By Banu from Turkey, Summer 2007
27th July - 5th August 2007 My husband and I decided to have a relaxing week. We would take a week off at the end of July, so we didn’t want to go to a noisy, humid and crowded place. It would be nice if neither of us had been there before. He suggested that we should go to Datca. Datca is known for its 3B's - Bal, Badem, Balik - respectively honey, almond and fish. Also, the home of Cnidion Afrodite.
This trip report was originally published on SlowTrav.com.
I discovered the slow travel website in April when we were planning to go to Italy. I was searching for various information from travel to accommodations, museum information to sightseeing. Our visit to Italy was wonderful but it was not slow travel. Moreover, there were already so many resources that I could not dare to write about it although I wanted to.
At the end of July when we spent a week in a district well known by sailors for more than 20 years and seeing that there is not a single line about it on the Slow Travel yet, I wanted to share this trip with slow travelers. We spent one week in one place and we saw what was near us. There is more than what we saw so I tried to mention about those things as well; I hope you will enjoy reading it.
Datca is one of the districts of Mugla. Mugla, although a city, is not as well known as its districts such as Halikarnasus Bodrum, Marmaris, Dalyan and Datca. Actually one can spend a month within the city of Mugla, because all of its districts have their own character and they all offer so many different things to see and do. I think it is a very suitable destination regarding the slow travel philosophy.
You can go by road, by sea and by air. The closest arrival airports to Datca are Dalaman (167 km) and Bodrum (185 km). From the Dalaman-Airport you can take a taxi, bus or rent-a-car to get to Datca via Marmaris which takes approx. 2.5 hours. Although Dalaman seems to be closer for travelers, via Bodrum Airport there is a daily ferry and hydrofoil service from Bodrum to Datca (May-October). I would suggest you use this route.
As for sea travel to Datca, there are three alternatives: From Italy, from Greece and from Bodrum. This will certainly be a fascinating journey if you have the chance. We live in Istanbul so we preferred to go by road. It is a long journey around 12 to 13 hours. Intercity buses run hourly to Marmaris, thus connecting Datca via operating bus services. From Marmaris to Datca it takes almost 1.5 hours, the scene is wonderful.
The timetables can be found at Datca Info (see web resources). We took a bus leaving Istanbul on Friday evening. We arrived in Marmaris around 10am.
We planned to stay the first four nights at Palamutbuku, a bay on the way to the ancient city of Cnidus and stay in Datca for three nights. We would return on Saturday in the evening. We didn't make any plan for the last day so we would either stay in Datca or we could go to Marmaris early in the morning and spend Saturday in Marmaris.
Although Marmaris is a very touristy place and it has a famous grand bazaar, we wanted to go directly to Datca, so we didn’t leave the bus station. The bus fares are 10 YTL for one way one person (roughly $7). We got on a bus and our journey in the Datca peninsula started.
The journey from Marmaris to Datca passes through many interesting places, some of them have legends too. At Hisarönü Gulf on the 26th kilometer of the Marmaris-Datca highway we arrived to Balikasiran (which means "passing over fish"), where the Aegean and Mediterranean seas meet. In fact, you can view both seas at the same time. According to the legend, a fish caught here from the Aegean Sea could be transported alive to the Mediterranean Sea.
Then comes the Bencik Cove. It is at the narrowest point of the Datca peninsula, which separates Marmaris from Datca. Dislice is a rocky islet in the middle of the cove. When Persians invaded the Aegean coast in 450 B.C., they came to this area and so the cove is mentioned even by historian Herodot. The cove is protected from violent winds and is preferred by yachts. The cove’s east part belongs to Datca and west part to Marmaris.
It appears from looking at a map as if it could be split from the mainland at anytime. The distance between the two sides is as little as 800 meters. There were even plans in the past to cut a channel across the peninsula, thus turning Datca into an island. According to the historian Herodotus, the locals of ancient Knidos thought of digging up the narrow strip of land in the Balikasiran region and turning the area into an island after the Persians invaded Ionia. They tried very hard according to history but the peninsula resisted being separated from the mainland. Those who worked to break the stones and dig through the soil began to suffer from injuries to their eyes, forcing them to give up their efforts.
The scene is wonderful. I hope it stays like this for many more years.
The geographer Strabon said, "God would send his beloved servants to Datca to live longer". These words were not uttered in vain as a story told in the region confirms what Strabon wrote. Some 450 years ago, Spanish pirates sailing near the peninsula decided to throw members of their ship’s crew suffering from the plague off the vessel. They pulled in to Sarigerme Cove and left their dying crewmates. However, those who were left to die recovered thanks to the oxygen rich air of Datca. Legend has it that they founded a village on the foothills of Emecik Mountain, becoming one of the many peoples of these lands. However, in Emecik no one remembers the story and moreover they do not like it. It is not known whether the story is true or not but the fact is that the air of Datca makes one feel healthy. This may be why the Dorian people established more 50 settlements in the region. Some 2,700 years ago, the population of the peninsula surpassed 70,000. If you consider that today the population is under 15,000 you can see that there must have been an extraordinary civilization.
Back to or journey from Marmaris to Datca, after Bencik cove we passed through Değirmen Burnu (Wind Mill Cape). I marked that place as to be seen because of the interesting building and its spectacular chimneys which couldn't be seen from the road.
Then we passed through Gebekumu. I had read a lot about Gebekumu while I was gathering information about Datca. I was very excited to see it because nature created a dune landscape on the lovely Datca peninsula in south-west Turkey that is six million years old. The villagers have always called this natural wonder Gebekum (Pregnant Sand), as though they knew that the unique history of the Mediterranean Sea was buried within its sands. There is very detailed information at the resources about Gebekumu. I will not repeat them here but it is fascinating to be so close to a dune two kilometer long and up to 500 meter wide which dates back 6 million years. These dunes, according to research carried out by ecologists and geologists, as well as the forestry and soil scientist Prof. M. Doğan Kantarci, are six million years old. They have provided shelter for all life forms of that time until today, in the form of fossil deposits and thereby show us evidence of the past of the Mediterranean Sea. At the same time they offer an ecological system in which 19 species of birds and more than 100 plant species live (five of which are unique to this area), protected by sedimentary rocks which form a wall to stop the sea from reaching the dunes (the formation of the sedimentary rocks was made possible due to the lowering of the sea level and drying out of the deposited material.) For more information and photographs see resources.
At this point, I have to mention about the non-profit Society for Environment and Tourism in Datca called “DACEV” an NGO, without their hard work and insistence to finance nearly three kilometers of wire netting fencing would not be possible. The protective fencing to stop building constructors taking away the sand and car drivers’ from leaving their rubbish in the dunes, was able to be completed in early 2004.
After Gebekumu the road passes by several summer houses and the scene is very beautiful. There are olive and almond trees on the sides of the mountains. It is hard to try to explain with words really. There are small villages and locals got on and of the bus at some of them. I also heard that there are jeep safaris organized but we didn’t attend.
The journey lasted almost 1.5 hours and I was surprised when we arrived Datca bus station. We got off and took our bags. He looked at the Palamutbuku minibus timetable and told me that the minibuses worked bi-hourly.
I was already hungry. After sitting so many hours I also wanted to walk and get some fresh air. We had a whole week, no need to hurry to go to Palamutbuku, so we decided to have our late lunch in Datca and wander around a little then take the 17:00 minibus to go to Palamutbuku.
Datca location in Turkiye
27th July - 5th August 2007 My husband and I decided to have a relaxing week. We would take a week off at the end of July, so we didn’t want to go to a noisy, humid and crowded place. It would be nice if neither of us had been there before. He suggested that we should go to Datca. Datca is known for its 3B's - Bal, Badem, Balik - respectively honey, almond and fish. Also, the home of Cnidion Afrodite.
This trip report was originally published on SlowTrav.com.
Leaving For Datca
My husband and I decided to have a relaxing week. We would take a week off at the end of July, so we didn’t want to go to a noisy, humid and crowded place. It would be nice if neither of us had been there before. He suggested that we should go to Datca. Datca is known for its 3B's - Bal, Badem, Balik - respectively honey, almond and fish. We also remembered what the geographer Strabon said about Datca. Strabon, who was a historian, geographer and philosopher, is mostly famous for his 17-volume work Geographica, which presented a descriptive history of people and places from different regions of the world known to his era. He had said, "God would send his beloved servants to Datca to live longer," so we decided to go and see ourselves.I discovered the slow travel website in April when we were planning to go to Italy. I was searching for various information from travel to accommodations, museum information to sightseeing. Our visit to Italy was wonderful but it was not slow travel. Moreover, there were already so many resources that I could not dare to write about it although I wanted to.
At the end of July when we spent a week in a district well known by sailors for more than 20 years and seeing that there is not a single line about it on the Slow Travel yet, I wanted to share this trip with slow travelers. We spent one week in one place and we saw what was near us. There is more than what we saw so I tried to mention about those things as well; I hope you will enjoy reading it.
Datca is one of the districts of Mugla. Mugla, although a city, is not as well known as its districts such as Halikarnasus Bodrum, Marmaris, Dalyan and Datca. Actually one can spend a month within the city of Mugla, because all of its districts have their own character and they all offer so many different things to see and do. I think it is a very suitable destination regarding the slow travel philosophy.
You can go by road, by sea and by air. The closest arrival airports to Datca are Dalaman (167 km) and Bodrum (185 km). From the Dalaman-Airport you can take a taxi, bus or rent-a-car to get to Datca via Marmaris which takes approx. 2.5 hours. Although Dalaman seems to be closer for travelers, via Bodrum Airport there is a daily ferry and hydrofoil service from Bodrum to Datca (May-October). I would suggest you use this route.
As for sea travel to Datca, there are three alternatives: From Italy, from Greece and from Bodrum. This will certainly be a fascinating journey if you have the chance. We live in Istanbul so we preferred to go by road. It is a long journey around 12 to 13 hours. Intercity buses run hourly to Marmaris, thus connecting Datca via operating bus services. From Marmaris to Datca it takes almost 1.5 hours, the scene is wonderful.
The timetables can be found at Datca Info (see web resources). We took a bus leaving Istanbul on Friday evening. We arrived in Marmaris around 10am.
We planned to stay the first four nights at Palamutbuku, a bay on the way to the ancient city of Cnidus and stay in Datca for three nights. We would return on Saturday in the evening. We didn't make any plan for the last day so we would either stay in Datca or we could go to Marmaris early in the morning and spend Saturday in Marmaris.
Although Marmaris is a very touristy place and it has a famous grand bazaar, we wanted to go directly to Datca, so we didn’t leave the bus station. The bus fares are 10 YTL for one way one person (roughly $7). We got on a bus and our journey in the Datca peninsula started.
The journey from Marmaris to Datca passes through many interesting places, some of them have legends too. At Hisarönü Gulf on the 26th kilometer of the Marmaris-Datca highway we arrived to Balikasiran (which means "passing over fish"), where the Aegean and Mediterranean seas meet. In fact, you can view both seas at the same time. According to the legend, a fish caught here from the Aegean Sea could be transported alive to the Mediterranean Sea.
Then comes the Bencik Cove. It is at the narrowest point of the Datca peninsula, which separates Marmaris from Datca. Dislice is a rocky islet in the middle of the cove. When Persians invaded the Aegean coast in 450 B.C., they came to this area and so the cove is mentioned even by historian Herodot. The cove is protected from violent winds and is preferred by yachts. The cove’s east part belongs to Datca and west part to Marmaris.
It appears from looking at a map as if it could be split from the mainland at anytime. The distance between the two sides is as little as 800 meters. There were even plans in the past to cut a channel across the peninsula, thus turning Datca into an island. According to the historian Herodotus, the locals of ancient Knidos thought of digging up the narrow strip of land in the Balikasiran region and turning the area into an island after the Persians invaded Ionia. They tried very hard according to history but the peninsula resisted being separated from the mainland. Those who worked to break the stones and dig through the soil began to suffer from injuries to their eyes, forcing them to give up their efforts.
The scene is wonderful. I hope it stays like this for many more years.
The geographer Strabon said, "God would send his beloved servants to Datca to live longer". These words were not uttered in vain as a story told in the region confirms what Strabon wrote. Some 450 years ago, Spanish pirates sailing near the peninsula decided to throw members of their ship’s crew suffering from the plague off the vessel. They pulled in to Sarigerme Cove and left their dying crewmates. However, those who were left to die recovered thanks to the oxygen rich air of Datca. Legend has it that they founded a village on the foothills of Emecik Mountain, becoming one of the many peoples of these lands. However, in Emecik no one remembers the story and moreover they do not like it. It is not known whether the story is true or not but the fact is that the air of Datca makes one feel healthy. This may be why the Dorian people established more 50 settlements in the region. Some 2,700 years ago, the population of the peninsula surpassed 70,000. If you consider that today the population is under 15,000 you can see that there must have been an extraordinary civilization.
Back to or journey from Marmaris to Datca, after Bencik cove we passed through Değirmen Burnu (Wind Mill Cape). I marked that place as to be seen because of the interesting building and its spectacular chimneys which couldn't be seen from the road.
Then we passed through Gebekumu. I had read a lot about Gebekumu while I was gathering information about Datca. I was very excited to see it because nature created a dune landscape on the lovely Datca peninsula in south-west Turkey that is six million years old. The villagers have always called this natural wonder Gebekum (Pregnant Sand), as though they knew that the unique history of the Mediterranean Sea was buried within its sands. There is very detailed information at the resources about Gebekumu. I will not repeat them here but it is fascinating to be so close to a dune two kilometer long and up to 500 meter wide which dates back 6 million years. These dunes, according to research carried out by ecologists and geologists, as well as the forestry and soil scientist Prof. M. Doğan Kantarci, are six million years old. They have provided shelter for all life forms of that time until today, in the form of fossil deposits and thereby show us evidence of the past of the Mediterranean Sea. At the same time they offer an ecological system in which 19 species of birds and more than 100 plant species live (five of which are unique to this area), protected by sedimentary rocks which form a wall to stop the sea from reaching the dunes (the formation of the sedimentary rocks was made possible due to the lowering of the sea level and drying out of the deposited material.) For more information and photographs see resources.
At this point, I have to mention about the non-profit Society for Environment and Tourism in Datca called “DACEV” an NGO, without their hard work and insistence to finance nearly three kilometers of wire netting fencing would not be possible. The protective fencing to stop building constructors taking away the sand and car drivers’ from leaving their rubbish in the dunes, was able to be completed in early 2004.
After Gebekumu the road passes by several summer houses and the scene is very beautiful. There are olive and almond trees on the sides of the mountains. It is hard to try to explain with words really. There are small villages and locals got on and of the bus at some of them. I also heard that there are jeep safaris organized but we didn’t attend.
The journey lasted almost 1.5 hours and I was surprised when we arrived Datca bus station. We got off and took our bags. He looked at the Palamutbuku minibus timetable and told me that the minibuses worked bi-hourly.
I was already hungry. After sitting so many hours I also wanted to walk and get some fresh air. We had a whole week, no need to hurry to go to Palamutbuku, so we decided to have our late lunch in Datca and wander around a little then take the 17:00 minibus to go to Palamutbuku.
Datca location in Turkiye
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