I think I hear a buzz.....

We recently returned from an absolutely glorious holiday in Turunc. It's a lovely place, lovely people and overall we had a wonderful time.

However, there was a buzzy little irritant we had for the whole week. Wasps and bees!

They were absolutely everywhere. By the pool, by the beach, in restaurants, on the water taxis. Everywhere! And they absolutely loved everything sweet, so we were dreaming if we thought we could drink fruit juice on our balcony.

And they weren't placid little insects. They were the angry, persistent, aggressive and stinging variety. Everyone we met had been stung at least once and told horror stories of people being rushed to hospital with anaphylactic shock!

The breakfast we tried to have on our balcony which was thwarted by wasps! Look closely, you'll see one in the photo!

We subsequently learnt that the wasps arrive every year at the end of August and stay until the end of October. If you look online, there are quite a few blogs about it in Turunc and the surrounding bays so it is clearly an annual problem.

I have to be honest that, by the end of the week, I had become quite accustomed to them and let them land and zip around me. And the good news is that they go to sleep at night fall. However, the squeeze seemed to go the other way, became increasingly frustrated by the little beggars and was constantly seen swatting and swiping and swearing!

 

When we went to Amos restaurant, I ordered the most delicious red mullet (above). Disappointingly, as it was quite sweet, the wasps absolutely loved it as I was swarmed by them! They had to bring out a little smoke machine to get rid of them! So I ate in a big, plume of smoke!

I can't say it ruined our holiday, far from it. In fact it was one of the most lovely, relaxing, romantic and friendly places I've ever been. I will definitely go back, but maybe I'll go in June next time...

If it was my job, I think I'd enjoy it more!

When we got to Turunc in Turkey, we were immediately told we had to get a water taxi so we could see the coast from the sea.

Having never used a water taxi before, I approached this with a certain amount of trepidation. As someone who suffers from terrible sea sickness, I was worried about how big the taxi was going to be and how much my delicate tum would feel each of the bumps of the sea.

However, the taxi turned out to be more of a fully fledged boat, accommodating around 30 people at a time. Certainly not the intimate, rocky ride I expected it to be.

Turunc Water Taxis

The first water taxi we took was from Turunc to Marmaris. It cost 15 Turkish Lira (which at the time of writing is a around £5) per person for a return journey that took around 45 minutes each way.

Our hotel had provided us with the water taxi timetable. And, since the next one was due to leave at 10.30 we rushed down to the marina to catch it. However, we soon learnt the timetable is more of a guide than a time set in stone. As we waited on the boat for 45 sweltering minutes before there were enough people to merit a trip.

The taxis are run by a large group of swarthy men who stand around smoking, shouting and looking generally quite grumpy. Unlike the many day trip boats that litter the seas around the bay, the boat drivers clearly don't see their role as that of an entertainer or a tourist guide. The boat starts and they drive to the next stop, with barely a look of acknowledgement to their passengers throughout the whole journey. Mostly, they seem to spend their time shouting at other sailors or shouting down their phones.

I really don't understand what they have to be so grumpy about. As the journey and the coastline is absolutely stunning, the sea is fairly flat (to the delight of my stomach) and the air and sea is clean and fresh. Seems like a pretty good job to me!

Despite the stoic old sea dogs, I absolutely loved the trip and we ended up getting two further water taxis to the bays of Kumlubük and Amos. The whole coastline is absolutely stunning and largely unspoilt.

Costing only a few Turkish Lira a trip, it is definitely worth the money and much better than getting the bumpy old bus inland via the treacherous cliffs! Just don't expect service with a smile!