Chase the Sunshine at Datça Peninsula
Jane from Chasing the Sunshine blog is a semi-retired teacher. In 2005, in a moment of self-confessed madness, she bought a holiday home by the sea in the Turkish town of Datça.
From her terrance, she can see the Med, the Greek islands of Symi and Rhodes, as well as the Bozburun peninsula, the mountains, and the town of Datça.
You can reach the Datça Peninsula, via a ferry from Bodrum, and her #1 pick has been on my “must visit” list for a couple of years. Her Top 5 picks include a great cross section of locations and activities on the Datça Peninsula, and has made me even more determined to make time for Datça.
Knidos
Set in a fantastic position at the end of the Datça peninsula. You can watch the sun rise and set from this place. It was once a city of love and the naked statue of Aphrodite was to be found here. Sadly it was lost.
Another famous statue is The Lion of Knidos can be seen at the British Museum.
The easiest way to visit this site is to hire a car in Datça and drive there. It takes about 45 minutes from the town over mountains. The views are spectacular. In summer boat trips go there or you can summon a taxi and last year friends paid 100 lira for the return taxi trip and 2 hours at the site.
Take stout shoes as the ground is uneven.
Datça Saturday Market
A colourful, bustling affair set in the side streets in town. Folk come from miles around to sell their wares or shop during the summer season. A boat brings visitors from the Greek Island of Symi.
Lunch at Ogun’s Place
Ogun is famous in the yachting community and sailors from all over the world stop off to sample the delicious food cooked by his sister Semra. Ogun and his sister started the restaurant when they were children!
This is a nice place to stop off at on the way back from Knidos.
This was once a Greek village. Since the Greeks left in 1923, the houses fell into disrepair but in recent years many have been beautifully restored. It is a charming place to wander through with a few shops and cafes.
A friend of mine wandered into a garden where there were ladies drinking tea, he asked for tea and a lady brought him a glass. He thought it was a café but it was just a group of ladies gathering in a garden! They were amused by his mistake.
If you are feeling fit, take your walking boots and climb up into the hills behind the village. The views are out of this world and coupled with wild flowers and the smell of herbs, it is a magical experience.
A long stretch of sand and dunes just before you get to the town. Gebekum (Pregnant Sands) are teaming with wild flowers, insects, birds and other creatures. It is a protected area but there are a few buildings there including two windsurfing/ kite surfing schools.
You can hop on a dolmus in town and be there in about 15 minutes.
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Morning Jay – we popped over to Datcha last year (2019) on the ferry from Bodrum and as it happened took an up to date photo of your lead photo above. Looking at the planning it seemed a bit daunting, but reviewed and decided to go by foot rather than take the car – not a bad shout. The ease of this was so surprising … popped into Yalikavak Travel where we literally paid, got given a post-it note of confirmation, told to go to the Bodrum harbour ticket desk by the mosque and “they will know” your booking … and yes it was that simple 😀The fact that there is a bus service included on arrival of the ferry at the other end, to get you to the other side of the Datcha peninsula again means this is so easy – just get off at the end of the route (old Datcha). What a wonderful place with a great coast line walk. Next time we’ll take the car to get to the site seeing beauty of the peninsula (Kinados)
Thanks for the information about your trip – glad you enjoyed it. I’m hoping to go there next month.