{"id":52712,"date":"2025-07-19T22:40:22","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T21:40:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/?p=52712"},"modified":"2025-07-19T22:40:28","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T21:40:28","slug":"from-my-turkey-travel-journal-two-days-in-marmaris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/from-my-turkey-travel-journal-two-days-in-marmaris\/","title":{"rendered":"From My Turkey Travel Journal: Two Days in Marmaris"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The day began with a road. We are driving south \u2013 to where the land itself goes into the sea. The narrow sand spit K\u0131z-Kumu in the village of Orhaniye looks like an illusion: knee-deep water, sand underfoot, and all around \u2013 calm covered by morning haze. A beautiful legend is associated with this place: according to one version, a girl, escaping from pirates, poured sand from her hem to escape by sea, but there was not enough sand, and she died. According to another version, she was in a hurry to her lover, making a path through the water, but drowned when the sand ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Rina Ilina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo by Rina Ilina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Next up is Turgut, where a waterfall cascades over rocks with lazy determination. There\u2019s no point in talking here, it\u2019s better to listen: to the water, the wind, the rustling of the trees. And then the city\u2019s tension will disappear as naturally as the sun behind the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Rina Ilina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo by Rina Ilina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lunch in Selimiye \u2013 at a table in the family winery Asarc\u0131k Ba\u011flar\u0131. This is a place where time doesn\u2019t speed up, but rather flows. And it seems that everything is served this way here: wine, food, conversation. Without haste. With taste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Rina Ilina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo by Rina Ilina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo by Rina Ilina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the village of Bayyr, we drink tea with sage under a plane tree that is almost two thousand years old. A real ritual: not so much for the taste, but for a pause.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Photo by Rina Ilina
Sage tea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

And then Osmaniye and a meeting with honey that smells of the sun. At the Honey House, a museum and laboratory of local beekeeping, honey is not tasted, but is kept alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Rina Ilina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo by Rina Ilina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo by Rina Ilina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The next day is already businesslike! The morning begins with an official visit to the Marmaris City Hall, where we are received by Mayor Acar \u00dcnl\u00fc. The prospects for cultural exchange, the promotion of Marmaris as an international destination and the attractiveness of the region for British tourists are discussed. The speeches show a sincere interest in cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Photo by Rina Ilina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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\u201cWe are trying to introduce Marmaris to a wider audience and tell the world about our attractions. Our goal is to make Marmaris an international city, a resort for people dreaming of an ideal holiday,\u201d emphasizes Mayor Acar \u00dcnn\u00fc.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

And again adventures around Marmaris. Breakfast on the terrace of Cennet Restaurant, right by the water, like a scene from an old movie: white bread, meze, olives.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Photo by Rina Ilina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Boat rafting on the Kad\u0131n Azma\u011f\u0131 River: below \u2013 algae under a crystal stream, above \u2013 the rustling of leaves, next to you \u2013 the breath of water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Rina Ilina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo by Rina Ilina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo by Rina Ilina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And then there was the hay-smelling Padok, where the horses lazily nibbled the grass, and we, a little awkwardly, tried ourselves in the saddle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Rina Ilina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo by Rina Ilina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By evening, we are on the road again. This time towards the marina in Orhaniye. We are going to a concert. The Mugla Municipality Symphony Orchestra is playing in the open air, against the backdrop of rocks and waves, like the final scene of a Greek myth, where all the heroes have already survived their tragedies, and only the music and the landscape remain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Rina Ilina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo by Rina Ilina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These two days were the end of a short but eventful trip. We saw cities, villages and islands, sights and festivals. Resort life as a presentation \u2013 and the reality of daily work. There was a little formality \u2013 and a lot of simple human participation. T\u00fcrkiye opened up not only as a place of rest, but as a country in which regions are developed and international relations are built.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marmaris always brings with it certain expectations \u2013 yachts, beaches, a pulsating resort rhythm. But the real depth of this place is not immediately revealed, and certainly not through the glass of a tourist bus. Accompanied by Deputy Mayor Sidat Kirt, we spent two days here, seeing not the facade, but the heart of the city and its surroundings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":52556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[144,159],"tags":[],"type_post":[184],"column":[],"class_list":["post-52712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52712"},{"taxonomy":"type_post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/type_post?post=52712"},{"taxonomy":"column","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/column?post=52712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}