Dalyan, a Turkish paradise

August is a pretty packed month for me, which means that all of you will be treated to a very 'bloggy' September!

The first bit of travel on my list was to the wonderful Dalyan, in Turkey. I went here with my boyfriend and his family, and despite it being more of a relaxation holiday, it is still jam-packed full of history and culture.

Dalyan isn't the type of place that would first come to mind when you mention 'Turkey', as it is on a river rather than a beach. Dalyan means 'fishing weir' in Turkish, and life in this province centres around the river that winds around the town centre.

Our villa was overlooked by some incredible tombs, carved into the rock face in around 400BC. As you can imagine, I was very excited about these....

However, they are not accessible by ordinary tourists and instead have to be admired from a distance.

Apparently they were made as tombs for the ordinary people of Dalyan, and every few decades the bones were moved and buried elsewhere to allow another person to reside there for a bit. It certainly puts a new spin on 'graveyard shifts' eh?

Aside from this, I mostly took in Dalyan at a completely relaxed pace (sorry readers!). This was imitated by a dog that took up residence at our villa too.

The town had the beautiful turkish lamps I love so much, alongside colourful markets:

I was also lucky enough to go on a boat trip on the lake, and then spent the evening counting the stars.

Dalyan is also known for its pioneering work in protecting its loggerhead turtles. Sadly, so many of them are injured in boating accidents because of the propellers, and there is a research centre currently campaigning for 'propeller guards' to be used on all boats. I took a trip down here to see some of their recuperating turtles, took some awful photos, and found out from an English marine biology student what wonderful work they are doing.

Some fun facts for you all:

1. Loggerhead turtles (known as Caretta Caretta in Turkish) live for around 100 years. Here's one of the larger ones:

2. Male turtles have longer tails than the females. Here was a male with a very bad head wound from a boat propeller (sorry about the quality):

3. Baby turtles, once hatched, head towards the moon in order to reach the sea. If there are bright lights near them, then they will head towards that. So if there are hotels nearby, the poor turtles might never reach the sea :(

4. The loggerhead turtles have to be kept in salt water or their shells begin to deteriorate, as seen here:

Finally, on the last day we had a wonderful traditional turkish breakfast.

Complete with terrapins!

Pomegranate juice was everywhere, much to my dismay - they are £1.50 a fruit in the UK! We were also treated to round bread with a choice of honey, tahini, (runny) jam and a spicy tomato paste.

Eggs also featured, as did the lovely turkish tea, although sugar is needed with it! When it first arrived, I didn't think there was nearly enough...I ended up completely stuffed. A very authentic experience I'm sure!

Have any of you been to Turkey?

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