B Dock Netsel Marina
Marmaris, Turkey
Merhaba,
Our London pal Jane Parker is here visiting for a few days. She has a “vacation” house in Fethiye just down the road two hours by bus. The weather will hopefully cooperate today as it didn’t yesterday and the forecast is iffy for tomorrow.
This email tells of our visit to Old Datҫa during our two day hiking trek.
Ru
DoraMac
AnadoluJet Magazine – July 2010
Write:Melih Uslu
A Break From The Mad Crowds: Datça What a Wonderful Place This Is!
The turnoff to the right about three kilometers before the town center leads to Old Datça. This fascinating Mediterranean village consists of a small square and its surrounding streets. All the houses in the village are made of amber colored masonry. White garden walls are crawling with vines, shrubs, almond, and olive trees. Kind-hearted people, who mostly moved here from larger cities, own the local art galleries and restaurants. Müberra Poyrazoğlu, for example, quit her job as a financial advisor in Istanbul and relocated here. She has turned a century year-old stone building into a studio for arts and crafts. Another Datça devotee, Yaşar Aydoğan, is determined to resurrect silk weaving, one of the oldest traditions of the region. Lessons of silkworm breeding have been given to twenty women from nearby villages at an isolated school building in Old Datça. This year there are seven weaving looms and, for the first time in Datça, 250 kilos of silk cocoons have been manufactured. The house of the famous poet, Can Dündar, is also here near pleasant boutique hotels. Can Dündar said of Datça, “What a wonderful place this is!” His personal library will be opened daily for visitors from August 12th. And if you take a break at a coffeehouse in the village of Old Datça, don’t be surprised if the owner asks you, “Would you like thyme, lavender flower, or watermelon tea?”
Honey, Fish, Almonds
The last surprise before reaching Old Datça is the historical windmill farm. It is really an extraordinary experience to enter one of the six windmills that have been waiting on Don Quixote for three hundred years at the entrance of Kızlan Village.
My three trips to Datҫa have never disappointed. In 2011 Randal and I traveled there by motorbike and spent the night. http://www.mydoramac.com/datca-knidos-and-palmutbuku/ In 2013 while Randal was off in China, Rhino Randal and I joined a day trip organized by Gwen. We visited the olive farm and the silk weaving center. http://www.mydoramac.com/data-and-more-part-1/ (part 2 seems to have vanished or was never written?)
Late afternoon after our first day of hiking John suggested we drive into Eski Datҫa (Old Datҫa.) I’d been before and loved the stone houses, narrow streets, and painted doors. On the way we stopped off to take photos of the old windmills which aren’t opened this time of year apparently as they weren’t opened last visit in 2013 either.
|
The old windmills; off in the distance you could see the new ones that look like airplane propellers. |
|
Stone houses, artists’ shops, restaurants! Perfect place! We were just too early in the season for most of them to be open late Wednesday afternoon. Maybe it would be different on the weekends. |
|
Hürriyet Abla Marifetli Eller Art Gallery and private home according to some internet info I could find in English. I knew the word Hürriyet meant freedom and Abla meant older sister and finally remembered that Eller meant hands. I really like the name of this place! Hürriyet Abla Marifetli Eller translated by Google = Hürriyet sister deft hands Hürriyet means freedom or independent. I love the stone and blue doors. |
|
Lots of cats in Datҫa too. This might well be an almond tree just starting to bloom. Datҫa is famous for its almond cookies. |
|
I love the ladder to the roof of the stone house. Across the road was something better! |
|
A wise woman of Datҫa: 85 years young and loving her life I saw this lovely lady in her yard and asked if I could take a photo. Her English was excellent so we started to talk. She has 2 daughters and one son who are all doing well. She moved to Datҫa in her retirement. Her story includes studying Greek and Latin but when her husband died very young, she went to work as a secretary to support her children. She has a beautiful stone house, a garden of flowers and orange trees and two cats for company. She said her life is very happy because her children are well and she has all she needs. The famous Turkish poet Can Yὕcel also studied Greek and Latin. Maybe had things been different this woman would have been the famous poet of Datҫa. |
|
Same door and motorbike from 2013! Michael’s photo |
|
Cat in the basket in the window |
|
A friendly restaurant just near the small bus stop. We had coffee here in 2013! Two women would have missed their bus if Debbie hadn’t called to them that their bus was about to leave. They’d missed the previous one while drinking their coffee. |
We drove back to the hotel and rested up for dinner. Even after walking all those miles, I still couldn’t come close to finishing all of the food we were given. First a huge plate of Turkish Meze. Then a big salad. Deb and I had the grilled chicken and the guys had meatballs. I ate the chicken and some salad, but couldn’t make a dent on the rice or fries. Last came a huge plate of fresh fruit. No complaints from anyone about anything!