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Turkey is a vast country and there’s more to see than this corner known as the Bodrum Peninsula, so I’m starting a Postcard series to showcase other destinations in different parts of Turkey. We’re kicking off the series with a selection of guest posts from memoir author Jacky Donovan.

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Location Location Location

At just over $100 per night, the guesthouse room I’m staying in is ludicrously expensive for Turkey (and for me!) given it’s very basic, with poor wifi and lousy food (although breakfast wasn’t bad), but somehow the charm of the location overrides everything else and it feels idyllic. And a comfy armchair on my balcony overlooking the sea helps.

All the accommodation looks similar (tiny guesthouses with a handful of rooms—mine has four) and the café menus I’ve seen are dull and limited. My meal last night looked more like something someone had just brought up rather than a tasty dish ready to be devoured, but it tasted OK, albeit disappointing. I saw one café owner gutting freshly caught fish so maybe that’s tastier than the veggie option, if you like fish…

I’ve pushed the boat out financially (and almost literally too, as you can only reach my current destination by boat) and am staying in Kaleköy, or castle village (aka Simena, it’s Lycian name), which lies in a Lycian necropolis now partially under water.

It’s a picturesque and tiny little place that straggles up a hillside, and the options to occupy yourself are to wander the rocky narrow paths through it, clamber up to the castle (built by the Knights of St John from Rhodes) or tombs, laze around, swim, canoe, sail or eat and drink.

There’s no transport in the village whatsoever, unless you count a pulley system that drags luggage up to one of the guesthouses higher up the hillside. You can see the entire place in an hour or two, and the supermarket is about the size of an average bedroom. And yet it’s a perfect place to while away a couple of days. It’s at its best between 5 p.m. and 10 a.m. when the day tourists leave, and the light first thing in the morning must be a photographer’s dream as it makes everything look even lovelier.

It was blissfully quiet as I wandered around before 7:30 a.m., feeling as if I was the only person there. The rest of the time, the hum of tourist boats coming and going, the chatter of the people they disgorge who wander around the place or visit the cafes for drinks and ice cream, brings the place to life but breaks the serenity.

Online reviews show that people either love or loathe staying here. Anyone who didn’t read fully about the location and therefore expects a swish hotel with posh meals for their $100+ is sorely disappointed, whilst those who knew what to expect accept the inflated price and enjoy the scruffy yet charming feel.

I dithered about lashing out financially on a trip here, but am glad I came as I’m loving it. I’m an expert at doing bugger all so feel at home here spending hours each day just reading and watching the boating world pootle by from my comfy armchair on my balcony.

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About Jacky Donovan

Jacky currently spends her time between backpacking the world and her home in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. She’s an author of an erotic and humorous personal memoir, “Smart as a Whip”, and also writes books about heroic pets. Her latest books, “Simon Ships Out” and “Smoky” — the memoirs of the world’s first celebrity cat and dog respectively — are Amazon No.1 bestsellers. Visit Jacky’s Amazon Author page for more information about her books.