Africa & Middle East > Turkey > Aegean (Bodrum Peninsula) > Bodrum > Articles > Bodrum Bound

‘Welcome, you like Turkey?’ The old woman adjusted her headscarf and with a beaming smile, plucked a couple of tangerines from the tree. Orchards glowed all around in the midday sun, so heavy with fruit they barely rustled in the breeze. On the edge of the hills, the sea shimmered as boats sailed around the islands, just as they did when Antony and Cleopatra frolicked on these shores over 2000 years ago.

In this country three times the size of Britain, we had opted for the Aegean Coast, basing ourselves in the pretty resort of Bodrum. That’s on the Asian side, Anatolia, which covers 97% of the land. Our villa was sky blue and white, local style, clinging to the hillside above the jumble of sugar cube houses rising from the town. Beyond them, in the great curve of the bay, the crusaders’ castle held centre stage on a rocky headland, guarding the beach on one side and the harbour on the other. The Knights of St John have long gone but the castle relishes its new vocation as Museum of Underwater Archaeology, full of artefacts from the world’s oldest shipwrecks. We marvelled at stacks of amphora and luminous glass bowls and bottles, green, amber and blue, before wandering around the shaded gardens, past screeching peacocks and towers and ramparts offering magical views over land and sea. Up on Goktepe Hill, the Roman Amphitheatre basked in the blazing sun while in a quiet lane downtown, the Mausoleum, once one of the ‘Seven Wonders of the Ancient World’, scattered its ruins under a flowering jacaranda.

With an average of 300 sunny days a year, Bodrum is a place to relax on the beach, lunch on seafood salad at the harbourside or stroll along the palm-fringed promenade or the cobbled lanes to bargain in Euros, the favoured currency, for rose petal Delights, embroidered cloths and leather sandals, T-shirts, jewellery, onyx ornaments and Blue Eye charms guaranteed to bring you luck. You can test them straightaway in the dappled shade where dark-eyed men sell lottery tickets and freshly-baked sesame sticks. Now and then the call to prayer echoes from the minarets but barely causes a stir. In the 1920s, Turkey’s first president, Ataturk, promptly turned the nation into a progressive secular state.

If you want to get active, there’s plenty to do. Take the family to the Ortakent Aquapark, cruise around the bay on a mini Blue Voyage, try a spot of surfing or parasailing, bounce on a banana boat, waterski, snorkel or dive among shoals of rainbow-coloured fish. Then just for a change, you might treat yourself to a Turkish Bath, scrub and all, or learn to belly dance to the hypnotic rhythm of oriental music.

As carefree as the breeze fanning the shore, we were content to watch, boats skimming the waves, bronze bodies on the beach, the flutter of windsails but one sunny morning, adventure raised her pretty head and we decided to explore a little. We could have joined a jeep safari or hired a car to tackle the twisting coastal roads but it was more fun to travel by dolmus as the locals do, hopping on and off the minibus for minimum cost and maximum thrill, especially on market day when bags and baskets spill out melons or apricots on your lap and you might share the ride with a gaggle of free range chickens.

Blink and you’d easily miss the Bodrum peninsula jutting out to the south west yet this tiny stretch of the Turquoise Coast is spectacular, for ever meandering around bays and coves where the water is crystal clear and the air smells of pines and eucalyptus. There are bee hives and olive groves, deserted islands, fishing harbours, golden daisies and poppies nodding on the slopes and sleepy villages where men play cards under the trees and sip apple tea in small tulip-shaped glasses, straight out of a doll’s house. Sometimes storks rattle their beaks on the rooftops and lizards bask on the garden walls.

We loved Gumusluk and the lovely fish restaurants we could not resist and its neighbour Turgutreis with a bustling market that would feed the family for weeks, villas festooned in bougainvillaea and shaded lanes where saffron and sun-dried aubergines compete with the bright Turkish carpets hanging in the bazaar.

Remember Cleopatra? Her beauty and eternal youth? Book a day trip to Pamukkale and you can bathe in the very pool where the Queen of Egypt discovered the secret of the legendary thermal waters. Where else would you swim in such a heavenly setting, in a rejuvenating pool littered with remains of real Roman columns? The ancient city of Hierapolis lies just steps away, its turbulent past oozing from every stone scattered across the hills. The crowds are sure to scare off the ghosts but on the slopes twittering with crickets and birds, you may well spot a tortoise munching its way through the grass. Then head across the road and be amazed by another natural wonder as the white limestone cascades and milky pools of the ‘Cotton Castle’ tumble down to the Maeander Valley, framed by swathes of yellow broom and the snowy peaks of the Taurus.

The Aegean Coast is an ideal jump off point for culture fans and although fair distances are involved, it’s possible to visit Izmir, Pergamum, Troy at a stretch and of course Ephesus, which everyone wants to tick off their list. Get there in the early morning to see it at its best, here the Library, there the Grand Theatre, the High Street climbing up the hill, the Winged Statue under the ficus tree, the Market Place. Don’t ask about the damaged sculptures (the missing heads were carted off to the British Museum), just absorb the atmosphere and feel the pulse of what was one of the greatest cities in the Roman Empire.

We enjoyed Ephesus but keen to avoid cultural overload, we soon returned to the coast, lured by the promise of fresh sea breezes and long lazy days on the beach. Even the Greek island of Kos, a short ferry ride away, failed to tempt us as we gazed at a whole flotilla of gulets sailing across the bay.

For us, Bodrum was ideal, as quiet or busy as you wanted it to be, by day or by night, but there’s no shortage of resorts along this stretch of coast. Cesme has white sands and a Sea Festival, Kusadasi lively bars and fine beaches while down south, Marmaris, the ‘Pearl of the Med.’, nestles in a scenic bay at the meeting point of the Mediterranean and Aegean seas. Sheltered by islands and hills, it’s a great place to indulge in all sorts of watersports, fabulous shopping and throbbing nightlife or browse in the old town and its 16th century citadel and dine al fresco on meze, grilled prawns or juicy kebabs. Tomorrow perhaps, you can set sail along the coast in search of pristine beaches and stunning scenery.

Our favourite trip started on the Dalyan River, after the dip of a lifetime in the thermal pools. There, caked in layers of grey mud, we stood in the sun like statues, waiting for it all to dry, before being generously hosed down with icy water. ‘You’ll feel wonderful,’ said the guide, so we convinced ourselves that we did. After that, the cruise was pure bliss, gliding through reed beds on emerald channels, past lonely fishermen, dramatic cliffs and ancient rock tombs which gleamed in the afternoon light. After an hour or so, we reached Iztuzu Beach, a broad sweep of sand where in the summer nights, loggerhead turtles come ashore to lay their eggs. By day, orange and blue parasols splash colour at the water’s edge and excited children paddle in the shallow surf or clamber in the dunes covered in oleanders.

I wondered if the beautiful Cleopatra ever discovered Turtle Beach but as we watched the sunset over the sea, sipping a glass or two of Villa Doluca under the trellis, we savoured our own Turkish Delights, a heady concoction of oriental charm and western comforts and the sweet taste of tangerines fresh from the tree.

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