Some amazing facts about Turkey - part 1

The season is over!  Poppy is closed – apart from the 17 rooms of students we have staying for the winter.  They are mostly 18-22 years old, students at the university (Fethiye has some faculties of Mugla University), studying a range of courses from landscape gardening to international business.  They seem incredibly young – though of course they think they are very grown up – and unbelievably incompetent.  They regularly call us to change light bulbs, work the washing machine and adjust the temperature on the fridge.  One of the funniest incidents was when one girl said the kitchen sink was leaking and  Kaan set off with his monkey wrench and spanner only to find it wasn’t the sink that was leaking but the jar of pickles her mum had sent her and that she was storing under the sink!

homework in the bar

It is a relief that the hotel will be earning some money through the winter after this year’s sorry season.  We didn’t suffer as much as some businesses but it certainly wasn’t a good year and it will probably take a few years for things to really improve.  I read an article recently suggesting that now, while we are kicking our heels and thinking how to attract tourists back, we should take the opportunity to rebrand Turkey – and it echoed what I have said before.  I don’t want people to come here just because it’s cheap and sunny; I want them to come because it’s an AMAZING COUNTRY!

So I thought I would use this blog to show some of the things that make it amazing.  Most of you reading are probably Turkey regulars, but there might be things here that even you didn’t know...

Turkey is the location of TWO of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world.  Actually, when these were first identified by the Greeks in the second century BC, they were referred to as the seven SIGHTS – a bit like a tour guide of the best architecture around!

The Temple of Artemis (impression)

The first in Turkey is the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus – which was actually built and destroyed several times but at its finest was 450ft long 225 ft wide and contained 127 60ft high marble columns.  Amazingly – who knew that human nature had changed so little - the second temple was actually destroyed by an arsonist seeking fame; the third temple was destroyed by the Goths, following which some of the stones were carried over 300 miles to Istanbul and used in the building of the Hagia Sophia Church!

Mausoleum at Halicarnassos

The other ‘Wonder’ is the Tomb of Mausolus, King of Caria, built at Halicarnassos (present-day Bodrum).  Almost 150ft high and decorated with marble friezes, this tomb has given its name to all above-ground burial chambers – or mausoleums.  Apart from the pyramids, it was the last of the seven to be destroyed – by an earthquake in the thirteenth century – and parts of it were also reused in the building of Bodrum Castle (and you thought recycling was a modern idea!)

Sadly, though you can visit the sites of these two ‘sights’ and find out more about their history, there is not much left to see.  In fact you can see some of the remains of both structures in the British Museum in London!  But you can find wonders of history all over Turkey and more is being discovered all the time...

 

Theatre at Arycanda (near Kas)

Let's be positive...

You have probably heard on the news that the State of Emergency in Turkey has been extended for another 3 months.  While there is nothing sinister about this in itself, there is a feeling that it is being used too indiscriminately.  In the aftermath of the attempted coup the Government and the opposition stood together to condemn the coup leaders; now they appear to be at war again, with the main opposition parties suggesting the government is using the SoE to get rid of anyone who opposes them, while the Government accuses them of being pro-coup! ‘Plus ca change...’

...But what about the reality for Turkey?  Estimates of this year’s business growth are, unsurprisingly, being revised down.  The business that interests us most in this area is of course tourism;  an article appeared today in the Hurriyet Daily News (English-language Turkish national newspaper) saying that 600 shops have closed in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, while others focus on the roughly 30% decline in foreign tourists visiting Turkey.

In Fethiye and Calis many businesses have been badly hit.  Still, looking at things positively, there were nearly 8 million European tourists who refused to be put off by the scare-mongering and visited Turkey in the first half of 2016.  I was particularly impressed that of the guests who lost their holiday to Poppy when Low Cost Holidays went bust - the SAME night as the ‘coup’ - 8 out of 10 re-booked direct.  Though a very small sample, it shows that us Brits are not easily scared!

The point is that the people who know Calis and Fethiye weren’t influenced by the very misleading stories in the papers and were still confident about coming and luckily in Calis and at Poppy we have a lot of regulars.  We were also delighted to welcome a few Turkey first-timers who were not about to let the very biased press dictate their holiday.  They all enjoyed their stay and want to return.

And who wouldn’t want to come to this beautiful place?  I have lived here for nearly 25 years but I can still discover new places...the other day I went down to the beach at Kabak (beyond Oludeniz) for the first time.  It is a beautiful little sandy bay, stunning turquoise water and a rather hair-raising journey down there by minibus!  

The Lycian Way – the walking trail that goes from Fethiye right through to Antalya – goes through Kabak and I am contemplating doing that section of it next year when my friend comes.  Not sure we’d manage the trek back up from the beach though!