Bodrum/Kiz Kumu

So, now that I’ve finished University I’m having a summer enjoying every moment and looking forward to starting my masters next year in London. Until then, I have a month in Turkey. I’ve just spent a week with my friends in Bodrum (South West) having an absolutely fantastic time staying in a small hotel by bar street. It has a terrace that looks over the beach and it is very good value for the amount you pay each night. I would recommend it to anyone. (Especially students and backpackers)

See: Merhaba Otel - http://www.merhabaotel.com/eng.php

After waking up with a few hangovers, ruining both my phones at a foam party (Halikarnas disco, the oldest disco in Bodrum – Mum said she used to go when she was my age), swimming every day and going on a boat trip, I now find myself in a small sea village called Bozburun with my parents.

Dad hired a car and from Bodrum we went on a ferryboat to cross over to Datça – this is where my grandparents have had a summer place for years and I have been going there since I was a baby. Everyone knows everyone, there are no tourists and it has a ‘blue flag’ beach (meaning it is one of the cleanest places in the world). I absolutely love it.

Anyway, we stayed there a night (I will be going back in a few days) but we thought that for a change we would drive around and stay in some bays we haven’t been to before. Yesterday we thought we’d drive to Bozburun and Selimiye, which are about an hour away from Datça and Marmaris. On the way, we stopped off at ‘Kız Kumu’, which is a beautiful place where there is sand in the middle of the sea across two bays, so when people walk across it, it looks as if people are walking on the water. From above (the mountains) the colour change below is fantastic, as you can see the red sand path dividing the deep blue sea on either side.

There is a myth behind this path. Apparently a King took over the pirate’s area and so the pirates were angered and killed the king. While the king’s daughter was trying to escape the wrath of the pirates, she collected sand in her skirt and tried to lay out a path for her to cross the sea (all because she didn’t know how to swim). Unfortunately, the story did not end well and she end up drowning because she ran out of sand. Sad times. I would recommend anyone to go to this place just because it feels quite magical walking around in the sand with sea on either side of you.
(Image used from: )

Next we ended up in Selimiye, which has a story of its own. This one however, isn’t a myth; it is our own opinion of one of the funniest places my parents and I have ever been to in our travels. This place has to have an entry of its own.