Icmeler - family time

As part of my 60th birthday celebrations Hubby and I, along with our son, his girlfriend, our daughter and her hubby, went on holiday to Sea Star hotel in Icmeler, Turkey. We have been many times but it was a first for the others.

The journey there was the usual holiday journey; airport, plane and transfer. Turkey is quite a way so unsurprisingly it was 12 hours door to door but all went well fuelled with a Wetherspoons meal at the airport and in-flight snacks. We had a good flight, a bit of scary turbulence but some fantastic views of London, Dover and the Alps.

Arriving early hours of Monday morning our day was a chill down although a bit difficult as it was 37 degrees. Sea Star is all inclusive so after leisurely brunch we took a short stroll into the town centre to look around. Not much had changed although with new laws the shops no longer displayed goods outside which gave everywhere a quieter feel even in high season. We had a lovely cold beer in one of the beachfront bars, much needed in the heat, before returning to our hotel meeting again for drinks before dinner on the terrace balcony with its amazing views.

After a good, if a bit hot, start to our holiday we planned a trip to Marmaris on the little ferry boat for the next day. Unfortunately our son's girlfriend and our son-in-law were ill overnight, with our son and daughter not feeling great either. Plans changed to a quiet day keeping cool but by the afternoon they were quite unwell.

Things took quite a turn with a doctor coming and them being taken to hospital, both admitted and on infusion medication. As they were being kept in overnight our son and daughter decided to stay with them but later our daughter was also admitted so Hubby and I also stayed at the hospital overnight. The hospital was very good, everyone was well looked after, the staff were very helpful including with all the insurance paperwork. 

Thankfully everyone returned back to the hotel Wednesday afternoon. We have no idea what caused their illness, no-one else was unwell at the hotel and we'd all eaten the same. Wednesday night was a rest for all and with everyone feeling brighter on Thursday we had a fab beach day.

This time it was the sun affect that changed our holiday plans as our son and girlfriend burnt their backs, even with sun lotion; it was hot, over 40 degrees at times. So Friday it was just Hubby and I with our daughter and son-in-law who wandered back into Icmeler, I was on the hunt for some new UGG slippers ... two pairs purchased which will keep me going a few years.

Sea Star looked after us very well, especially when we needed medical help and transport. Our six day holiday was only really three with check out early Saturday morning although our airport transfer wasn't until late afternoon. Sea Star generously gave us all an afternoon check out so we could actually have another half day holiday.

Still feeling sore our son and girlfriend stayed at the hotel but our daughter & son-in-law joined Hubby and me on the ferry boat to Marmaris. It was, as always, a super 30 minute journey across the bay with great views of Sea Star.

The Grand Bizarre in Marmaris has every shop you can imagine, so much temptation to take more things home. With the weather still being high thirties we popped into Baris bar for a drink, our favourite as it's waterfront with all the beautiful yachts alongside, before taking a taxi back to the hotel.

Our journey home came all too quickly with a night flight back with beautiful views of the moon over the Greek Islands.

It was certainly a holiday to remember, a few hiccups but lots of fab times. Things don't always go to plan but being with my family made the holiday very special.

Revisiting Icmeler

Last month we revisited Icmeler staying at the beautiful Sea Star and accompanied by friends who were first time travellers to Turkey. I won't lie the journey was quite long, 12 hours door to door with a flight of over 4 hours and a transfer of nearly 2 hours ... but it is worth every minute!

Our last visit was in May 2018, so much has happened since then, none more upsetting than the forest fire in 2021 which burnt all of the mountain behind the hotel. Luckily it didn't breach the main road but it must have been such a scary experience for those in Icmeler at the time. The brown mountain earth is slowly returning with signs of new growth but it will take a while.

Sea Star is an adults only small hotel, we felt like long lost friends retuning with hugs from many of the staff and a lovely welcome gift in our room. We have actually brought the wine home to enjoy here reminiscing about of Turkish retreat.

Icmeler has everything, if you want loud music and nightlife there are plenty of bars in the town; if you want a stroll along the sea front the promenade stretches right around the bay. Turning away from the town the promenade continues all the way to Marmaris. We took the ferry boar, a half hour journey across the bay with views of all the grand hotels including Sea Star. The boats are quite small, very basic but such fun, the pilots must have been sailing across the bay for many years as they steer the boats in quite a casual manner.

Marmaris itself is a much busier place, lots of bars and restaurants, a grand bazaar where you can buy anything you want. It's a maze of covered walkways where you are often encouraged by the shop owners to buy things you maybe didn't realise you did want, although without any hassle, quite an experience.

We had a great day out wandering around, although it was a little warm with the temeratures over 35°C. Along the harbourside we paused for lunch, only realising after we had sat down that this was the bar Hubby and I had visited before. The super expensive yachts were amazing, as were the pirate themed party boats, we often see (hear) them sailing across the bay out into the open sea.

Taking another small ferry boat out towards the Meditereanan we also visited Turunc, a much smaller place than Icmeler. The journey, sailing on the turquoise sea, is itself amazing as you pass by the many beautiful rock formations. 

Our week's holiday was a chance to relax and with Sea Star being all inclusive the only worry we had was which cocktail to try next. I think between us we tried them all; some were definitely enjoyed more than once but others were most certainly one offs. 

The food was delicious, every meal time there was plenty of choice with chef also preparing food on the outside grill. My favourite was the sea bass, filleted and cooked to perfection, although Turkish night with kebab meat in hand rolled flat bread was also a highlight. Our waiter looked after us really well, reserving a table poolside every evening and knowing exactly which drinks we all preferred. 

It was lovely to be there again, and we will certainly be visiting Sea Star in the future, maybe in a couple of years as we have many more places to visit ... but it is like going home so it won't be too long.

Thank you Sea Star, especially Melis, Saygin our waiter and Mehmet.

Icmeler Sea Star and Turkish Wine

We love Sentido Sea Star hotel in Icmeler, Turkey and it seems they love us too as we were again greeted like family not guests. It was lovely to see some familiar faces amongst the staff, especially Melis, Sercan, Sal and Mehmet.

Our previous three visits have been in October but as we missed going last year we decided to book early and see what Turkey is like in May - as beautiful as ever is the answer. You can read about our 2016 and previous holidays by following this link

This year we decided to try more of the Turkish wine but before my reviews here's a few highlights from our amazing stay at Sea Star.

My sofa for the week - I couldn't ask for a better view 

Turkish coffee with Turkish Delight - I loved this set so much we walked
a mile to a kitchen shop - there is now a set at Maison Hearnden

We took a taxis boat to Marmaris - bit of an adventure as it was a choppy day

Hubby enjoying our taxis ride

Turkish Night - delicious food including this superb kebab,
a huge joint of lamb, and of course baklava for dessert

Looking down from our balcony on a la carte night -
the reserved tables are top side of the pool 

Every mealtime is special when you dine here 

All Inclusive at its best - 24 hour and a
minibar in the room 

Pirate Party Ship cruising by 

A huge thank you to all the staff at Sea Star - we had an amazing holiday and will be returning soon.

So ..... Turkish wine ..........


As returning guests there was a bottle of Kulup and dishes of nuts/fruit in our room when we arrived - it's a lovely welcome. We have had this wine before and on previous years have found it more enjoyable when chilled.

Kulup Kirmizi Sek Sarap is a dry red wine made from Merlot and Alicante Bouchet grapes. At 12% it is light for a red and was a young wine being a 2016 vintage.

In the glass it was a light red with tawny edges, it looked very inviting in the Turkish sun.

Aroma wise we both picked up a sawdust smell, rough sawn wood in a saw mill was the image I had. There was a little fruit but nothing specific and a hint of organic/earthiness but not as strong as Cabernet Franc's aroma.

Lovely light tannins with plenty of plums in its flavour. A medium bodied wine with a lengthy finish holding a little spice. Our welcome wine was very much enjoyed - thank you.

.....

Our first supermarket Turkish wine was Buzbag Klasik 2016 - at today's exchange rate just over £5. A wine blend of Okuzgozu and Bogazkere grapes; the first giving the wine its acidity and the second its tannins.

Okuzogzu is pronounced 'Oh-cooz-goe-zue', its fruit resembles a dark round bulls eye, hence the name. It's high in acidity yet low in alcohol with a delicate softness.

Bogazkere means 'throat burner' - not an appealing name for a wine. This grape has high dense tannin, similar to Tannat, however the tannins do balance out with age giving it a complex dense flavour.

Combining these two grapes produced a superb dry red wine which we really liked. A deep red colour with a strong red currant aroma that had a background of spice.

Buzbag's flavour was full of dark fruits and I was expecting full tannins, surprisingly they were light and more to the front of my mouth. It was quite acidic causing our mouths to water but in a very moreish way. It was a little thin in depth which is understandable at only 12.5%.

....

Thursday night at the hotel is Wine Tasting night - as you'll see from my previous Turkish post it isn't like a wine tasting we have over here, it's a single bottle of rose wine with aperitif glasses for serving.

Dolce Vita produced by Yazgan is a rose wine made from Syrah and Kalecik Karasi. Kalecik is a small village north of Ankara; Kalecik Karasi means 'black from small castle'.

This wine had a beautiful salmon colour with glistening highlights, it's aroma had a little minerality; we both thought of white pebbles. It had peachy highlights in both aroma and flavour, quite dry for a rose with a sharp finish.

As an aperitif this was a delicious wine, I'm not sure I would pair it with food although maybe cheese at the end of a meal.

....

Our final two Turkish wines were Tellibag Carignan & Okuzgozu and Tellibag Sultaniye & Narince; both around £4.00, both around 12% and both with detailed pencil drawings of vines on their labels.

Carignan is one of our favourite grapes; I'm particularly like French Carignan whereas Hubby likes Carinena from Spain.

There was plenty of known wine grapes on the supermarket shelves; merlot, cabernet sauvignon to name two but we wanted to try different varieties. We chose this red as it was a grape we knew and Okuzgozu we had tried in the Buzbag.

A very different colour to the previous wines, deep crimson in the glass with scarlet edges, very inviting. I was quite surprised however with its nose, my initial thoughts were of an ashtray but not unpleasant. There was also dark chocolate and spice, both characteristics of Carignan.

A sour note hit our palates on initial tasting but this mellowed into dark damsons, cherries with that spice hoovering in the background. Very light tannins with a short finish, we both enjoyed this wine, Hubby more than me maybe.

Tellibag white wine was a blend of two more new grapes to us; Sultaniye and Narince. Pronounced 'sool-tah-nee-yah' Sultaniye in eaten all over Turkey as a fruit but often also used in wine making. It's a very easy eating/drinking grape making it very versatile.

Narince is a grape from central Turkey; its name means 'delicately'. It's grown at a higher altitude in a harsher climate, the terroir originally a river bed thousands of years ago. Narince is also an eating grape.

A beautiful pale pear colour with a floral and quince nose. On the palate there was a freshness of lemon, pear and apple with a subtle minerality. Quite a dry wine but not acidic, it had a slightly syrupy finish giving it  elements of Viognier/Chardonnay.

We had an amazing holiday in Turkey enjoying our hotel and discovering new wines - tesekkur ederim Sea Star

Third visit to Icmeler

Listening to the news it's understandable that people are nervous about visiting Turkey, no-one wants to be in a troubled place, but it's a very large country and Icmeler is at it's most south west point. You only go to that part of Turkey to get to the town, it's not a through way to anywhere else.

We have been to Paris and Brussels, both much nearer to home, and we were not far from Nice this summer, no-one knows what will happen. That being said we were quite prepared not to go to Turkey should any warnings be given but we are so so glad we did - it really is a beautiful place.

This was our third visit to Sentido Sea Star hotel - the first in 2014 when the hotel was new and last year when the hotel was 100% full as it was an immediate 'must stay at' for many Icmeler visitors. Many people who had been staying in the town for years soon chose a holiday at Sea Star.

View over the pool to the dining area - our
room was second balcony down on the left

You can read about those holidays here;  2014 Icmeler the place to relax  -  2015 Beautiful Icmeler

As we travelled the same week each year we knew the flight and transfer times which made our journey quite smooth and easy - although I think the pilot on the way out was new as every turn he made he then had to compensate a little the other way, It was the same with up and down in altitude - I wasn't feeling my best for the last hour in the air !!

Landing at Dalaman it's just under two hours to Icmeler - mainly due to dropping other holiday makers off at hotels in Marmaris which is a bigger town just before Icmeler. The first part of the journey is through Dalaman passing shops, schools and beautiful mosques. After which the road passes through countryside as far as the sea at Akyaka before turning south over the mountains. The view into Marmaris is spectacular, the town being on the east side of a bay with Icmeler on the west. The bay is curved 240 degrees with mountains all around and just one sea route in and out for boats.

From the air - Icmeler is the bay around the small island in the centre of the
photo, Marmaris is where the light dots are and you can just see the sea at
Akyaka in the distance on the right - lovely to fly over on the way home.

This year we had room 421 - one of the end rooms looking straight out to sea. It has a beautiful balcony with glass panels so you can see all the pool, the promenade, the beach and the town. The room has dual aspect patio doors with the balcony wrapping round to join both, perfect as the sun goes down to move round too.

View from our sea facing balcony

Sea Star is an immaculate hotel, everywhere is clean and the staff work so hard. Our room was cleaned every day with fresh towels and a restocked complimentary minibar. The bathroom has an amazing walkin shower with rain shower head as well as the conventional hand held/wall mounted shower hear. The decor, the facilities and the shower certainly help to make it a relaxing holiday.

A welcome from our room maid

Our welcome gift

We were greeted like family by Melis and the hotel staff, it really felt like coming home. As we checked in the lounge barman served everyone with refreshing non-alcoholic cocktails and the bell boy seemed to take everyone to their rooms without anyone waiting in reception. We certainly felt looked after from the moment we arrived.


There was a welcome gift in our room with a lovely letter thanking returning guests. Turkish wine is not at all like wines we are used to, it can appear to be a little 'rough' but is quite enjoyable if chilled first.


We certainly enjoyed our welcome bottle, accompanied by nuts, and dried fruit, whilst enjoying the view from our balcony - relaxed already!


We are not really beach or pool holiday makers, I find it quite uncomfortable to lie on a sunlounger to read and being in the direct sun for long doesn't suit me either. Mehmet is an absolute star looking after the beach and the pool area; sunlounger cushions appear as soon as you arrive and he is an expert on when to put the umbrella up, very much appreciated even on our short visits to the beach. As this was our third trip to Icmeler we had no reason to do lots of sightseeing either. However our week flew by and was quite busy.

To the side of the pool is a covered area with tables and chairs, perfect for sitting in the shade reading (or sewing) whilst enjoying a morning coffee. In the afternoon this is the snack bar area where pizzas, burgers and other snacks are served. The bar is always with alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks served non-stop; the mornings often flew by with lunch being served in what seemed like five minutes since breakfast.

The dining room and pool side dining area are kept so clean, the staff are always cleaning, dressing and setting the tables but as with the bell boy you don't notice, it's all done so efficiently and quietly. Breakfast is served 6 - 10 with a late breakfast after, lunch 12- 2 followed by dinner at 7 (with the snack bar open all afternoon) so it is a consistent set up and clear down - our waiter for the week was Sercan, a lovely young lad who remember everyone's preferences which for me was to enjoy a Turkish coffee after lunch and dinner.


Over the week we enjoyed an Italian themed dinner, a Turkish themed dinner and an A La Carte dinner. The first two were as all meals served buffet style but with additional dishes.

I love Turkish night as the tables are laid with beautiful Turkish cloths and the food includes wrapped vine leaves, kofta, baklava and Chef has a full kebab cooking on the outside grill.


The A La Carte meal was available to guests for one of their dinners per stay, we decided to enjoy ours mid way through our holiday. The A La Carte tables are set up on the opposite side of the pool to the main restaurant and is a served meal. It was a four course meal with a cold, then hot starter, a main (we both chose beef and it was superb) and dessert, all served by the lovely Sal who is a credit to the hotel.

It was 'wine tasting' on the night of our special meal, a little surprising in being just one bottle of rose for guests to try, but a very nice aperitif for our dinner.

Wine tasting

Our hot starter

Olive oil cake dessert

Icmeler is a stroll away, along a wide flat promenade past the other large prestigious hotels, although we noticed this year some had already closed for the seasons and most were also quite quiet. The restaurant, shop and boat hire chaps are so friendly, always asking if you'd like a drink or to buy but never pushy if you refuse. I do feel a little sorry for them as it must have been a tough year.

This year we wandered a little further into the town to Old Town, although I think there was still more further down the road. I just couldn't resist two new handbags and new slippers but this year we did resist buying more mosaic items, they are beautiful but we have quite a few pieces from our previous holidays.

We also took the small ferry boat to Turunc, a smaller village just round the bay. It's lovely on the little boat sailing along though the cliffs. Turunc is like a very small Icmeler but closer to the sea with variety of bars along the beach, a row of shops behind and hotels climbing up the hills, one even has it's on vernacular railway.

View from Turunc beach

Looking out to sea

The hotel has two cats, or rather the two cats have the hotel as they are in fact wild. They wander around the pool area and the outdoor dining tables, however they do not jump on the chairs or tables, and they do not enter the actual hotel. Some guests give them tip bits and if invited they will sit on the outdoor sofas for some fuss. Last year the ginger cat seemed to be my constant friend if I was outside. He even arrived the morning we left to say good bye.

We'd been outside no more than two hours before he came to us, no noise just sitting by, another warm welcome back. At night he'd find us and sit on the sofas, or if I called he'd come running. He did have a few other favourite guests and some nights chose their company. Our last night he at with us all evening, the next morning whilst enjoying a final coffee he just appeared, let me pick him up for a few minutes fuss then calmly walked away. He's a lovely creature who I hope will stay safe over the winter (he already has a few bits missing on his ears and this year had a scratch on his nose)

My hotel friend

This holiday really is our chill down before coming home for the winter. The view from our room is something I will never tire of - the way the hills roll into the sea, the sun coming up, the sky turning red reflecting the sunset behind us and in the moonlight. It is just stunning.

Even on a cloudy day the view is amazing 

Sun rise 

Sunset

Moonlight

Thank you Sea Star for another amazing holiday - we are missing the hotel, the view and all the staff already. It certainly is a special place where time doesn't matter and we can really relax.

Another great time in Turkey