Turkey has 8,000kms of dramatic coastline, turquoise seas and pine-clad mountains. The people are friendly, the culture is rich, and the climate is lovely. Add to this good investment potential, a long rental season, and a low cost of living.
Climate of Turkey
Turkey's Aegean and Mediterranean coasts have very hot and dry summers, and wet, mild winters. The coastal towns more or less shut down between October and April. Winter in Istanbul and Cappadocia can be very cold with a dusting of snow. During the peak tourist season (between June and September) mosquitoes can be a problem. Spring and autumn are the best times to visit, as the climate is still hot, but not unbearable.
Mountains close to the coast prevent Mediterranean influences from extending inland, giving the interior of Turkey a continental climate with distinct seasons. In Bodrum and Fethiye, the temperature is about 30°C during the summer months, and generally over 10°C during the winter. Sea temperature never falls under 16°C.
Getting there
Fethiye
For the resorts of Fethiye, Marmaris, Oludeniz and Kalkan, the closest airport is Dalaman. Charter flights go direct to Dalaman from some international destinations in summer. Alternatively, Istanbul and Ankara have more international flights and daily links with Dalaman. Dalaman, however, closes to international flights during the winter.
Dalaman is about 31m north west of Fethiye, which takes about 45 minutes by car. Dalaman to Kalkan is about 2.5 hours by car.
The alternative route for Fethiye is via Antalya Havalimani airport, about 2.5 hours away by car. Antalya has daily flights to/from Ankara, Istanbul and (in summer) several European cities.
Bodrum
For Bodrum, Gumusluk, Gumbet and Yalikavak, Bodrum Milas airport is closest. The airport is about 36km north-east of Bodrum, or 30-45 minutes drive. Bodrum airport closes to international flights in the winter. You can get a bus to Bodrum from just about anywhere - it's 4 hours to Izmir by road. There are frequent ferries to Kos in summer, and a hydrofoil to Rhodes between May and September.
Cuisine
Turkish cuisine is a pleasant surprise for the visitor. Everyone associates Turkey with kebabs - plain or marinated meat either stewed or grilled - but tasting them in Turkey may be a revelation! Lamb is the basic meat of the Turkish kitchen. Pieces of lamb threaded on a skewer and grilled over charcoal form the famous "shish kebab". "Doner kebab" is a roll of lamb on a vertical skewer turning parallel to a hot grill.
The aubergine is used in a wide variety of dishes from "patlican salatasi" (eggplant salad) to "patlican dolmasi" (stuffed eggplants). It can be cooked with onions, garlic and tomatoes and served cold as "imam bayildi".
A delicious Turkish speciality is "pilav", a rice dish which is difficult for the inexperienced cook to prepare. Generally made of rice, but also of bulgur (cracked wheat) or sehriye (vermicelli), pilav is one of the mainstays of the Turkish table. The rice should not be sticky but separate into individual grains. It may include aubergines, chick peas, beans or peas.
"Börek" are pies of flaky pastry stuffed with meat, cheese or potatoes. Thinly rolled pastry, often the paper-thin variety known as yufka, is wrapped around various savoury fillings or arranged in layers. Boreks can be fried, baked, cooked on a griddle or boiled. Traditionally it was said that no girl should marry until she had mastered the art of börek making. In the form of rolls filled with cheese or minced meat mixtures and fried, böreks are known as "sigara (cigarette) boregi". Böreks should be light and crisp, without a trace of excess oil.
Turkish sweets are famous throughout the world and many of these have milk as the basic ingredient. The best-known is "baklava". Turkish coffee comes thick and dark in a small cup and may be served without sugar, with a little sugar or with a lot of sugar. Either way, it is truly delicious. If you like alcohol you can try "raki" made of anise and known locally as "lions drink" because you must be strong as a lion to drink it!
Things To Do
The Turkish people have an unrivalled reputation for hospitality, the cuisine is delicious, and the coastline is a dream. There's an enormous variety of things to see and do in Turkey, ranging from water sports to mountain trekking, archaeology to night-clubbing, and river rafting to raki drinking.
Istanbul, Turkey's largest city, is the only city in the world that sits on two continents, and it offers an abundance of fascinating attractions, including the Bosphorus Strait, the Blue Mosque, the Topkapi Palace and the Grand Bazaar.
From the Dardanelles to the fairytale castle and sunny beaches of Bodrum, the Aegean shores of Turkey are among the loveliest landscapes in Turkey. The highlights of an Aegean tour are the site of the legendary Trojan War, ancient Pergamon, once a great centre of culture and now one of Turkey's finest archeological sites, Ephesus, the capital of Roman Asia Minor which was dedicated to the goddess Artemis whose temple was one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and Pamukkale, a unique fairyland of dazzlingly white calcified castles.
Antalya province on the Mediterranean coast is Turkey's principal holiday region and a paradise for sunbathing, swimming and sports. Nearby, ancient theatres can be found in a remarkable state of preservation at Aspendos and Perge, and visitors can tour the sunken city of Simena in Kekova. Remains of ancient Lycian cities such as Xanthos, Myra and Apollonia are also within easy traveling distance.
Cappadocia in central Anatolia is one of the most fantastic landscapes in the world, and one of the most popular tourist destinations in Turkey. The area's early Christian inhabitants used its remarkable rock formations to create churches and underground cities in which to hide from their persecutors.
