Just a brief summary of our recent 3 month trip around the south west/west corner of Turkey which may provide a useful piece of information and an itinerary of sorts for someone. The trip took place from the beginning of January to the end of March. Even though we were there for 90 days, we only spent 75 days travelling. The reason I won’t bore you with.
First off, I came to Turkey with my eyes open, having had a sail boat here for 5 years, albeit the best part of 20 yrs ago.
In over 30 yrs the missus has had no inclination whatsoever to step aboard so it was nice to revisit (and some) to show her the delights of the places I had kept on about to her.
There’s a really good thread at the moment where John and Wendy provide a lot of information so I’ll just concentrate on our itinerary and the difference in us having two dogs, Parson JRTs.
I’ve listed our itinerary at the bottom, I’m afraid it’s a bit agricultural as I’m not too clever with Google maps. Our likes are beaches/coves, villages/small towns and local markets. We don’t really do ancient history, however we visited Efes and had a guided tour around Troy.
Weather
Not having been here at this time of year before I didn’t know what expect. At the back of my mind I was hoping for some highs around the 60 degree mark, which to be frank we did get. However most of the time, although sunny and bright, was bloody freezing and windy. Anecdotally, it was the coldest Winter for (depending who you listened to) 15 to 50 years.
One night, on the coldest night, it got down to around -5 inc wind chill and how we laughed when the gas failed ! first the heating went, then the fridge. All the error codes were pointing to gas run out, which we knew wasn’t the case. I subsequently found out it being due to the Truma/Turkish gas mix not liking the cold. Sure enough, next day when it warmed up a bit, everything back to normal.
Dogs
There are street dogs *everywhere* and they are mostly large. Whilst our two were obviously an attraction, it wasn’t uncommon for us to be walking the beach with half a dozen dogs in tow, this wasn’t a problem for us, as most of them are soppy.
The dogs are all treated with respect by the locals, I even think there is legislation in place covering this. Some of the local councils even provide kennels and the locals try and make sure they’re all fed. I would add that if you are any way negatively affected by dogs, then this part of Turkey may not be for you.
Borders/Dogs
Kipi > Ipsala x 2, Kirklareli > Malko Tarnevo x 1, Kapikule > Kapitan Andreevo x 1. These are the border crossings with Turkey that we used over the period.
All ready with the relevant rabies/test paperwork to hand and……. nothing ! Not one border official asked for any dog related paperwork. Anecdotally I had heard this from a couple of others but I still would advise anyone to have all current paperwork up to date.
Just a couple of other points re border crossings. In one queue we must of had at least half a dozen people come up to us saying “you can go in that special queue there” it was for Ukrainians !
After showing my passport, I was informed of a toll road violation which incurred an extortionate penalty charge of £2.50 !
Overnights
Very little sites open this time of year, which we were aware of and was never an issue to us. The period we were there, we only overnighted on 3 different sites for a night which was mainly for laundry purposes. Whilst we got on/off ok there were only 2/3 pitches out of the whole sites that were suitable.
To be frank, a majority of the sites we did see along the way aren’t really geared up for larger vans, speaking to the site owners, camper vans, tents and small caravans are the main leisure vehicles.
We sourced most of our stopovers ourselves, with a little help from P4N and Our Bumble, the Garmin camper leading the way, not missing a beat.
Highlights
Anzac Memorials - The war graves commission and their opposite number in Turkey have done a cracking job here. We spent a good two days, could of spent three looking around the memorials. It’s laid out so we’ll, full of interest and they’re building new memorials as we speak, so it’s constantly improving.
Seytan Sofrasi - Arguably one of the better views in Turkey.
Akbuk cove and Foca - Cracking overnights, right on the beach
1915 Canakkale bridge - This was a big highlight for me from an engineering perspective. It’s not everyday you get to cross the longest suspension bridge in the world, the day after opening.
Bozcaada Island - worth the twenty minute ferry for some lovely unspoilt beaches.
Cirali beach - with a visit to the Chimaera flames.
Pamukkale - a great day out.
And these in no particular order, just for being nice places to visit. Adrasan, Fethiye, Kas, Kalkan, Dalyan, Akyaka, Oren, Mazi, Datca, Golturkbuku, Kusadasi, Cesme, Alacati, Urla, Foca, Yenikoy and Ayvalik.
Summary
If I was to say a big reason for anyone to visit this part of Turkey, it would be the *people*. In my view, they really are the most hospitable/friendly bunch. You really notice it when crossing back into Greece, the difference is stark. Bottom line, we can’t wait to go back.
I don’t know how things would have panned out, not being the coldest winter in at least 15yrs but coming here next time, we’ll wait until April for the temperatures to start warming up a bit.
Happy travels
First off, I came to Turkey with my eyes open, having had a sail boat here for 5 years, albeit the best part of 20 yrs ago.
In over 30 yrs the missus has had no inclination whatsoever to step aboard so it was nice to revisit (and some) to show her the delights of the places I had kept on about to her.
There’s a really good thread at the moment where John and Wendy provide a lot of information so I’ll just concentrate on our itinerary and the difference in us having two dogs, Parson JRTs.
I’ve listed our itinerary at the bottom, I’m afraid it’s a bit agricultural as I’m not too clever with Google maps. Our likes are beaches/coves, villages/small towns and local markets. We don’t really do ancient history, however we visited Efes and had a guided tour around Troy.
Weather
Not having been here at this time of year before I didn’t know what expect. At the back of my mind I was hoping for some highs around the 60 degree mark, which to be frank we did get. However most of the time, although sunny and bright, was bloody freezing and windy. Anecdotally, it was the coldest Winter for (depending who you listened to) 15 to 50 years.
One night, on the coldest night, it got down to around -5 inc wind chill and how we laughed when the gas failed ! first the heating went, then the fridge. All the error codes were pointing to gas run out, which we knew wasn’t the case. I subsequently found out it being due to the Truma/Turkish gas mix not liking the cold. Sure enough, next day when it warmed up a bit, everything back to normal.
Dogs
There are street dogs *everywhere* and they are mostly large. Whilst our two were obviously an attraction, it wasn’t uncommon for us to be walking the beach with half a dozen dogs in tow, this wasn’t a problem for us, as most of them are soppy.
The dogs are all treated with respect by the locals, I even think there is legislation in place covering this. Some of the local councils even provide kennels and the locals try and make sure they’re all fed. I would add that if you are any way negatively affected by dogs, then this part of Turkey may not be for you.
Borders/Dogs
Kipi > Ipsala x 2, Kirklareli > Malko Tarnevo x 1, Kapikule > Kapitan Andreevo x 1. These are the border crossings with Turkey that we used over the period.
All ready with the relevant rabies/test paperwork to hand and……. nothing ! Not one border official asked for any dog related paperwork. Anecdotally I had heard this from a couple of others but I still would advise anyone to have all current paperwork up to date.
Just a couple of other points re border crossings. In one queue we must of had at least half a dozen people come up to us saying “you can go in that special queue there” it was for Ukrainians !
After showing my passport, I was informed of a toll road violation which incurred an extortionate penalty charge of £2.50 !
Overnights
Very little sites open this time of year, which we were aware of and was never an issue to us. The period we were there, we only overnighted on 3 different sites for a night which was mainly for laundry purposes. Whilst we got on/off ok there were only 2/3 pitches out of the whole sites that were suitable.
To be frank, a majority of the sites we did see along the way aren’t really geared up for larger vans, speaking to the site owners, camper vans, tents and small caravans are the main leisure vehicles.
We sourced most of our stopovers ourselves, with a little help from P4N and Our Bumble, the Garmin camper leading the way, not missing a beat.
Highlights
Anzac Memorials - The war graves commission and their opposite number in Turkey have done a cracking job here. We spent a good two days, could of spent three looking around the memorials. It’s laid out so we’ll, full of interest and they’re building new memorials as we speak, so it’s constantly improving.
Seytan Sofrasi - Arguably one of the better views in Turkey.
Akbuk cove and Foca - Cracking overnights, right on the beach
1915 Canakkale bridge - This was a big highlight for me from an engineering perspective. It’s not everyday you get to cross the longest suspension bridge in the world, the day after opening.
Bozcaada Island - worth the twenty minute ferry for some lovely unspoilt beaches.
Cirali beach - with a visit to the Chimaera flames.
Pamukkale - a great day out.
And these in no particular order, just for being nice places to visit. Adrasan, Fethiye, Kas, Kalkan, Dalyan, Akyaka, Oren, Mazi, Datca, Golturkbuku, Kusadasi, Cesme, Alacati, Urla, Foca, Yenikoy and Ayvalik.
Summary
If I was to say a big reason for anyone to visit this part of Turkey, it would be the *people*. In my view, they really are the most hospitable/friendly bunch. You really notice it when crossing back into Greece, the difference is stark. Bottom line, we can’t wait to go back.
I don’t know how things would have panned out, not being the coldest winter in at least 15yrs but coming here next time, we’ll wait until April for the temperatures to start warming up a bit.
Happy travels