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Travel

Turkey: Fethiye

August 3, 2012 14:48
If you step into the waters of  Fethiye bay, schools of tiny fish will flit around your legs

ByVictoria Prever, Victoria Prever

3 min read

‘That was the weirdest thing I’ve ever done,” said my husband, flopping on a sunbed. “I was lying in a steam room while some woman in a swimsuit covered my eyes with a cold flannel and threw ice over my head.” After a traditional hamman treatment — Turkish bath — he could do little more than lift his cocktail.

We were staying at Hillside for a five-day mini-break from the British “summer”. The oven-like, 38-ish degree heat that whacks you as the plane door opens at the slick and shiny Dalaman airport was blissful.
Transfer is an easy hour by car via the medium-sized resort of Fethiye and onto Hillside, a friendly, well-run resort with 450 or so staff — roughly one for every two guests.

A golf cart ferried us up the hill to our room. There are seven blocks. Ours was quite a steep walk back to the centre of all the action but it was one of the quietest, the worst noise pollution being the singing of cicadas.
The rooms hug steep, tree-covered hills descending into a crystal clear, horseshoe-shaped bay. Most have a sea view and many, like ours, have a private terrace. For those lugging buggies or are plain lazy, there are two funiculars halfway along each side.

Hillside is a family resort and as we were on a cheeky escape without the little Prevers, it felt odd being childless. It was early July, the place heaved with Turkish families. But the clever thing is that you can escape childcare central — even if you’ve brought your own.