Bitez Off The Beaten Path

This was also on the boat trip, and the photo shows the seaside village of Turgutreis which is also on the Bodrum peninsular. Its about a 30 min drive from Bitez and has a superb beach and lovely whitewashed houses that are built into the hills above

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If you can drag yourself away from the beach, do spend some time exploring the streets and lanes behind the beachfront in Bitez. The atmosphere here is a million miles removed from the restaurant strip and it's like visiting a whole other place. There are several residential roads with private villlas and small hotels many of them seperated by little groves of mandarin trees or olives. I was really thrilled to find these orange groves because I'd read about them before arriving and was beginning to think they didn't exist. The edges of the roads here are filled with long grass,wild flowers and the humming of insects. When you've walked the whole length of the road behind the beach you come to a signpost saying 'Chapel Walkway" and don't on any account miss it. Here you have a tiny, unpaved country lane which wends its way past old country houses and small farms, with pigeons, olive trees and fruit orchards. A step into rural Turkey and a reminder of what this peninsula was like before the rows of identical white villas colonised its hills.

We visited this beach on a boat trip around the bays of Bodrum, it was called Camel beach because there were camels on the beach, makes sence i suppose hahahahahahaha, this was a lovely beach with deep soft sand and cool clear water which was ideal for swimming on a hot day as this was

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On the lefthand curve of the bay where there are no hotels and the lines of sunloungers finally peter out, the beach gives way to a harbour. This is used by some fishing boats and small craft but the main business ( in season ) is obviously organised boat trips and Gulet rentals. It's a bit scruffier over here but the beers are cheaper, local kids from the apartments play in the playground and olive-skinned Romeos zip to and fro on their scooters. In the first week of May there weren't enough visitors for boat trips but owners were really busy preparing their crafts for business and the place was a hive of activity. A great place to have a drink and take in the atmosphere and bustle of the boats and their crews. The Gulets are magnificent and one wonders how many cans of Mr Sheen were used to make the wood shine so brightly.

This is one of the islands we stopped at for a swim, i think it was called goat island, i don't know why, it was full of cows hehehehehehe. I don't know how they survive, because there is no sign of people living there

This is Gumbet which is in fact the next bay along from Bitez and around the corner from Bodrum. Nice beach but for me thats as far as it goes, it looke very run down to me with no charm at all. Ok for a night on the tiles and cheep drink

On the back roads leading to Bitez there are some great walks through rural places, great to work up that appitite for the evening

This photo was taken on a boat trip just outside Bitez and shows the seaside town of Gumbet and the beautiful rugged mountain backdrop, as well as the clear blue sea