We've just got back from an amazing holiday in Olu Deniz.
It is stunningly beautiful, the people are friendly and helpful (not pushy!), our hotel, the Olu Deniz Resort, was fantastic and there was so much to do I'm already booking again!
Olu Deniz itself consists of a long stretch of beautiful beach with the famous blue lagoon at one end. It takes about 10 minutes to walk from one end to the other and along this are shops (including Spice Boy who is a genious and if you have a head ache, sore throat, insect bites, whatever, he will make you something up at a good cost to get you better), bars and tour operators. The main street stretches up from the middle where there are many more shops, restuarants and bars. We booked most of our trips with Jason at Activities Unlimited who was really nice and helpful and the trips where great but we found out afterwards he then books through Focus Travel who have a shop on the same stretch at slightly cheaper prices - either one though are excellent. They turned up on time every time and we had fantastic days out at really good prices. Most of the trips had professional photographers on who snap you all day in really natural settings, plus they get all the scenary too so you can enjoy yourself without trying to get your camera out every 2 minutes and they sell you the cd with all your pics for £20-£30. We were really happy with the pics, they are very proffessional and well worth the money! Our 1st trip (on Sunday) was Dolphin Park stopping off at kas and kalkan on the way. We were picked up at 8.15am. I think the trip itself was £20 but we wanted to swim with the dolphins and that was an extra £50 for about 15-20mins in the water. An amazing experience and great fun but the people that own they dolphin park charge you 15 lira to take photos and this was the only trip that didn't have a pro photographer on it. Lunch was included and we stopped at a nice restaurant in Kalkan. It was really friendly and they gave us so much food to choose from.
Next day (monday) we took the Dalyan/turtle beach trip (£18) again picked up at 8.15am by Ata - the best tour guide in the world! (book with focus and you should get him) its a short coach ride then a river cruise to the mud baths. These where great, really hot and they didnt stink as bad as people say. They also have sulphur baths here which make your skin feel amazing! Again we had lunch and then set off for turtle beach. The beach is gorgeous and the water is warm and its worth taking a snorkle. It stays really shallow a really long way out and with a snorkle you can see lots of turtle eggs and nests and some lovely fish and maybe a turtle. We didnt see any turtles that day BUT in the lagoon back by the hotel we did see a huge logger head turtle and we got pics of him!! it was so amazing! On the way home from the beach we stopped at the stalk cafe - make sure you check out the resident stalk here! they also had ostriches here and like a mini zoo which was a bit odd but nice. We did have a photographer on this trip and I came home with over 300 great pics!
Tuesday is market day in Fethiye and worth getting the dolmus into town - to be honest, it wasnt that great and we struggled to buy anything. Make sure if you are buying you venture into the middle of the market - the stalls round the edge charge alot more and when you get further in the same stuff is half the price. We had a turkish bath later that afternoon which is a must if you go turkey and all the tour operators offer a free turkish bath if you book 2 trips with them.
Wednesday we did the jeep safari, about £16 this is good fun but its windy and bumpy and you dont get to stop long anywhere. (There is another option to do the same trip but on coach) 1st stop was Tlos, we only had 5 minutes here and literally looked at it from the road then went onto Yakapark, a really amazing bar/resaurant/trout farm. You can stroke the baby trout here which are in a kind of shallow channel running the legnth of the bar, get a beer and have fun. 30mins here then off to saklikent Gorge, again breath taking and a must see! You're given a choice here of Rafting down the river (an extra £15) or getting the jeep back down - i opted for rafting! It was good fun and its only 1ft deep so not dangerous. They then took us to "mud baths" or should i say the side of the river - which is freezing cold ice water coming down from the mountains! it was hilarious though watching all the English people caking themselves in river mud and even though it was cold, i certainly would do it again! Again, we had a proffesional photographer snapping us all day and the pics are great - 200plus.
Thursday, Paragliding!!! Oh my god, this was the best experience i have ever had! We booked with Re Action (located on beach front nxt to landing area) we had heard some terrible reports about other companys and spoke to people who only got 20-30 min in the air. They paid for what they got. Re Action charge £60 and we were up for almost 1 hour! They are very proffesional and all of their pilots are fantastic pilots. We spoke to British pilots who come over and will only fly with Re Action because they are the best. They explain everything and reassure you all the time. It takes 50 mins to get to the top of the mountain in the jeep, the pilots are with you all this time, talkin to you and having fun. At the top, dont worry, there are no sheer drops! you stop at a large flat like rocky field with no grass. your pilot will help you put on your "space suit" and you can watch others take off - you only need to run a little bit then your gently lifted up by the wind - its really smooth and honestly, at no point do you ever go near the edge. i am such a wimp and wont go on roller coasters but this i loved! the pilot talks to you and points out all differnent landmarks during the flight, i was even brave enough to do a few stunts, but then I had Mahonne as my pilot - one of the best pilots in the world and a really funny, generous and amazing guy with a good soul and cracking sense of humour and contagious laugh. This guy really is the best and if your lucky enough to fly with him you should be really honoured. You dont have to do any stunts and can go for a smooth slow glide but see how you feel once your up, the landing is easy and the pilot does all the work really. you can take a camera or camcorder with you or they will do you pro shots for £15 and the pilot can film you whilst flying about £23, but its up to you, you can do your own if you want.
Unfortunately, this was all we had time for. We had to fly home the next day, but i am booking again because there was so much more to do, we had such a good time, we had huge smiles on our faces all week and were so touched by all the amazing people we met. Everyone was so friendly. I ended up coming home with half my money because everything was so cheap, i think all week, including trips, drinks, souveniers, presents, photos and 800 cigerettes i spent maybe £300 tops. Alot of people do prefere English money though and all the shops and tour operators only wanted English £££, if you did pay in lira it worked out slightly more so its worth taking mainly english money.
Olu deniz is the best place i have ever been and if your thinking of booking, book. If you've booked already, have an amazing time and if you want any info, feel free to contact me.
