Bayram Vacation, Part 4: Waterpark & Beach

(Read Part 1, Part 2, & Part 3.)

The Aqua Fantasy resort had an unbelievable waterpark! It is one of the biggest in Europe and also the biggest and safest in Turkey. (Even so, there were still a few slides we would never see in the States!) However, as mentioned previously, the water was too cold for us to enjoy it much. We only spent about an hour there.

Justin & Elias standing in front of some of the big slides as soon as we entered. I've never seen a water slide like that yellow one before! People would drop down on a raft and then just slide back and forth until they came to a stop!

Elias overlooking the kids' section of the waterpark, which included that cool pirate ship!

Justin rode a few of the big slides, some of which had features you'd likely never see in the U.S. One was a snake-like tunnel that you rode in a raft, easy except it was pitch black. Elias and I enjoyed watching him go down this racer one from the bridge!

There was also a beautiful private beach that was part of the resort, but the waters of the Mediterranean were also a bit chilly. We did, however, have quite a bit of fun enjoying the various parts of the beach!

Elias loves playing in sand, and we had brought his bucket & shovel for that very purpose. The sand here was interesting - it was very fine and powdery, and it had glitter in it (apparently caused by mica)! So when we went to wash off, we were muddy & glittery! We had fun building sand castles and looking for shells, though!

The resort had this long pier we could walk out on. This was taken at sunset, which is why it's kind of dark.

Elias chillin' on a deck chair out on the pier.

The resort also had paddleboats we were able to take out in the sea. The water was only a little higher than my knees, so I just jumped out to take a picture of the boys in the boat.

It was so beautiful and so fun!

Click to read Part 5.

Bayram Vacation, Part 3: Pools

(Read Part 1 & Part 2)

As we said in our first post, this amazing resort had 10 different pools, but the water was too cold to spend much time in them. (The air temperature was mid-70's, which was very comfortable, but it made the water quite chilly.)

This was a little pool that had several kid-sized water slides, but Elias and Mommy both just preferred chillin' on the edge to doing the slides.

In one of the big pools "swimming!"

The one we spent a LOT of time in, though, was the indoor pool! Not only was it heated, but it had a majorly fun kids' section and a large water slide! There were three different sections: a 1-foot kiddie section, a 3-foot section where the water slide dumped out, and a deep section with lanes for swimming laps. This video shows the whole place well, and you can take a listen to Elias' response to all the fun:

Elias was also VERY proud that he could stand up in the middle section - he liked being able to jump in it!

He was even prouder, though, that he actually did the slide once! He wasn't mentally prepared for going under at the end of the slide, so he wouldn't do it again, but you should hear him talk about how he was a big boy who did the slide and then went UNDER the water at the end! :)

Click to read more: Part 4, Part 5

Bayram Vacation, Part 2: FOOD!

(Read Part 1.)

As I said in the previous post, the food at Aqua Fantasy was all-you-can-eat-and-drink. The buffets were incredible! Besides traditional Turkish food, they also offered more Western-style food than I had ever seen in Turkey before: things like fried chicken fingers, cheesy garlic bread, Italian pastas, rich desserts, and they even served sweet potatoes one day! This is the buffet room:

The four islands in the center were for Turkish salads, fresh veggies, soups/breads, and hot dishes. Then along the left side was a series of cooks making fresh items (like omelets for breakfast), and along the right side was a ridiculous dessert buffet.

They really worked hard to make the displays both beautiful and tasty!

I took this picture on Friday, the day they celebrated Kurban Bayram (the Sacrifice Holiday), and they had this whole roasted lamb there on the counter, and the guy was serving lamb meat there. I said it looked like "roast beast!"

Justin was exceptionally happy to be able to find foods he loved that I would never cook at home. I took this picture of him with the plate below on Friday, the day they served the Bayram lamb.

On his plate are rice pilaf, roast lamb, fried crab meat, sardines, and fried chicken livers. Hey, he was happy!

Then as if all the savory dishes weren't enough, we discovered a guy making fried ice cream for dessert!!

So in addition to the ridiculous buffets for three meals a day, there were also snack bars near all of the pools that were open in the afternoons. Every day for Elias' afternoon snack, we went to the one right outside our room and he got waffles with honey!

That is one happy, sticky boy. :)

This snack bar also served the best pizza I've ever had in Turkey, so I always enjoyed a slice of that for afternoon snack! So thankful for being provided this complimentary week of great food!!

Click to read more: Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

Bayram Vacation, Part 1: Aqua Fantasy

Justin mentioned in a previous post that although his job is difficult, it also has some amazing perks. Last week we received the ultimate of all perks - the school sent their faculty and families on a 5-day vacation to the Western coast of Turkey (a place called Kuşadası, near the large city of Izmir) over the holiday! All we had to do was purchase our airfare, and EVERYTHING else was covered for us. What a blessing!

Like father like son on the flight from Ankara to Izmir (both reading the in-flight magazine). It was just a 1-hour flight, then there was a 1-hour bus ride to get to the resort. Not bad at all!

We weren't sure exactly what to expect, but it turns out that this place was called Aqua Fantasy, and that is an apt name for it. This place really was beyond our wildest dreams! It's an all-inclusive resort where you wear a wristband that enables you access to everything the resort offers: hotel room, all-you-can-eat-and-drink buffet for all three meals and snacks, 10 pools (indoor, outdoor, kiddie, etc.) with water slides, one of the largest waterparks in Europe, a beach (on the Mediterranean Sea), live entertainment, and much more. This resort is obviously geared toward foreigners - all the signage was in English, and almost all of the staff there spoke English as well.

There will be a long series of blog posts showing our vacation, so I thought I'd start with the accommodations.

Our hotel. (Image borrowed from here.) We actually never swam in this pool because the water was COLD and there were plenty of other options.

The place was just massive. It was a fair hike to get from one end to the other, and you can see in the photo above that there was a handy bridge across the center of the pool that took us from our building into the dining hall.

Justin & Elias on the bridge

We were given a Family Room, which means there was an extra bed for Elias, and his part of the room had rolling screens that could close and give privacy between the two sections. That was great!

View from the hall door. You can see the brown sliding doors in the middle.

Elias' section of the room also had a little couch that could've folded out to make another bed to accommodate more people. He just enjoyed playing on it. And there was a little table and cabinet that were perfect for his toys!

You can't see it in the photo, but the bathroom had a full tub, which is actually kind of rare in Turkey. A lot of places (our apartment included) only have showers. So this was a huge treat for Elias to get full baths!

They even had a complimentary fruit plate waiting for us! That's the kind of place this was!

Click to read more: Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5