kusadasi, turkey guide lavent solmaz

[pennstateray]

has anyone used this guide and would you recommend him? thanks in advance. ray

[sea-explorer]

There have been lots of recommendations for him on this board, which is why we booked him for our 2 days in Turkey last August.

 

We had him as our guide for Ephesus, and to be fair he was very personable and we had a good day.

 

However, although we had booked almost a year in advance, we had only booked for our family. We were somewhat disappointed to find we had been sidetracked to another guide for our day in Istanbul as a more lucrative booking, a party of 13, had come his way in the meantime. I have since read that he has done this to others too, but not sure to what extent.

 

There was also a somewhat embarassing incident in that Levent had asked us to settle up in full with our substitute guide at the end of the second day. However, we were met by our new guide (almost an hour late) by a demand for payment in full before we started, as Levent had informed her via 'phone we had failed to pay. I must admit it did make us feel a little uncomfortable for the rest of the day.

 

By the way, I am generally easy going and quite easy to please. I have happily recommend the driver we had in Greece & will of course continue to do so. I just wasn't too happy with our experience with Levent overall. Sorry.

 

.

[dutchclogs]

Sparky's post is interesting to read: my son and I joined two other families for a tour of Ephesus with Levent Solmaz last July. We were surprised to be met by another guide who told us his day job was teaching English. He was very knowledgeable and courteous, -- there were no issues paying -- this was, as agreed, at the end of the tour but we did not however have the experience we had been expecting. I would suggest that you ask if Levent will be conducting the tour in person.

BTW, on paying, I asked about Levent and was told he was ill. So I can't say if I would recommend him or not. Sorry can't be more helpful...

[sea-explorer]

Thanks dutchclogs, I didn't think it was just us.

 

What is interesting is that on a couple of occassions I tried to contact him via email (once we were booked). I was told later that either his own illness, or family ilness had prevented him from responding. I was also told that he wouldn't be available to guide us in Istanbul as his Mother needed an operation. I always gave the benefit of doubt.

 

I do all the research & 'surprize' my family with private tours etc, so they are not really aware of all the details etc. So imagine my surprize when I overheard my husband chatting to him about his tours, group sizes etc & Levent letting it slip 'to-morrow I will be guiding a group of 13 from Kusadasi'. (The day of his Mother's operation & our tour of Istanbul.):rolleyes:

 

I do understand he is only one guide, and not a tour company, so cannot accomodate evryone. However if the original agreement is to have his services, I think it is only fair to expect him as a guide, especially too, as his prices are higher than many companies.

[RME]

There have been lots of recommendations for him on this board, which is why we booked him for our 2 days in Turkey last August.

 

We had him as our guide for Ephesus, and to be fair he was very personable and we had a good day.

 

However, although we had booked almost a year in advance, we had only booked for our family. We were somewhat disappointed to find we had been sidetracked to another guide for our day in Istanbul as a more lucrative booking, a party of 13, had come his way in the meantime. I have since read that he has done this to others too, but not sure to what extent.

 

There was also a somewhat embarassing incident in that Levent had asked us to settle up in full with our substitute guide at the end of the second day. However, we were met by our new guide (almost an hour late) by a demand for payment in full before we started, as Levent had informed her via 'phone we had failed to pay. I must admit it did make us feel a little uncomfortable for the rest of the day.

 

By the way, I am generally easy going and quite easy to please. I have happily recommend the driver we had in Greece & will of course continue to do so. I just wasn't too happy with our experience with Levent overall. Sorry.

 

.

 

Sparky,

Could you please give contact information for the driver you had in Greece.

Thank you

[sea-explorer]

Sparky,

Could you please give contact information for the driver you had in Greece.

Thank you

 

Hi RME :)

 

I'm not sure where in Greece you will be. I was referring to George in Katakolon & I've left contact details on this thread.

 

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=921894

 

I have also booked a driver in Athens for April & will report back. Not sure if this is too late for you though.

[pennstateray]

the guide we wanted was, netat incedogain, who has good reviews. within minutes of accepting our booking i received an email stating he had accidently double booked the day. he referred us to lavent who had agreed to take us under the conition which we had booked natat. your info puts up several red flags. i think i will keep searching. thanks again.

[SDPadreFan]

We recently had Lavent for a full day tour that included Ephesus, the Terrace Houses, Selcuk, and Sirince Village. We were a fairly large group (@18 I think) with people from our Roll Call. We had a fantastic time with him. It was late in the year (tourist wise), the first week of December. We went in a 26 passenger mini-bus which was great. We paid $65 per person I think and it included everything except lunch. That was at our own expense, but he took us to a very inexpensive place in Selcuk and the food was very good. I can definitely recommend the meatballs (even though they look like mini hot dogs). 80% beef, 20% lamb and very tasty.

 

The bottom line. We had a fantastic day. It was about a 7 hour tour. We originally booked him on the strength of many positive reviews here on Cruise Critic. We were not disappointed. Another plus was that the tour DID NOT include a stop at a carpet factory.