Dalyan
Our next stop on our journey was Dalyan; a previously quiet riverside fishing village that has now turned into a tourist hot spot. We had to make our way to the campsite via the main street and it was a bit of a trick manoevring past the wandering tourists, the souvenir stalls, cafes and the delivery trucks, even though the street was one way, it is typical of the Turks to ignore the signs. With Clyde and Anna leading the way we had to trust that their Tom tom and map would get us to the right place. We found camping Dalyan and proceeded to check it out and choose a spot, with only one other camper and a tent we had the pick of sites and we were happy to set up under the shady trees. That done we went for a walk back into town, strolling back past the Restaurants, souvenir stalls and cafes.
Clyde and Anna had been here before many years earlier so it was a return trip with memories. They had hoped it hadn’t changed too much, but unfortunately Dalyan has gone from being a quiet village to a busy tourist town with all the associated trappings.
I mentioned the other camper in the campsite, this belonged to a German couple we met in Pamukkale. We had given them the co-ordinates of the campsite in Dalyan and they had our email address because they wanted to let us know about a tour to Russia they had done; they had left their camping card at Pamukkale and emailed us to bring it to them, which we happily agreed to, so for them it was a convenient happenstance.
A must do in Dalyan is the boat tour and so we booked for the next day and so we retired early to bed hoping for a good nights sleep. Of couse our hopes were dashed when to our horror the nightclub next door got going at midnight. Trying to block the bass tone with earplugs was futile and so the night was a long one with the music and loud party goers disturbing the peace until 5 in the morning.
We opened our eyes the next morning hoping we could enjoy the day and the boat ride we had booked. Leaving at 10.45 am we had time to relocate our vehicles and after a discussion with the German couple who were leaving; we moved to the hopefully quieter carpark, parked in the shade and made ready for our day out.
A beautiful sunny day was perfect for the excursion on the river, we packed our bathers and towels an looked forward to an enjoyable day. First stop was a short trip across the water to view the Lycian tombs carved into the rock face, then down through the reeds to the turtle feeding platform, where they lure the large turtles to the surface with crabs on fishing line. It was entertaining watching the turtles as much as the tourists all vying for a good spot to take a photo. Turtle teasing over, we carried on to the beach where we had an hour and a half to spend idling away on the sand. Rows of beach chairs and umbrellas attested to the sites attraction to sun lovers, but we decided to avoid these and walk along the waters edge for a bit and we dawdled a bit before making our way to the cafe for a drink. Finding a seat, we gawped at the mass of tourists arriving on the boats and were pleased that we were soon to leave. Next stop was lunch, eating next to the river, we had the choice of fish or chicken and we were pleasantly surprised at the quality and quantity of the meal. Lots of salad, chips, bread and nicely cooked fish or chicken on a barbeque, we were happy. Appetite satisfied we then carried on to the mud and thermal baths. Here you pay to get muddy and after coating ourselves with the slippery grey muck, we waited for it to dry, amusing ourselves watching the other tourists also getting muddy. Then it was a trip to the showers to rinse it off before climbing into the thermal pool,which smelled strongly of sulfur. Our last boat stop was amongst the reeds for some bird spotting and we sat quietly listening to the waterbirds in the reeds for while before heading back to camp.
We had thought we would stay longer in Dalyan but our plans changed when we found the campsite to be not so peaceful and so we made plans to move on the next day.
