Turkey

Hi, Welcome to Turkey

This is truly a great country to visit. We have visited it twice, with two teenage boys you cannot resist the many bargains that are on offer. Designer clothes, you name it and Turkey has it. They bought jeans, T.shirts, sweatshirts and shirts, all with the designer tag of course.

Not only does Turkey have good bargains with clothes, it has great places to eat which are very cheap and the Turkish people are the best. The food was really good and the choices of places to visit meant that this type of holiday would suit almost everybody. It has plenty of history and waterparks for the adventurous.

Here are just a few places that we visited whilst we were there.

Dalyan and Caunos

Arriving by road, the approach is via a little lakeside town called koycegiz. At Dalyan's river quayside, boatmen wait for passengers who want transport through the meandering waterway amid the wilderness of reeds to the sandy beach or the remains of Caunos. During the high season Dalyan gets very busy with an overspill of tourists, but don't worry there will always be a boatsman just waiting to take you on your cruise. We were told whilst meandering through the reeds that this is where the famous film 'African Queen' was filmed.

As you leave Dalyan you first experience the rock tombs of Caunos. The tombs (4th c B.C.), hewn from the steep rock face in the form of temples, can be seen from a considerable distance. Move on through the reeds and you will visit the home of the Loggerhead Turtles. The beach is not open during the summer months after 6pm as this is the time that the turtles come onto land to lay their eggs. The beach is a long sandy clean beach and it is the only place that we know of where you can experience fresh water one side and sea water the other.

After a long laze on the beach and a swim to cool off, why not board the boat again and experience the therapeutic powers of the mud baths. The smell of sulpher can be off putting but the experience will never leave you.

Pamukalle- (cotton castle)

The site of Hierapolis, now known as Pamukkale is situated on a plateau of calcareous deposits. The calcareous deposits come from a warm spring which has large quantities of calcium bicarbonate in solution. When it reaches the surface the calcium bicarbonate, already partly dissociated in the water, breaks down into carbon dioxide, calcium carbonate and water. The carbon dioxide escapes into the atmosphere and the calcium carbonate is deposited in the form of a hard greyish-white layer. These deposits gradually fill up the water channel, so that the water spreads out in all directions and the continuing deposits create a series of fan-like formations. In time the water falling down creates the terraces that we see today. When you first arrive you will be told not to walk on the stone with your shoes on as this in time will damage the beauty of Pamukkale.

Whilst here you may wish to visit the ruins of the Great Baths, the walls of which, with vaulting up to 16 m high, are reminiscent of the great buildings of Rome. Move on a little further and you will see a pool containing hot springs (about 36 Degrees), if you are not staying at the hotel you may purchase a ticket to swim here. You can see antique columns and other architectural fragments at the bottom of the pool.

The South Gate takes you to the Byzantine church and further on to large and well preserved Theatre. It has a facade over 100 m long. The auditorium had two tiers of seating, of 26 rows each, separated by a gangway and divided into sections by eight stairways. It was a nice feeling if you can find a shady spot to sit back and relax and takes in the ambiance.

Side

We hired a taxi for the day. Our driver was called 'Altan ' and he was very knowledgeable, and his English was reasonably good. The price we paid included entrances and his services as a guide for the whole day.

Side is a small town with plenty of colourful shops. The main street leads down to the small beach, and houses some excellent restaurants and lively bars. The Roman ruins are well worth a visit, look out for the camel rides - a bit pricey and a better offer can be had elsewhere.

We didn't spend much time in Side, just enough time to look around the ruins and then we were off again. Not a place we personally would want to rush back to.

Aspendos

Famous for its Roman Theatre. We spent quite some time looking around this Amphitheatre, it is still in good condition considering its age. It was built in 2nd C A.D. The theatre has seating for 15,000 - 20,000 people. It is sometimes used for festivals although for concerts it has been limited due to the damage it can course to the stone. The semicircular auditorium is divided into two sections by a broad passage half-way up has 20 tiers of seating with 10 staircases in the lower half and 19 tiers with 21 staircases in the upper half. Round the top runs barrel-vaulted passages giving access to the seating and at either end of the auditorium are vaulted passages giving access to the stage and orchestra. At the bottom tucked away in the shade is a small coffee shop and a souvenier shop which also sells the well needed ice creams.

Icemeler

Truly a very scenic and peaceful place, although I'm sure if you wanted the nightclubs you could find one tucked away, and there is of course Marmaris just a short Dolmus ride away. We stayed at the Pinewood Apartments. The apartments were basic but very clean with two separate bedrooms. The pool was a good size and you could eat and drink at the apartments at very reasonable prices. We found a really nice restaurant called 'RV', it is owned by a Turkish man who has since married an English Lady. The food was excellent and we dined there most evenings. It is waiter service and the service was first class, we never had to complain once. There are plenty of market stalls offering good buys, although you do have to barter, but keep it friendly you can easily offend. If you start to walk away they will always call you back and a good price can always be agreed. The beach is long and sandy and was really good. It also offers plenty of boat trips which are considerable cheaper than the Tour Reps but be careful.

Marmaris

This is where the action is, at night Marmaris comes to life with its colourful bars and nightclubs. The bazaar has plenty of shops and market stalls and its gets very crowded but again we bought some good buys and it is full of interesting characters. At the top of the hill at the end of some long cobbled streets and steps lies the medieval castle, although we did not enter due to lack of time, we were told it has some impressive views across Marmaris and the harbour. We went on a 'Thomson tour of the town' and what they didn't tell us was that we had to make our own way back. After a few moans we took a water taxi back to Icmeler, a nice way to travel and quite reasonable.

Turunc

We visited Turunc a couple of times. It can only be reached by boat or by car through the mountains, but the views at the top looking down into Turunc were breathtaking. There is not a lot happening here but the beach was nice and there were a couple of nice restaurants for a romantic lunch for two. We liked it here because, we went at the high season and due to this being an isolated place it was never really crowded, so you could always get a sun bed. Watch some of the characters that walk the beach - you may get conned!

Alanya

This is where we stayed during our second trip. Although a nice place and the hotel that we stayed at was first class 'The Hotel Obekoy' we were outnumbered by Germans. Alanya has plenty to offer everyone, from shopping, bars, restaurants to history. The castle which sits at the top of the hill was built by Anthony who later presented it to Cleopatra. You can have a guided tour around the castle and view the bedroom of Cleopatra and the famous bath where she bathed in Asses milk. From one of the windows you can see the long sandy beach known as Cleopatra's beach.

We did Parascending off the beach and viewed Alanya from the air, well worth doing. Also the waterparks were very good although we preferred the one in Alanya which was smaller on scale but less crowded. This meant you could have more rides on the slides and not spend a lot of your time queing in the hot baking sun.

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