"Всё включено" или отдых в Турции "All inclusive" or vacation in Turkey

Rested from 20 to 31 May, as always, a large company. The hotel was chosen based on photos of the area, the presence of water slides and swimming pools, sports. Despite the occupancy of the hotel (90% - for the uninitiated - it's 1.300 vacationers in May! Albeit in terms of such a large area) and something else, in principle, I liked the rest.

Special thanks to Guest Relation Manager Tatiana Demircioglu (Tati) doing a great job, despite the abundance of all kinds of tourists! We were ready to wait for the rooms to be ready, as we arrived before noon, when many rooms were not only not cleaned, but simply not yet vacated by departing tourists, and only managed to settle in a cool and spacious lobby, as we were offered a choice of several rooms (even if they haven't been cleaned yet! - they were still removed while we had a wonderful lunch on the covered terrace of the main restaurant).

Of the proposed, of course, we chose a suite (three-room) in bungalow Lily and were very pleased with their choice. The children (two teenage boys) were housed in a separate room than they were, and we were happy. In the evening we were sent to the rooms for a bottle of wine and a basket of fruit, which was also very nice.

That same evening, we explored almost everything at once, comparing it with the reviews we read on the Internet, signed up for a la carte restaurants. And the next morning, when they came to an introductory meeting with hotel guides, they already knew what they wanted and immediately signed up for excursions, which were planned at home in Ukraine. It was possible to save and travel not with Turtess, but after reading about the unflattering reviews about the lack of comfort in non-hotel transport, I was afraid to ride in such heat without air conditioning and medical care (they warn about this at a meeting).
Indeed, as has been repeatedly written, the tours take you not only to the sights, but also to the large shopping malls of the hotel's partners - sellers of gold and jewelry, leather and fur, sweets, onyx and wines. And there really is 2-4 times more expensive than in the usual bazaar, but the quality is better, and you can bargain there, and you need to do what we did everywhere, just maybe you should not buy things that can be bought at the bazaar.

Souvenirs home - trinkets, jewelry, jewelry, spices, sweets and rags - we walked and bought at the bazaar opposite the neighboring hotels Dolphin and Botanist, which is open from morning to evening, but, in my opinion, only on Tuesdays and Fridays, and where prices cheaper not only in comparison with shopping malls, but also the nearest shops and supermarkets.
Negative impression was left from the conversation with the hotel guide Birjan after the last night he was deceived by staff from the attractions and in the oleander bushes was knocked off his feet and kicked the eldest of our boys (Russian). He was saved by the fact that he did not become a hero, but simply covered his face with his hands and loudly called for help, familiar Russian guys ran to his cries, who called us to the victim, and Turkish hooligans withdrew, staff, left by car.

And then we saw the inside of Turkish hospitality - no one could understand us in Russian, English or German, the child was not given medical care for an hour and a half, not allowed to call from the hotel phone, and did not report the consul's phone (had to find out through call to Moscow), with great difficulty we were able to call the gendarmes, in addition to misunderstanding outraged statements: security guards that the incident "did not happen on the hotel and they are not responsible", as it turns out, children cars, etc. , it turns out they are very risky with their health, but why do not fence the area and do not make appropriate statements, what about the same street guides? ); hotel guide Birjan, that "only we are responsible for our children, not the animators, when the children are left in their care. "
But what happened was the result of the loss of the Turks in a football match organized by animators, between Russian, Ukrainian and Turkish teenagers and young men, just not everyone can shake hands without resentment after losing. I write this because, as if because of my 12-year-old son, you can say it all started, he was very good in the game: he circled a lot and scored even one goal, because of which he was attacked by a young Turk, and, had it not been for the intervention of his Russian cousin, who was eventually injured four hours later, the match could have ended in an international brawl right on the football field in the afternoon.

Although I am a Ukrainian and have nothing to do with the Russian consul in Alanya, but if it were not for his active help, the trial took exactly five (!
) hours - from 21 to three o'clock at night, and much more, especially since after we called him (and absolutely without any help from the Turkish side), the attitude of hotel staff has changed significantly: what nonsense - Hotel guide Birjan, who is called upon to find consensus on any incident between the hotel and tourists, not only ironically said that "we will not find anyone at the consulate at such a later time", but also threatened that "if we call the gendarmes, the victim will be taken alone. parents, to the site, because he is an adult under Turkish law, and they will keep him there all night and that's at best "(! ), and he translated our negotiations with the gendarme knowingly distorting the meaning or simply not telling.

I had to call the consul more than once for consultations or just his direct communication with the gendarme about the statement, because it is written in Turkish, and we sign it, we do not know the language and rely only on the translator-guide, but with this attitude of the hotel guide to tourists what kind of trust we can talk about! How do I know how the guide translated my words to the gendarme and how correctly he translated them for us later before signing the document! ?
In general, a very unpleasant situation, but this case could not be ignored, this is the opinion not only of members of our company, but our hotel acquaintances, whose children were unwitting witnesses to the beating, because the attitude of Turks to our tourist must change radically, it is more rude, I would say, than to the same Germans, although the Turks receive money from our holiday (take at least this hotel) ten times more, at least, but the service allows themselves things not proclaimed in the prospectuses and descriptions. Yes, we noticed that many Germans are resting again (on orange bracelets) and therefore the attitude to regular customers is different, but agree, not very nice to watch when a third of "our" vacationers rush to dinner in search of a free table in the main restaurant, and German tourists have reserved tables and not even one, not two, and not three.
We got out of this situation simply - gathered enough food and wine and went to dinner in the same gazebo that rested and had lunch in the afternoon, in nature, but what to do? After all, appealing to managers does not give anything, even if they know Russian, they can not create additional places out of thin air.
During the day there is no such excitement around the food, because in addition to the main restaurant in the area there are bars, baked cakes, bagels and Turkish-style pizza (at the beginning of our holiday in bars-cafes served during the day french fries and baked potatoes with cheese plus a variety of snacks and salads - something like McDonald's or "fast food", but then in a restaurant that plays the role of sea and Italian a la carte in the evening, opened a branch of the main, but with a significantly limited range).

In the evening, all these additional food outlets are gone, restaurants close in advance and start preparing for the evening (it should be noted that the choice of first courses, appetizers, salads, side dishes, desserts is usually limited to one item, except for meat or fish main course , so it is very funny to read about a la carte restaurants), and all the internationally gathered and starving international people dream of having dinner on time, not in an hour and a half or two, when space becomes available. And this observation applies not only to ours, but also to non-Russian-speaking people in the queues for meat dishes and favorite french fries, who have accumulated no less, and sometimes even more, food, which is especially loved by vacationers! So it's just a bad organization of food for tourists and such a Turkish "all inclusive".
I'm not talking about alcohol - we, warned by the reviews, packed our duty free in Kiev, but when our strong half ran out of whiskey, they could not drink brandy, even despite my husband's childhood love for pertussis, and Turkish "vodka" is about if our vodka is half diluted with water, and it is not diluted by bartenders, as it was written in some reviews (after all, all bottles with a dispenser! ), it is such a Turkish standard or such an economical purchase, so we happily drank Ephesus beer and local dry red and white wine (very good), as well as a very common cocktail at the hotel "Coca-Cola + vodka", and only in front of the restaurant were distracted by their own aperitif with a martini or late in the evening to play dice tasted Bailey or Sheridan.
To sum up, having paid less than $ 60 a day per person, including flight, insurance, accommodation and meals, we had a pretty good rest. It is a pity that the incident last night ruined the memory of the holiday. The main conclusion of my first communication with Turkey: the Turks are with you - whether in a hotel, or at a casual bazaar, or in a huge shopping center - "like a painted bag" just as long as there is hope to benefit from you or simply put, loot. But we will go to Turkey, I think, we will only try the Aegean coast (there the service is higher and much closer to world-famous historical places), and the hotel can be even 3 * or 4 *, because surprisingly there are almost no 5 * hotels.