Top 10 Reasons We Love The Turkish Riviera
We made it to Turkey! As Kenya turned towards summer, we flew from Africa to Asia for the third and final time, to spend winter in the area known as the Turkish Riviera. It’s a beautiful jumping-off point for our sail, and it’s a good place to get work done (I meant on the boat, but turns out it’s also a hub of medical tourism!). I originally fell in love with Istanbul in 2009, when Chrissy and Senol were planning their wedding. This area of Turkey has much of the same old/new attributes, with a small-town vibe and a true Mediterranean climate. I may never leave.
10. Citrus Trees Grow Everywhere In the yard of our airbnb, we have kumquats, grapefruits, oranges and lemons. The trees are full and the fruit is ripe, dripping off the limbs like jewels. We found a juicer and over two months, we picked the grapefruit tree dry. Proving that knowing where your food comes from makes a difference, Jordan discovered he likes kumquats. The weather is delightfully mild to support these trees and all over town there are fruit trees just full of fruit - so much of it that it’s free for the taking. It will be painful to spend money buying lemons in the future….
9. Our Neighbor Walks His Cow. Our airbnb is in a little farming village nestled in rocky hills against the ocean. Chickens roam freely, at 5pm two sheep run home from the pasture trailing their leashes and owner, and one day we walked by a house in time to see a newborn lamb get to its feet for the first time. My favorite, though, is the milk cow who gets walked on a leash to graze each day. I don’t speak enough Turkish to tell my neighbors how delighted I am by their life and how much I love their animals, so I just say over and over, ‘çok guzel’ (very nice) and take photos.
8. Cats On the subject of animals, I will include this for the kids. Turkey takes good care its stray cats and dogs; they are friendly and well fed. The kids are obsessed. Feeding them, petting them, stopping for them. Any outing takes twice the time because we have to stop for every cat we see and fight over who it likes better. My dislike of cats grows in direct proportion to my kids’ love of them.
7. Ancient Ruins Are Everywhere Tombs built into the rock face 6,000 years ago, ancient cities next to new, the Lycian Way - a main highway system thousands of years ago and still in use today. This area is full of amazing history. Santa Claus was born here (fact!). In fact, there are so many ruins that it would be impossible to treat them all as museums and they are part of the juxtaposition of old and new that makes Turkey so spectacular.
6. Beautiful Landscape The water is clear and turquoise (turkuaz), the sea is dotted with hilly islands, the beaches are wide and prolific, and the rocky cliffs keep watch over the coast. It is no wonder two of the seven wonders of the world are here and this area is literally the home of legends.
5. Walkable Cities Our little town of Gocek is like living in a Whole Foods in Epcot City. It is beautiful, clean, touristy and expensive, all of which make it a lovely place to visit. But we love Fethiye, a larger town nearby but equally walkable, with more of a real-life feel and real-life prices.
4. Biggest Playground Ever One of the top reasons we love Fethiye is the śehit Fethi Bey waterfront park. Part of a developed boardwalk that runs along the water, it includes running paths, bike paths, a huge skate park and a playground full of slides, climbing towers, trampolines built into the ground, streams and bridges, free lending libraries and plenty of hammocks and well-designed spots to rest. The toilets are always clean and the snack bar sells quality (fresh-baked) treats. It is a magnificent use of public space and a wonderful place to lose your children!
3. Affordable Health Care Do not under estimate socialized medicine. As far as I’m concerned, the tagline should be “Caring for patients over making money.” Feel free to disagree in the comments. :) I can buy all of my kids’ meds for a month for under $15, and they are all OTC here, but they are Rx and hundreds of dollars with insurance in the states. Jordan got stitches and antibiotics in a private hospital emergency room with NO WAIT for under $700 (and we’ve been told this is very high even for a private hospital). But even at that price, it’s without insurance, explanations, copays, pharmacy lines, etc.
2. Friendliest People In The World Obviously we’re biased because of our awesome brother-in-law and his hospitable family, but Turks are truly kind and friendly people. On all of our travels, Turkey is the only place people approach us to have a conversation. When Jordan is upset on the street, elderly women give him chocolate. Hitchhiking is a means of transportation. We met a Turkish-American family at the bazaar who introduced us to their friends who introduced us to their aesthetician and carpenter and, well, basically, we have an entire Turkish community now with whom we regularly socialize. A theme of our travel: thank goodness for new friends!
1. Delicious Food Turkish food is so.damn.good. It is fresh. It is inexpensive. The breads will give France a run for their money. Turkish bagels, a round bread covered in sesame seeds called Simit, is divine. We know where to get the best and when to show up to get it warm; dip it in a mix of tahini and molasses and it’s last-meal-worthy. The cheese, olives, yogurt, meze…we plan our lives around our next meal. Also, instead of the ice cream truck, there is a baklava truck. Mic drop.
BONUS: Randomly around town or at the bazaar, a vendor will be giving out small individual trays piled high with fried dough balls rolled in honey (Lokma). We would take one and try to pay but were waved away. They are free and you can have as many as you want. We know, because Jordan snuck away and ate 60 (his count). Turns out, people hire the Lokma vendor to commemorate a loved one on the anniversary of their birthday or death.
So, I challenge you to find a better place than a country where you remember your loved one by serving free fried dough and happiness to people you don’t even know. That is Turkey in one sweet bite.
