The more musically minded will recognise the heading above as the title of Fairport Convention's second album release in 1969, but yesterday at Cornelia Diamond Hotel (http://www.corneliaresort.com/) we had a completely free day as our flight back to Glasgow did not leave until after midnight, so it was just like being on (a non-golfing) holiday.
Four of us had briefly toyed with the idea of another round of golf, but we eventually engaged brains and remembered how knackered and over-golfed we were already, so we opted for a lazy day round the resort, utilising some of the superb facilities we hadn't previously had time to use. We had a free run of the place, which even extended to an extra day's free food and booze!
Richard took a taxi in to the city of Antalya to have a look around there, whilst Malcolm, Keith and I opted for the enormous outdoor pool, and Jas and Ian walked around the extensive grounds and on to the beach, as Nigel packed for his slightly earlier flight to Istanbul and on from there back to Dubai.
All of us bar Richard met for lunch at Sapore Snack Bar:
Over lunch we discussed how to fill the rest of the day. Squash doubles was a possibility but then we realised we only had one suitable pair of shoes amongst the four of us! OK - let's try 10 pin bowling then:
I hit the spa after this and then got changed and met up with Ian and Jas to hitch a ride to Belek, the local town, in Nigel's taxi to the airport. It's a fairly small town that was pretty run down, but the huge investments in the 14 golf courses with brand names like Faldo and Montgomerie, and the massive hotels, meant it was about time that Belek got updated too. They're installing new squares and fountains etc and the town is already full of golf shops and international fashion brands. They've even installed a Disney-esque mock Greco-Roman aquaduct round the town. Here's a brief panorama:
As you can see, not exactly a thriving metropolis - yet.
The three of us returned from Belek in time for aperitifs and found the other four engaged in bridge - again:
Dinner and digestifs followed then it was off to the airport to make our very anti-social flight time.
I think we all agreed Turkey was a great experience - the variety and quality of the golf courses and the standard of the hotels combine to make it a truly competitive golf destination - and the value of the "all-inclusive" concept puts it streets ahead of its Spanish and Portuguese competitors for Northern Europeans looking for some quality early or late (or mid) season golf. I'm sure we'll be back.
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