Турецкое Средиземноморье. Turkish Mediterranean.

We were going on vacation at the end of April, so the choice fell on Alanya, the warmest region of Turkey. We found the Mukarnas Hotel on the Internet, looked at the hotel website, read the reviews and decided.
From the airport of Antalya, where we were met by representatives of the "Anex Tour", a little less than two hours by a comfortable bus. You can, of course, faster, but on the way there is a half-hour stop at a small market - additional earnings for the guides of the Anex-tour (as well as on the way back).
Compared to the hotels seen along the way, Muqarnas stands out for its individual style. The hotel from the facade resembles a fairy-tale palace. There is a huge original chandelier in the form of an eight-pointed star in the hotel lobby. This symbol of the hotel accompanies almost everywhere - on the lamps in the halls, elevators, rooms; on bed linen, curtains, etc. Externally, the hotel is "light and airy" in comparison with the hotels "Dolphin" located on both sides. The hotel, as well as the territory, is impeccably clean (with the exception of cigarette butts on the beach).

Our room (1476) is located in the right wing of the hotel on the outside of the building. In my opinion, the best option. Near the elevator, don't be afraid of its proximity, the elevators work silently, despite the low soundproofing in the room. The balcony overlooks the sea, the neighboring "Dolphin" and the road, behind which there is a marketplace flooded with traders on Fridays. The rooms overlooking the courtyard are quite noisy - swimming pools, children's playgrounds, music by the pool and, most importantly, the smoke of smokers from the open terrace of the main restaurant and the open smoking room of the hotel lobby, they smoke in all rooms, like victims. Coming from smoky Mariupol and breathing tobacco smoke is not for me. This is the main reason to look for another hotel on your next trip to Turkey. The outer side of the left wing is "full kaput". In the immediate vicinity of the building of another hotel "Dolphin", window to window, you can almost reach out with your hand. In addition, now this building is just being built, so all the delights of the construction site - dust, noise, burning - in your room (in the album, a photo of the floor plan will help you navigate if necessary).
Now about our number. The room is spacious enough. You can even live with four people, and for two there are almost “mansions”. Simple but stylish furniture: a double bed, a single bed, a small sofa, a bedside table, a bench, a small coffee table, a table with a mirror, a cabinet for a travel bag, a built-in refrigerator with a free minibar, a built-in wardrobe. The room has air conditioning, safe. The bathroom has a hair dryer, a table with a mirror, a bath combined with a shower. Everything is fine, but who came up with the idea to cover the working surfaces of tables and bedside tables with glass in the room? ! I hurt my hand on the sharp edges of the glass on the bedside table at night. On the balcony there are two chairs, a small table, a clothes dryer. Daily replenishment of gels and shampoos, daily cleaning and change of towels, linen change every other day.
On the elevator we go down to the -2 floor and through the play area we go out into the courtyard of the hotel. Everything is well-groomed, fragrant. The main pool (1.6 m) is divided into two parts by a wooden bridge, a pool with several water slides, a children's pool with a play area. Pretty big beach. Enough beds with mattresses. The beach is sand and pebble. Entering the sea is problematic, small pebbles hurt the legs. You can swim in the sea from the pier. On April 20, on the day of arrival, the water in the sea is 19 degrees, the air is 22 degrees. We left on April 29 - air 37, water is just lovely. In the sea, the water is the purest, it cannot be compared with the Black Sea of ​ ​ the South Coast, it is very salty, it just pushes it to the surface, swimming is a real pleasure. Everything is fine, but the beach was being prepared “on the go”, people are sunbathing, it’s hot, metal structures are being painted nearby, tractors with wooden decks are scurrying around - “we weren’t waiting for you, but you arrived. ”
There is a large indoor pool, a small pool with hydromassage (very weak and ineffective), a children's pool in the SPA complex. Wet and dry saunas, Turkish bath. Paid procedures continuous divorce - massage in the hammam 70 euros, Thai massage 100 euros, etc. The complex of paid procedures was almost always empty.

However, for such a large hotel, the territory is small.
The service staff is mainly recruited from the former fraternal republics - Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, etc. At the same time, the hotel loses a lot in the quality of service, there are cases of "quiet rudeness", in particular at the reception. So you can gradually "go down" to the level of Soviet sanatoriums.
Meals are organized in the main restaurant and the Snake Bar. You can have a bite of freshly baked cakes with ayran in the amphi-bar. Ice cream is also served here. The beach bar serves beer, cold soft drinks and sandwiches. The pool bar serves cocktails and local liquor. Alcohol can be drunk at the play area bar. Imported drinks under the "Ultra all inclusive" system can only be drunk in the hotel lobby. In the first half of the day there are no visitors, and in the afternoon pandemonium. Very uncomfortable and incomprehensible. Watching the waiters, you can see that they pay special attention to the Germans, Finns, Swedes, while they mostly receive tips from the Russians - there is no one more generous than a tipsy Slavic soul.
The food in the restaurants is impeccable. For lunch and dinner, a lot of meat dishes - turkey, chicken, beef, sometimes lamb. Boiled and fried fish. A lot of dietary and not very dietary dishes. Lots of greens and fresh vegetables. Grilled eggplant and zucchini are just superb. Many dishes are cooked on the grill in front of visitors - shish kebabs, kebab. An abundance of fresh strawberries. Lots of pastries, desserts and sweets. Optional wine, vodka, beer, etc.
One note - the snake bar and the main restaurant open and close at the same time. Those who were on excursions or went sightseeing on their own remain hungry. Bars are open until 23-00, except for drinks there is nothing there.

I can't keep silent that the concept of the hotel is all for smokers. I ate in a restaurant - lit a cigarette, and if someone just sat down at the table and possibly with children, and there are a lot of families with children. Children are stoned even in the queue for ice cream at the amphi-bar, they smoke on the beach (cigarette butts in the sand or on the sand).
There was practically no animation, and what we saw three times within an hour (from 21-30) in a closed cinema hall was at the level of the yard team.
The guide from the Anex tour met us on the morning of the second day and we did not see him again. Information about the transfer to the airport was tracked on the information board in the hotel lobby. No one pestered us with excursions, and we didn’t need to, we enjoyed the gentle sea.
Shopping. In 20 minutes from the hotel there is a clothing market (left the hotel, to the right along the sidewalk, the third underground passage and you are at the goal). On Fridays, the market comes to the site near the hotel. If you wish, you will be taken (and brought back) to shopping centers. The prices are shocking at first, but they are designed for significant, sometimes 2-5 times, discounts. Bargaining is common everywhere. For ten days of my stay in Turkey, I did not see the local lira, they paid either in dollars or with a credit card (even in the bazaars).
We traveled to Alanya on our own. 45 minutes by bus, $3-50 one way. From bus station 4 by bus to the final in the Alanian fortress. Entrance ticket 10 lire. We went down on foot to the port (I recommend). In the port we took a two-hour walk along the Mediterranean Sea for $10 per person. Take a swimsuit, you can swim from the yacht. A special flavor of the tour was given by a colorful Turkish escort - nothing is clear, but very cool.
The rest was a success, sunbathed, burned in places. In general, I liked the hotel - I recommend it, the sea is just lovely. But on my next visit to Turkey I will look for another hotel, I indicated the reasons in the text of the review.