I’m pleased to welcome back Kathleen from Koppers as a Guest Blogger on BPTG.  Today she’s sharing her touring adventures of the Bodrum Peninsula, from the back of a bike.

Heading West out of Bodrum

by Kathleen at Kopppers Blog on Travel Pod

I was able to persuade Konrad to throw caution to the wind and hit the open road.  Bodrum was full of motorbikes … so it was easy to find a rental for a reasonable price (25TL — about $18 — for a day).

The trickiest part was the initial push out of the city.  To head west, we had to take a main highway, which was packed with cars, trucks, and semis.

We elbowed our way through and stayed on the road, and after about 30 minutes, we found an absolutely deserted coastal road to turn off onto.

For much of the day, we would be more or less alone on the road, left to enjoy the seemingly infinite stretch of the stunning sapphire Aegean by ourselves.

The road rolled through several coastal towns and villages, winding up and down the mountains which cover the Bodrum Peninsula.  The road, which isn’t the main thoroughfare for the area, was under construction and completely torn up in places.

To say that the vistas we were treated to along the way were gorgeous is selling the area and the experience short – they were so much more than that.

Turgutreis for lunch

We didn’t make any great progress initially and worried that we would only get to see a portion of the peninsula.  By lunchtime, we had only made it to Turgutreis, and started to look at alternatives routes.

After noshing on some borek, a traditional Turkish pastry (terribly tasty, yet certain to be devastating to the waistline), we climbed back on the bike and followed the coast as it curved north.  As we drove through the towns and villages between Turgutreis and Gümüşlük, I started to dream about returning and renting a place along the coast for a week… or a month… or a year…

Gümüşlük for Shopping

We stopped in Gümüşlük and walked down by the water [….] and did a bit of bargaining and made a few purchases at their lovely artisan market (complete with live glassblowing!)

We had made good time between Turgutreis and Gümüşlük, so decided to try our luck and continue north along the coast.  The road was excellent, and the driving was easy, allowing us to get all the way to Göl-Türkbükü by 4:00pm.

Göl-Türkbükü for a beer

Türkbükü is apparently a primo vacation spot for Turkish celebrities, and considered quite an exclusive and extremely expensive area.  We must have just lucked out then by choosing the right spot to sit on the beach and have a reasonably-priced beer.  We made friends with a cat, debated about a sea cave, and soaked up the sunshine and the views before making our way back towards Bodrum via the northern coast of the peninsula.

As we drove on, the terrain changed and suddenly we were in the midst of a pine forest — quite unexpected, but very welcome — ah, the whistling Pines!  [We] carried on towards Bodrum [and] before we knew it we were rounding the corner and looking down on the city

Biking around the peninsula was, in my opinion, the very best thing we did while in Bodrum.  Should you ever find yourself in those parts, I would highly recommend it!

Read the Full Post and view more photos   

Roving Jay and Red take to the Road 

I have to agree with Kathleen, that a motorbike ride around the Peninsula is one of the best ways to spend a day sightseeing.

There’s multiple ways to circumvent the peninsular, Katheen and Konrad headed West, but when Red and I rented a moped for the day, we headed East.  Whichever way you go, you won’t be disappointed.

Thanks to Kathleen and Konrad for sharing their travel tales with us, and keep an eye out for their next Guest Blog post.

This post has been edited to fit your screen! (To view the full posts and photo’s over on Travel Blog, follow the hyperlinks above).  Note:  The [  ] brackets indicate words I’ve added to help the text flow, because I’ve edited the post down from it’s original.

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