D

atça

 

April 28 - May 2, 2002













We decided on a trip to Datça (pronounced Datcha) for two reasons: On the one hand we were looking for a bit of a vacation from vacation (more later) and on the other we were interested in getting to Knidos and Datça was an essential waystation. And now for more later: Every now and then when we're travelling, we like to sit down somewhere for two or three days, or even a week, and do nothing. This does not apply, of course, on long sojourns like the months we spent in Paris, Beijing, or Jerusalem. But when, as in Turkey, we are moving hotel every two or three days and running around in each new place to see the sites, every now and again we just want to stop for a few days, have time to read a book, or stare at our navels, or whatever.

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Aegean Views

Well, Datça was one of those places. We didn't have any idea about hotels there. All we knew was that you could get a bus there from Marmaris and so that is what we did. We travelled light, leaving half of our bags behind in the small hotel overlooking the Marmaris marina. The photo at left was taken on the bus ride which turned out to be worth the trip all by itself. The road mostly follows the ridge line and thus gives fantastic views of both the Aegean, to the north of the peninsula, and the Mediterranean to the south.

The town is small and dumpy, quite unlike the glitz and glamor of Marmaris. It must be a lot like Turkey used to be, a place where people live rather than where people vacation. We weren't sure what kind of hotel we would find, but only a short block or two from the bus ticket office we found a small, family-run hotel that had definitely seen better days, but that had a room with a large balcony overlooking the sea. The family weren't sure what to make of us, but we had hard cash and so a deal was reached. This is a photo of the young men of the family all dressed in school uniform. They helped out in the hotel sometimes and seemed as shy in our presence as they were boisterous with each other.

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The Brothers Daça
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Daça's Marina

Having stowed our bags, we went for a walk in the late afternoon and discovered a miniature of the Marmaris Marina right here in Datça. As was clear from the state of our hotel and our hotelkeepers surprise at having guests, the season was just beginning. But on the marina boats were already putting out their for hire signs. We talked to one owner and learned that for approximately $100 a day you can hire a boat and its owner to cruise the Turkish coast for anything from four days to a month. We talk about such things often, but doubt that we would ever do it.

A day later we went back to the marina and found half a dozen yachts tieing up. They had arrived from Bodrum up on the Aegean coast and were on one week cruises to Fethiye and beyond. We talked to one man from Holland who was with three friends on a spring jaunt away from their spouses. He said he had sailed quite a bit before, but that his friends were much less experienced. It was clear watching the boats docking that some were indeed much better at it than others. But by the time the sun went down, everyone had a berth and the cafes had started to take on a new lease on life.

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Newly Arrived Yachts
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Dinnertime

It was time for us to join the cafe crowd. We had found a friendly restaurant owner the previous day and so decided to give him our custom and ate a very nice meal of freshly steamed fish with the usual Turkish trimmings.

We sat up above the marina looking out as boats and boatmen and women came and went, ropes were tied and untied, bottles of wine were opened up and all was well with our world and theirs.

We made two excursions while in Datça. The first was a walk to a small fishing port on the north side of the peninsula where we expected to find boats to Bodrum. But there were no boats to be seen so we walked back to Datça. The second outing, much more successful, was to Knidos, an ancient harbor town, the forerunner of Datça. We also dared one hot afternoon to take a dip in the bay in front of our hotel. The water, however, was much less warm than it looked. And so our stay came to an end with another journey of dramatic mountain and sea views.

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Northern Peninsula Landscape




Updated September 9, 2004