I'm a 30 something stay at home Mum with a 6 year old son and 7 cats. My husband is writer and we l...
I'm a 30 something stay at home Mum with a 6 year old son and 7 cats. My husband is writer and we live in East London. We don't have a television, so I guess we're a bit odd.....
Member since:24.04.2005
Reviews:5
We stayed at the Bayham Villas in Kalkan for 2 weeks in July 2004. We booked with Tapestry because we felt they were a bit more 'up market (although you paid for the priviledge') and we didn't want something touristy. We, by the way, are two thirtysomethings and a 5 year old).
All transfers in Tapestry's control were efficient and well handled. The flights were daytime, but 'Monarch' will always be a charter airline. The scrum at Dalaman was on the runway side and entirely not in Tapestry's control. The busses were ready and air conditioned, and the 3 hour drive to Kalkan was efficient, non stop and painless. They even provided bottles of water and Turkisk Delight. We were not pressurised then, or at any other time, to take excursions/car hire other optional extras booked via the company, which on other tours were really pushed on a captive audience on the bus.
The Villla
We had a three bed 2 bathroom villa. It was much larger than we
had imagined, and beautifully furnished. Lots of real wood and marble, ornaments and other cosy touches.The welcome basket was full and useful and gallon water bottles were fitted to a pump dispenser on request.
Unfortunately the owners had extended the villa, presumably without informing TAPESTRY, and the advertised roof terrace and barbecue was only 2'x6'. Since we really didn't want room for another 2/4 guests, we weren't too happy about that, nor about not being informed of the change before we got there.
The villa was very clean, and cleaned every day. Our pool was also well looked after and gardens were beautiful. The pool was not child friendly - no barriers, no shallow end, but we knew that in advance. It was a godsend for our 5 year old. He spent all his time in it.
The Cooking facilities were basic but adequate, although power cuts 2/3 or more times a meal met they were really pretty useless for anything more than a quick hot sandwich. Fridge was large and washing machine an absolute godsend.
The villa was advertsied as 10=15mins from the village, but was more like 25. It was quite a steep hill on the way back too! That was a niggle actually, that Tapestry's distance/time estimates were very off course. In future we will always double any distnce they give.
Fortunately there is a little shop opposite which sells everything. It was really useful. In that heat you only go down that hill once a day!
The Resort Tapestry prides itself on 'uncommercial'holidays. This is not true of Kalkan. The whole place exists for tourists. There are hundreds of restaurants - with heckling waiters outside, and tourist shops. You get the impression that none of it would exist without the summer trade.
It is also expensive. We talked to a waiter who said that because the town (not village) traded on its up market - ness prices were 3x higher than 5 miles down the coast. I can believe it. We had somegood meals, but expect to pay about the same as you would in the UK. It is not a cheap family holiday.
There is no real beach, just a patch of stones that are great to throw in the water, but you are better off to spend the day by by y.our pool.
Excursions We took two; One was on Tapestry's own Gulet, which was large and spacious. There were a small number of people on it and it mde several stops during the day. The meal was good but drinks were, as we had come to expect, expensive. It was a well run boat tidy, clean and definately with enough room for everyone.
We also did the Sunken city by boat. This is not one of Tapestry's own boats. It was more crowded, with people from other tours on it. There was a BBQ at lunch, which was great, and about 3 stops for swimming. The sunken city was a disappointment - a few door frames on a hill and some watery foundations, but the atmosphere was good. It was really the only time we felt a bit like tourists.
My husband also did a days scuba diving but this was really just a taster course. There aren't many fish to see! PADI divers don't bother was his impressions.
Overall- Well really ,I'm sad to say, they are just another package holiday company, albeit far more professional than most.Maybe they are what the other should strive to be. I think that says more, in a negative fashion ,about the others than it does about Tapestry.
They have a different clientele - older, more retired, teachers, civil servants, finance directors etc, but you are still buying a package. If you want it all laid out to the formula, then they are brilliant.
Their views of 'uncommercial' may tax a dictionary and their distnces may flummox an atlas, so be warned.
Despite all of this, please remember they are efficient, polite and reliable - something definitely not to be sniffed at.
I doubt if we would book with them again, but I can appreciate their good points. I would feel safer with them rather than with Thomson etc, but am still aware of the old package travel cons - brochure accuracy being the main one.
You do pay for it though. Weigh up just how much a glossy brochure is worth to you. With some careful searching and an independant spirit, you could have found something just as good independantly on the web - but that may be more trouble than a holiday is worth.
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