Turkish Delight -- Kemer, Turkey

Just got back home to Israel from an awesome time in Turkey. A friend invited me on a three-day trip to the all-inclusive beach resort, Limak Limra, on Turkey's southern coast in the town of Kemer.

I had been at one of these all-inclusive Turkey resorts last summer so I wasn't about to pass up another opportunity to enjoy the endless sun, the all-you-can-eat buffets, open bars, and the cheesy animation team that tries so hard to pump up the many Russian and German guests with song, dance, and relay games.

We were lucky enough to be traveling with my friend's company--Israel's Russian TV station, Channel 9, and were thus able to successfully communicate with hotel staff. Russian is the new English in Turkey as it turns out. My friend and I were literally the ONLY native English speakers at the whole place, which allowed us to relish happily in the newfound exoticness of our mother tongue. We took advantage of our secret language to discuss or joke about amusing things (and amusing Russians) throughout the weekend.

The first time I came to the area I came with my boyfriend for a romantic getaway for a week and was able to spend a day in the city of Antalya. I highly recommend it as it's a stunning little city with lots of photo opportunities, a colorful harbor, cliffs with waterfalls lining the Mediterranean coast, parks, and even a lively Bazaar in the center of town with plenty of Hookahs, funky Turkish elf-like shoes, Turkish Delight, rugs, pashminas, and backgammon boards.

This trip was a short three days and we therefore decided to spend it relaxing by the pool and not bothering ourselves with anything else other than alcoholic beverage decisions. Our days at the resort consisted of waking up, eating a breakfast of eggs, cheeses, and pastries if we were in the mood, and then heading down to the pool to snag good seats near the DJ to enjoy the techno melodies flowing throughout the day. We greased up with SPF 30 and let the sun work its magic. With hourly dips in one of the several gorgeous pools, we even managed to get a few underwater tea parties in as our seven year-old selves resurfaced with the smell of chlorine. Lunchtime came and we'd make an appearance at the dining area, grab a quick bite (since the food was rather mediocre), and head back to the pool to rest from our ever-so-tiring holiday in paradise.

After getting a few chapters of reading in by the water, sipping poolside vodkas, doing some major people watching, and strolling along the rocky beach to see if we were missing any action on that side of the resort, we'd retire to our rooms to beautify ourselves for dinner. Our casual Israeli mentality clashed with the elegance-first mindset of our Russian counterparts and as we showed up to dinner in shorts, tanks, flip-flops, and maybe some Aloe-Vera after-sun cream on our faces serving as our only beautifying product. The Russian guests arrived decked out in cleavage-bearing evening gowns, glamorous up-doos, three-inch animal-print stilettos and enough makeup for a photo shoot.

At dinner though, we couldn't help but wonder: Where were we? And why does this food taste so bad? It turns out that our American/Israeli taste buds are much more high-maintenance than those of the Russians and Germans who seemed to find joy in the most tasteless food I had ever eaten in my life. I didn't find one thing that had any dominant flavor or spiciness and was wondering why all the amazing Turkish food that I'd heard so much about failed to make an appearance. All the food was bland, boring, and, well, quite European if I may say so. And thus, I ate more french fries smothered in ketchup and mayonnaise in this 3 day period than I can remember having consumed for the past several years. So healthy!

Aside from the food, my second time in Southern Turkey was very enjoyable and I even came back with a golden tan, some sun-kissed highlights and a few boxes of Turkish Delight for the boyfriend and his family. Hint: Whenever visiting Turkey you must bring back Turkish Delight (Lokum)--it's a gooey Turkish sweet made from starch and sugar, comes in multiple flavors and usually goes over pretty well as a souvenir.

A resort holiday to Kemer can be accompanied by a longer stay in the breathtaking city of Istanbul and several other stops to some of Turkey's most famous and most beautiful sites like Pamukkale, Bodrum, and Izmir. I've been told the train system is pretty doable, so those of you who have not yet made it to Turkey should definitely consider adding it to your list!

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Melissa Field, born and raised in LA, recently relocated to Tel Aviv after finishing her MA in International Affairs, Middle East Studies in Washington DC. She spends her time working, beaching, shopping, traveling and attempting to master the Hebrew language. In addition to having lived in the US and Israel, Melissa has also lived in Madrid and London and has traveled much of Europe and parts of Asia and Africa. She's got her eye on China next.

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Comments

[jamie]

Hi There!

I am going to Tel aviv for 3 weeks and will be traveling alone. Any tips?

Thanks,

Jamie