A Week on The Turkish Riviera

Apologies for my absence from Blogland, we've been sunning ourselves on the Turkish Riviera!

I first visited Türkiye in 1988. I was 22 and it was only my third foreign holiday - I didn't travel abroad until I was 20 and able to pay my own way. The country had just opened up to package tourism, there were camel caravans wandering the plains and Bedouin encampments dotted around the fledgling tourist resorts. To reach the ancient city of Ephesus I had to swim part of the way, marvelling at the Roman columns, marble busts and shards of amphora in the river beneath me. Travelling between Altinkum & Kuşadasi on the way to the thermal pools at Pamukkale, I stood on the rooftop of my guesthouse bewitched by the call to prayer from a nearby mosque, it was the most exotic and exciting place I'd ever visited. Thirteen years later, in 2001, I travelled to Atalaya & Side with Jon and although Türkiye had become a lot more touristy in the intervening years, it still enchanted me. When we walked to the bakery in the village to pick up freshly baked bread for our breakfast, drivers would pull over and give us a ride back. Us emerging from the back of bread vans, milk trucks or newspaper lorries every morning astonished the other guests who never seemed to venture further than the hotel pool. 

24 years on and seduced by the glossy TV adverts for the Turkish Riviera, Jon booked a too-good-to-miss last minute package deal for a week in Marmaris, an area of Türkiye I'd not previously visited. We arrived last Friday to rain so torrential that the plane had to circle the runway for an hour before it could land. This continued for a large part of our 90 minute minibus ride but, just as we approached our destination, the rain stopped, the sun came out and we gasped in pleasure at the vista that greeted us. Marmaris really was as beautiful as the advertisements had led us to believe.

Our accommodation for the next seven nights was a self-catering studio apartment in one of Tui's Small and Friendly hotels, located in a residential district a short walk from the city centre. Us and another couple were their first guests of the 2025 tourist season and we were given a rapturous welcome and free cocktails - although I think the staff were somewhat perplexed by Jon & I only having carry-on bags - forget the centuries of culture and the crystal clear waters of the Southern Aegean, along with the cheap cosmetic procedures, the reason why the vast majority of British package tourists visit Türkiye is to shop for knock-off goods (sad but true). 

Our plans to wander around Marmaris and eat on the seafront were curtailed by yet more torrential rain and a particularly violent thunderstorm so we took advantage of the on-site restaurant, delighted to discover that in the 24 years since I'd last visited Türkiye, vegetarian food was more widely available. The vegetable casserole was delicious. (Shame about Sky News & the Inger-land flags in the background!)

The hotel staff had promised us that the rest of the week would be dry and warm and they didn't let us down. It was already in the low 20°s when we walked down to the minimarket to stock up on fresh fruit and yoghurt and we enjoyed our first breakfast of the holiday outside, admiring the mountains views from our balcony. 

Check out the shirtless bloke in the background...unfortunately that seems to be standard for British tourists in Marmaris.

We headed down to the seafront, spending a few hours alongside the locals on the public beach - no sunbeds, no amplified music - bliss! 

I braved the Aegean for a half-mile swim (which I repeated after lunch). 

Lunch was Greek Salad for me and a chicken salad for Jon accompanied by iced cold pints of Efes.

We worked off lunch with a walk around the harbour. Marmaris is world renowned for its pine honey, hence the statue.... 

We had a bit more rain in the evening but it had dried up when we headed out for the night. 

Walking along the strip, running the gamut of touts trying to drag us into British-themed bars with the promise of two for one cocktails, burgers and all-night dancing, we spent the evening in the chilled and low-key Felix, drinking Efes beer & sharing pizza, a favourite hang-out for stylish Turks. 

And that was our first two nights, stay tuned for more!