I had a phone call from my mum and dad who are staying at the Manuela after I said what a great time we had in july there. They said it is still scorching hot and they love Bitez and the friendly staff at the hotel.
another satisfied customer!!!!
mel.

Arrived Manchester Airport Sat. 3rd Sept. for 18.50 flight to Bodrum. Were told flight was postponed untill 07.30 Sunday. (Half a day knocked off our 1 week stay)
On arrival at Manuela, Ersun on reception said that we were staying across the road in the Safir Hotel. We were taken there by one of the staff, and shown our room. It was not what we had paid for - very small and shabby - so we went back to Ersun and told him so. He was very apologetic and said that if we would stay the night in that room he would find us one in the Manuela at 1pm the following day, and said that we could have dinner on the house that evening.
So, we unpacked and stayed there the one night, repacked the following day (Monday) had a late breakfast and went to reception at one o'clock. We were shown our room at two thirty (which was very nice) unpacked again and went to the Temple Bar, where Johnny bought us a drink or two to make up for the disruption of our holiday.
Our one week holiday then started, and it was great. The staff were very friendly and the evenings were entertaining. Food in Manuela was very good (we ate there every evening except one)
Each day we walked the length of Bitez, stopped at First stop for a drink and to see if we could find Prawn, which we did eventually, and also Del and his wife. Really enjoyed meeting them.
Bitez and the Bodrum area has changed a lot since we first visited there 9 years ago. Then it was very rural. But Bitez is just right now, we love it.
The weather was perfect, and we had a very relaxing 'four days' holiday.
Hope to go back in May, (Mike won the raffle for a free week at the Manuela) Hope we manage to get a full week next time.
Despite the disruption at the beginning, we were really impressed with Bitez, a wonderful resort and had a great holiday.
Mike and Marn.

We had an 18.30 flight from Stansted on Sunday Sept 4th, premium class which meant that by the time we had finally finished 'faffing about' in the car park (Mister Ron was nearly lynched!) we breezed into the airport and walk straight to the front of the special check in desk.
The flight took off about 19.00 hours and we played the usual game of 'identify the meal etc' until we landed.
My fears about Bodrum airport were completely unfounded. Elaine had put me straight about what to expect and we sailed through, no need for a visa this time and Mister Rons new tacky Turkish football shirt helped no end. I would post the name of the team but I can't spell it - the colours are yellow and reddish though.
The transfer was ok and we arrived at the Sirca Apartments at about 2.30 am. We were shown to our apartment where Dennis pointed out the tea bags and bottle of chilled water in the fridge which was a nice touch.
We had a wonderful week at the Sirca and our week was what i call a full week in that we arrived early monday morning and left late sunday night.
Trying to find our way about was fun! If we turned right when we left the Sirca we walked past the Paloma Apts on our left, then the Nature Hotel also on the left. We were then faced with the Ambrosia Hotel. Opposite outside the Ambrosia we caught dolmuses or taxis to where ever we wanted to go.
Once facing the Ambrosia we went to the left and walked in front of the Hotel down to First Stop restaurant or beyond.
If we fancied a change once we got to the Ambrosia we turned left past the Makumba Gardens and the Manuela(which we never made it into I regret) and we could either continue along the road and cut through to the beach or in the evening walk to the Blue Moon opposite the Red Dragon? and have a meal.
Lots to say about the Sirca - lovely place. 'Mister Ron' - yeah I know say it quickly and think kids tv programme, was amused by the total lack of loo paper never been anywhere that did not supply ps Even the Ronettes had fun!

Two great reports, thanks so much, have to make my mind up now whether to go for it or not!
Shorty

Great reports - you did make me laugh with Mr Ron's car park antics .

Elaine

Er there was a deliberate mistake in my last posting, the turn left when facing the Ambrosia Hotel to go to the Makumba Gardens and Manuela was infact my other left which as Mister Ron has so kindly pointed out is infact my right!

Did anyone come across the Smallworld Hotel in Bitez, found a good price with Med Hotels and the only reviews I can find are on holidays uncovered, but all are good.

Hi, all. Just got back from Bitez. Arrived home about 6.30 and got my first phone call from Turkey at 9.45pm!!!
We had a great time, as usual, doing not much of anything. Will post a report on the hotel pages later as we were a little disappointed (to say the least).
What Marn (as in Mikenmarn) did not tell you all was that she only found me by asking Chris (First Stop) about the short lady with the big hat and he said 'You mean Pat'!! Enough said..... I then spent ages looking at what men had written on their hats as she told me that Del wore one with the word Goa on it! Big problem was that I thought she meant a baseball cap (and apparently it isn't) and I also thought the word was spelt 'Goer' - well, he could have been advertising, or bragging!! Sorry to say I never did find him, but I got lots of strange looks from various men. We met crockergirl's mum and dad after I accosted them in the street and said "are you English?" "Yes..." ( this from a very worried looking lady), "are you staying at the Manuela?" "Yes!!..." from a even more worried looking lady, "Do you have a daughter called Mel?" - about now I think she was considering calling the police - "Yes?!?!" "Hi," said me, "I am Prawn and I chat to her on the net" Sighs of relief all round and then we got on great - really nice people - and had a drink later in the week.

Hi Prawn,

Glad to have you back. Hope you and SIR continued to have a good time. Talk to you later.

Marn.

Hi Prawn,
glad you had a good time,mum phoned me from Bitez to say that they had met you already,How funny!they had'nt had a drink with you then though.
they are loving Bitez by the sound of it and say that a few people have come up and said are you Mels mum and dad? after us having stayed in July.How friendly is that?
I look forward to your Hotel report,where did you stay again/
Mel.

Prawn,
sorry but wifey made me ditch the Goa(not Goer!!) hat.
Surprised Chris at the first stop didn't didn't wise me up after I accosted a Danish Lady in the mistaken impression that SHE was "Prawn"
Can you imagine what it is like to go around asking strange ladies "excuse me are you the prawn?"
Glad to hear that you did meet Mick and Marne, i also managed to meet with Micklemuck and his good lady (Hi to you all if you read this) for a short while. Sad to be home . but the good news is , we've booked for next year allready. Less than eighteen hours after returning (is this a record?).
report on the Okaliptus to follow .
First time in Bitez after several hols in other Turkish areas, by far the BEST
report on Okaliptus added in "Hotels"
del949

Sorry, Del, but the thought of you 'molesting' Danish women is soooo funny! Maybe it was before Chris knew that I was 'prawn' - he only learned my nickname after Marne asked for me. You should have stuck with the hat!!!
Glad you enjoyed Bitez - we hope to be back there next year too(but not to the Orion).

Briar, as you have been before I won't go through the full list

the Blue Moon was good,opposite the Red Dragon, especially the Lamb Kebab in the clay pot.
the March Cats in the market place for Turkish cuisine was good, you will have to reserve a table (maybe not if going now), this was a bit dearer than the others.
The only one that dissapointed was the red Dragon, for my money this was really overated in other posts.
The four seasons next door to First stop was good also.
In fact they are all good except Red D (could have been an"off night")
Del

Hi Briar,
just shows its down to personal taste,we had a couple of good meals in the red dragon although I wasn't too keen on the location but we didn't enjoy the four seasons.We had a lovely meal in the Istanbul but it was quite pricey.
when are you off ? you lucky girl.Have you booked flights yet? because i've seen some good ones with a1 travel (last week stanstead to Bodrum £96)
happy hols,Mel
p.s we took Oktay drink which wasn't a problem just a bit cheeky,my mum and dad weren't asked to take any they must have drunk the bar dry!!

Hi Briar, have a lovely time ,Please send my regards to Oktay and the gang especially yalmus(bad spelling , but the one that does the tricks, we loved him.)I wish your husband good health bless him, and a very happy " romantic" wedding anniversary by the beautiful Bitez beach.
Mel

Briar - hope you have a lovely time. I can also recommend the Yelken - it is just up past the mosque opposite the Comfort Hotel. They do great pide! and they also have a pastry shop (can't spell the posh word) with great cakes and ice-creams.

Just had a conversation with my mum who has just spent a fortnight in Bitez at the Manuela and has had a great time. She too loved the friendly atmosphere and the staff at the hotel.
She said her only complaint would be that they had too much football on (one day it was on all night from 2 in the afternoon!) that didn't happen when we stayed there I suppose it depends when you go.
She went on Liz and Ahmets boat trip and loved it so much that they booked again the second week.They then tried to book again but it was full! its a great trip because there is only a party of 8 people we had it to ourselves (10 people) she said because we all knew each other it would be ok but usually she keeps it down to 8.
mum said the Dalyan trip turned out a disaster, really badly organised and a waste of a day finishing up at the dreaded carpet factory!!
She found a good little resturant in one of the squares called the euro bar? or something like that.It wasn't much to look at but the food was typically Turkish and very good.
They met"Prawn" and hubby from ht and report back what charming lovely people they are, mum said she felt she had known prawn for ages.
another satisfied customer.

I have some photo's that I took at the Manuela, and in Bitez in June, and I don't know how to post them on the forum.

Any help will be appreciated.

we told the staff at the Blue Moon that we were trying to avoid football on the big screen.... so they put on dvd's of Mr Bean instead.... all the time, time after time !!!!

del