 |
Turkey's Mediterranean Coast
While northern Europe shivers, Turkey's Mediterranean coast
basks in sunshine - ranging from very hot in the summer
to moderate (50� F) in the winter - thus attracting
tourists from April to October. Lounge chairs line
the beaches and gulets (large wooden sailboats) ply the
protected waters, turning bleached-white skin into
shades ranging from pink to red, and if lucky, a nice
tan. Most tourist locations are on the coast
between Izmir on the west coast to Alanya on the south.
We stayed in Antalya for one winter and Marmaris the
next - read on for more.
|
Antalya
 We landed in Antalya in 2003, a modern city on the Mediterranean that
caters to sun-deprived Northern European tourists. Cruisers are small potatoes
to the locals; the well-heeled German sun-seekers are their life's blood and the
hotels and discos speak Turkish and German, with English as an after-thought.
It is in the lee of the Taurus Mountains, and thus drier than the west coast.
Look at some photos or read about our highlights:
- Symphony concerts at the State theater - for
$3/show
- Weekly hikes in the hills and through Roman
ruins
- A stroll in the Old Town, Kalici harbor (to
the right--->)
- Eating out at trout farms
- Accessible shopping and restaurants
- Good transportation systems
- Summer theater in ancient Roman amphitheater
- Nice weather during most of the winter
- Cool walks at Duden Falls, where it was 75�F
on a 100�F day.
- Walks among the touts in Kalice - the ancient
harbor in the middle of town.
Alanya
and Side
  We
visited these on a 'Sunday excursion' and on our return to Europe in 2004.
A medieval castle sits on a hill overlooking the city and sea in Alanya while
ruins at Side and on the coast remind us that Rome used to rule this part of the
world. Along the highway to the east of Alanya was a 5-kilometer stretch
of highway with walls, aqueducts, columns, and ruined buildings dating from the
Romans, apparently unattended and unprotected - a tourist venue for the future
perhaps? At the base of the Alanya fort was Cleopatra's Boatyard, a
covered stone boat-shed where ships were careened in Roman times for storage and
repair. Check for more Alanya
Photos.
Kemer and Finike
 To
the west of Antalya the coast is beautiful with steep cliffs, turquoise waters
and several harbors frequented by cruisers and charter yachts. Park
Kemer is a marina 30 km from Antalya with a vibrant social life where many
cruisers spend the winter. Kemer is a smallish town with limited
facilities but buses to Antalya an connect cruisers with shopping,
 concerts,
and movies at a modest cost. On the southern-most coast is Finicke,
an agricultural town with a good, inexpensive marina and the best toilet and
shower facilities in Turkey! Inshore from the marinas are many Roman
ruins, deep valleys for interesting hikes and plastic-covered farms that produce
tomatoes year-round. On the coast south of Kemer is the Chimera, a
crack in the hillside where gas escapes and burns 24-hours/day - it is clearly
visible from the anchorage below - and we walked to it, with hot dogs for our
lunch.
West to Marmaris
 Continuing
west, the coast has bays and sheltered waters with anchorages that
are a delight for the cruiser. Kekova Roads, Kaş,
Kalkan, Fetiye, and Gocek - our page with
pictures of Bekah's Visit
shows some highlights. Each has special treasures: seafood
restaurants, or sunken ruins, or underwater springs, or a cute
village. We visited much of the coast
by road and later
by yacht and enjoyed it each time.
Kaş was perhaps our favorite spot on the coast with the
cutest town and sheltered anchorage. We spent our second
winter in Turkey at Yacht Marine in Marmaris, a
modestly-priced marina in the well-sheltered Marmaris Bay.
During the winter we made friends with other cruisers, the marina
staff, and carpet and souvenir salesmen and went on several
Excursions to nearby areas. The latter sounds unusual,
but Ali, Savat, and the rest were very friendly, always ready with a
cup of �ay (aka tea), good conversation and little pressure.
The weather was cool and wet, but the bay is so well-protected we
never felt at risk like we were at Setur Antalya marina in Antalya.
Check some of our images
or read about our winter activities:
Dat�a
To the west of Marmaris lie several peninsulas
that jut into the Med and Aegean Seas, providing hundreds of miles
of sheltered shorelines for anchoring. We made it as far at
Dat�a on the southwest corner of Turkey - close enough to Greece see
Simi only 10 miles away. It is a cute town and we succumbed
again to carpet fever and now have small Turkish carpets decorating
our cockpit - we tell ourselves it is because they are more
comfortable for sitting!
Scirince and Ephesus
 Past
Bodrum, a tourist mecca that we missed, we visited Ephesus and
Scirince, each
 very
interesting in their own way. Ephesus is an ancient
Greek city, reputed to be the best preserved in the Eastern Med. It
has broad boulevards, a large library, an amphitheater, and many
buildings in remarkably good state considering most structures are
1800-2000 years old. It also became a center for Christianity
as Mary, St. John, and St. Paul all spent time here. It was one of
our more interesting places to visit in Turkey. Nearby is
Scirince, a more secular and less historic town where vineyards
and orchards vie to attract the tourist $$ to a cute and friendly
village.
Gallipoli
At the entrance to the Dardanelles (and beyond the scope of
the map above) lie steep cliffs, viewed by strategists early in WWI as
the key to opening up the straits so that the Allies could get through to the
Black Sea. British, French, Australian, and New Zealand soldiers laid
siege to the Turkish defenders for 8 months before they gave up and withdrew in
the night. Colonel Mustafa Kemel, later known as Ataturk, lead the Turks
brilliantly and defended the high ground with valor and talent. We visited
the monuments and cliffs and visualized how difficult it must have been for the
Allies to crawl up the cliffs under withering fire from above. Reading about it
later, it is clear that the mission was almost impossible and the few chances
that the Allies had were bungled. We would recommend a visit for any
history buff.
The center of Turkey is a high
plateau, punctuated with mountain ranges - check out our stops in
Central Turkey. |
