Turkey is a vast country and there’s more to see than this corner known as the Bodrum Peninsula, so I’m starting a Postcard series to showcase other destinations in different parts of Turkey. We’re continuing the series with a selection of guest posts from memoir author Jacky Donovan.
Exploring Dalyan
Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside AND just messing about on the river, and in the small town of Dalyan (located along the Calbys river which runs from the Köycegiz Lake to Iztuzu Beach on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast), I get to do both.
And, even better, my mediocre hotel has a terrific roof terrace with views across the river to the crumbling façades of Lycian tombs cut into the rock around 400 BC.
A 30-minute ferry ride takes you to the beach but, still in avoiding-unmasked-people mode, I fixed up a private, and not wildly expensive, private boat trip for a few hours yesterday that took me up to the lake, then back down the canal to the beach where I had a walk along my first sandy beach in Turkey, the ones so far having been pebbly.
The beach is well known for the endangered Loggerhead sea turtle that’s existed for about 45 million years. It achieved worldwide notoriety in the 1980s when Prince Philip, who was president of the WWF at the time, helped stop the construction of a hotel complex there after being approached by numerous naturalists including David Bellamy OBE.
The boat also stopped on the way back so I could walk along the riverside and up to Kaunos, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List, and wander around some of the ruins of the ancient city, which include the remains of a Byzantine church.
Dalyan itself is full of cafes, restaurants and bars, many of them idyllically situated along the riverside, though it’s sad to see so many empty along with hundreds of idle boats, tourism having taken a COVID nosedive.
Weirdly, all foreign tourists I’ve heard are from the north of England or Scotland and, like in Marmaris, which I wasn’t keen on a few days ago, there’s a plethora of signs for fish’n’chips, full English breakfasts and cheap beer. I’m sure many people will prefer Marmaris which was bigger and, on the whole, more swish and upmarket with its large hotels and bar scene, but I prefer the scruffier, more local feel of Dalyan.
And, for no apparent reason, my fellow Brits have thankfully been dressed, rather than half-clad, and, so far anyway, haven’t been hollering at each other like those I encountered in Marmaris, so I’m really enjoying my time here.
About Jacky Donovan
Jacky currently spends her time between backpacking the world and her home in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. She’s an author of an erotic and humorous personal memoir, “Smart as a Whip”, and also writes books about heroic pets. Her latest books, “Simon Ships Out” and “Smoky” — the memoirs of the world’s first celebrity cat and dog respectively — are Amazon No.1 bestsellers. Visit Jacky’s Amazon Author page for more information about her books.
Getting to Dalyan from Bodrum
It takes under three hours to get from Bodrum to Dalyan by car.
Your other options are to take a public coach/bus to Ortaca and take local transport or a taxi to Dalyan. Visit the Bodrum Otogar where all of the Turkey bus companies have their ticket offices and check the current times and prices. Alternatively, visit one of the travel agents in town to arrange a day trip tour to Dalyan (it’s a 14 hour day trip), which will include an early start and a trip to the mud baths in Dalyan!
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