when my mom comes

we go self catering and i have to say that we take things like coffe, tea, sugar, cereal, cheese and pot noodle, packets of pasta, supernoodles etc. we eat out most days, but sometimes the kids are just not hungry and just want a little snack, so we buy bread and fruit and they eat what we bring perhaps for a supper or lunch, they pack easily and then we have an extra bag to bring lots of goodies we've bought back.