A Turkey sizzler: Why Beyonce’s buzzy Bodrum is the summer’s hottest ticket

A gleaming speedboat zooms across a sparkling bay below a simple stone farmhouse half-­hidden among pine trees and olive groves.

It’s a peaceful scene familiar across much of the Bodrum peninsula. But, subtly, the area is being transformed: a gleaming hotel has quietly opened for business. ‘Turkey’s St Tropez’ has arrived.

Well, that might be overstating it, but the Amanruya — part of the celebrated Aman hotel group — joins the city’s glossy and ever-fashionable Macakizi and Kempinski Barbaros Bay hotels.

In 2014, the Mandarin Oriental will be there, too. Right on cue, the busy little port of Bodrum is having a facelift, and an international terminal opens at Milas-Bodrum Airport this summer.

Soon, you’ll be out of the airport and into Missoni beachwear within the hour. And with the economy ailing on the Greek island of Kos just a few miles away, it’s no wonder Bodrum is buzzing.

This seductively rugged part of the Turkish coast has long attracted big names, past and present. While music stars Beyonce and Jay-Z have come to love it in the 21st century, Antony and Cleopatra were drawn here long, long before the days of sleek retreats.

The ‘father of history’, Herodotus, also came from Bodrum, while Hippocrates, the ‘father of medicine’, was born on Kos.

Mausoleum and Bodrum Castle

Travellers of this era were well aware of the city — mainly because it played host to one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

Built in the mid-fourth century BC, the vast tomb of the local King Mausolus (he died in 353BC) was so opulent that the great man’s name gave us our word for a final resting place with style: mausoleum.  Legend has it that his tomb stood 45 metres high and was adorned with a wealth of sculptures and reliefs.

Sadly, little remains of the tomb today (a series of earthquakes was probably its undoing) beyond a small site a short walk away from the waterfront in Bodrum.

But it is still a quiet thrill to stroll among these scattered stones and columns, knowing that, in a distant time, this was a spot considered as important and beautiful as the Great Pyramid of Giza.

The mausoleum has not, though, disappeared entirely. Chunks of its masonry were recycled and used to build the Castle of St Peter, a 15th-­century Crusader fortress that still guards the harbour.

Like many tourists (the castle is surprisingly busy), I find myself drawn to this noble stronghold, with its towers and turrets, cool courtyards and stained glass windows.

Intriguingly, it also holds the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology, a fascinating pocket that displays artefacts — everything from gold goblets to wine-storing amphorae — found on ancient shipwrecks at the bottom of the Aegean.

Nearby Historical Sights

History buffs will find much to enjoy here. A second wonder of the ancient world — the remnants of the Temple of Artemis — are just three hours away at Ephesus.

So there’s plenty of history, but there’s also lots going on today. Below Bodrum Castle, stretching on from the moorings, are alleyways lined with shops and bars to suit all budgets, explaining why the population swells to 50,000 in the summer.

Bar Street, Bodrum

And while the hand of tourism has robbed the city of some of its authenticity — the long curve of Cumhuriyet Caddesi, otherwise known as Bar Street, is alive with noise at most hours of the day and night, thanks to the hordes of young British visitors who flock here — it is not hard to escape the throng.

Bodrum Back Streets

Step away back from the main drag and you quickly enter a quieter world of local homes with flowerpots perched on windowsills.

When I stroll around the shore to the edge of town, I’m able to eat just-caught seafood at Eksi, an unpretentious neighbourhood restaurant where tables are put out on the shingle.

Nor is the price of eating out high. Turkey’s position outside the eurozone remains a reason to be cheerful — and my laden lunch plate, with wine, comes to just 60 lira (about £20).

Local hotspots such as this dot the map. The following morning, I venture out to the tiny village of Gumusluk, at the western end of the peninsula.

 

   

 

© Source of the Original Article at the Daily Mail