The Sunday Times - July 10, 2005
Cultured, charming, chic: it's Turkey for the connoisseur
It's always offered fine scenery, great value and a warm welcome. Now a new generation of hotels means Turkey is cool, too, says Jeremy Seal.
With its unrivalled slew of historical sites, great scenery and underrated cuisine, not to mention an instinct for hospitality that makes rival destinations seem positively surly, Turkey has bags to offer. For that very reason, it’s been expanding fast, and some travellers have been put off by the crass overdevelopment around Oludeniz and Marmaris.
They’re missing out: the country extends far beyond these occasional blights. On unspoilt Mediterranean headlands, little-visited coves and remote hillsides, a new generation of imaginative and free-thinking Turkish and expat hoteliers is providing a range of holiday accommodation that could not be more different from the concrete hulks of the past.
Now is an excellent time to make new discoveries in a country whose great asset was always value, but which can increasingly compete on lodgings as well. Here’s our guide to the best stays, from Bodrum east to Antalya, and inland into the cedar-clad Taurus Mountains — for everyone from money-no-object honeymooners to families on a budget and back-country backpackers..........................................
DATCA PENINSULA
The Untouched Coast
This peninsula to the south of Bodrum has long been isolated by its unwieldy geography. Even with improvements taking place along the notoriously poor access road, it’s twice as quick to take the daily car ferry from Bodrum as it is to drive.
This virtual island remains a wild and heavily wooded frontier region, famous for its three Turkish Bs, balik, bal and badem: fish, honey and almonds. It’s also home to one of Turkey’s most remarkable new hotels.
The Mehmet Ali Ağa Konagi, in Resadiye, 10 minutes’ drive from the restaurants and shops of Datca, opened earlier this year as a museum-hotel, but don’t be put off by the tag. This exquisitely restored 19th-century mansion, standing in its own walled grounds, is a rare thing in Turkey — a heritage hotel that is also luxurious and thoroughly welcoming.
It has extensive rose gardens, a hammam and ornately painted and engraved public rooms. Its Elaki Restaurant (about £25 per head) serves arresting local dishes; after 20 years’ travel in Turkey, I came across two dishes for the first time on the same evening here: a salad of a local samphire tossed in garlic, followed by a pudding of soft cheese and crushed carob-pod balls.
The hotel is an incomparable base from which to explore the peninsula to its western end at Knidos, the antique city once famed for its loin-stirring statue of Aphrodite.
At the Golden Key Bordubet 20 miles west of Marmaris, the grandeur is natural rather than architectural — and it makes for an enticingly different type of beach holiday.
The 22-room hotel lies deep in pine woods, on a river a few bends above the sea; paddle your own canoe or take the regular boat service through the reed beds to the private beach club nearby, where a range of watersports is available.
This green and shaded retreat abounds in wildlife, notably birds and the turtles that bask along the riverbanks; a setting so captivating, you’re unlikely to notice the unspectacular rooms.
The next finger of land along the coast is the undeveloped Bozburun peninsula, where you will find the village of Sogut .....................
FARALYA TO KABAK
Walk the coast
The vertiginous mountain road east out of Oludeniz was tarmacked this year, improving access to the remote hamlet of Faralya....... Faralya is at the centre of a network of trekking trails....
Nearby, at the foot of a chassis-shattering descent that leads to a forest clearing, just above the water, is Oyster Residence, Faralya, which opened this year: seven double rooms arranged around a pool, a garden and a spectacular vegetable patch (they taste as good as they look), complete with a private beach and shaded stone or wooden platforms arranged along the low cliff above it. Natural simplicity of the most beguiling kind.
TAURUS MOUNTAINS
Inland escapes
The foothills of the Taurus Mountains — verdant, rustic and tranquil — are increasingly an option for visitors looking to escape the comparative heat and hassle of the coast.
Self-catering villas and cottages, a popular option in Turkey, are a particular feature of the hillside village of Islamlar........and include the heavenly Uzum Evi, a two-bedroom village house with an infinity pool.
Islamlar has its own working mill and a number of riverside restaurants. Try the fresh farmed trout at Bodamya Tepe — at £2 a portion, it’s better value than the pricey seafood along the coast.
KALKAN TO ANTALYA
Local style
Kalkan may have suffered, but it remains home to one of Turkey’s most memorable small hotels: the 13-room Villa Mahal. The hotel clings to a steep hillside that plunges into the sea; rooms, restaurants, bars and beach club all occupy a tumble of terraces, where olive trees provide the shade.
The light-filled rooms are superb, with exceptional sea views. Guests usually dine on platforms just above the sea, and an infinity pool was added this year. Winningly stylish, but not for children.
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SPORTS AND ACTIVITIES
Fethiye and Kas are the centres for Turkey’s wide range of outdoor activities. Fethiye offers paragliding off the 6,500ft Mount Baba Dag and rafting the Dalaman River and Kas offers canyoning, sea kayaking and diving........................................
Jeremy Seal travelled as a guest of Exclusive Escapes and Turkish Airlines