“We really enjoyed our time in Cesmealti and returned completely relaxed. The house is spacious and very well equipped and the small community, it is part of, is laid out beautifully with colourful gardens which have plenty of trees offering natural shade. Downstairs there are two balconies, one semi shaded and warm and the other almost completely shaded, making it noticeably cooler, which was very pleasant on some of the hotter days. The houses share a really good sized pool, which also incorporates a safe children’s pool which is all of a ten second walk from the house.
Within a five minute walk of the house there are a number of smaller shops including one very well stocked, local, supermarket. The main town of Cesmealti is a further five minute walk where you will find further supermarkets and other shops together with a number of restaurants and café’s. The restaurants varied from excellent to average but we soon found some real favourites offering a good selection of Meze and wonderfully fresh, usually, grilled local fish.
The traditional accompaniment to Turkish food is Raki (a clear aniseed flavoured spirit to which you add ice and water), but you will also find good Turkish beer and wine. Whilst fish is, not surprisingly for a seaside town, mostly available in the restaurants it’s also worth checking out the Pide (like Turkish Pizza) and the variety of Kebaps (Kebabs); small chunks of lamb or chicken on skewers, Sis or Doner. As for the Doner Kebap if you have ever eaten one in the UK then you are in for a pleasantly different eating experience when you try one in Turkey.
The final comment about Cesmealti is, whilst the choice of restaurant isn’t limitless, Cesmealti is not a foreign tourist centre and as such the prices are very reasonable, travelling, one day, to Cesme we noticed a significant hike in prices”
Simon H. – August 2009
