Day Boat from Gümüşlük

Alternate departure for a Day Boat

The biggest selection of daily boat trips on the peninsula head out from Bodrum and Turgutreis, but you’re not limited to these two main harbours if you fancy a day on the water.

Even small villages like Gümüşlük advertise daily boat trips during peak season.

Just head down to Gümüşlük Bay/Harbour and look out for the signs.

Day Boat from Gümüşlük

Gümüşlük Photo Gallery Page

A Photo Tour of Gümüşlük

The Gümüşlük waterfront area is a great to explore around, especially when it’s off season. Wander away from the main hub of restaurants, where the harbour and bay converge, to discover restaurants with a mellower vibe. Walk around the harbour circuit, past the Mosque, and look back for a different view of Rabbit Island. Or take the dirt path route through the car park behind the Dolmuş station, for a short cut to the Gümüşlük bay.

Below is a sample of the photo’s from my walking exploration of Gümüşlük:

Looking back at Rabbit Island

Mimoza Restaurant

Gumusluk Harbour

Gumusluk Harbour

Gumusluk Bay

Barber Shop in Gumusluk Harbour

Click on the FLICKR icon to visit the rest of my Gümüşlük Photo Gallery Page

If you’d like to read my blog posts about Gümüşlük: Click this Gümüşlük link

Gümüşlük Photo Gallery Page

Excavation of Rabbit Island, Gümüşlük

Ancient Theatre discovered

One of my regrets of our first trip to Gümüşlük, is that we didn’t take the opportunity to walk upon the sunken ancient city walls of Myndos to reach Rabbit Island, and then hike to the top of the hill to look back at Gümüşlük Bay and Harbour for a well positioned photo opportunity. But between our first and second visit, access to Rabbit Island became restricted, and you could no longer explore the Island.

You can still walk on the sunken walls – but now, once you reach Rabbit Island, there isn’t much to do, except turn around and walk back to the mainland.

This restriction is for a good cause though. Rabbit Island is currently being excavated, and archeologists from the Uludağ Üniversity (which is situated the other side of Gümüşlük Harbour) have discovered a huge ancient theatre that was constructed in the Hellenistic period, around 400 BC.

I’m going to be monitoring the progress, and I look forward to a future trip to Gümüşlük when this historical site is open to the public, and I can explore the heights and ancient past of Rabbit Island.

© Archeological Dig Photo World Bulletin

Excavation of Rabbit Island, Gümüşlük

Club Gümüşlük Bar & Restaurant, Gümüşlük

Club Gümüşlük

“We don’t have an underground transport system in Gümüşlük (yet). But, just to give you an idea about the environs, this map may prove to be useful.” © Club Gümüşlük

There’s a creative person with a sense of humour atClub Gümüşlük! I asked their webmaster for a bigger copy of this map – but I think they must be too busy partying to respond!

We paid a couple of visits to Club Gümüşlük recently. It’s a hotel, bar and restaurant which overlooks Gümüşlük Bayand Rabbit Island. The outside restaurant and bar are nestled amid trees, and have a mixture of armchairs, tables and chairs, and platform area’s for lounging on scatter cushions.

Evening visit to Club Gümüşlük

In the past, we’ve usually headed to Yalikavak for evening’s festivities, but I really like the vibe in Gümüşlük. So talked Red into an evening jaunt to Gümüşlük.

I wasn’t sure which restaurant/bar we’d end up at, because I’d only visited the harbour side of Gümüşlük at night, but this time we ventured round the corner to the bay side.

The first location we walked past was Club Gümüşlük, and we didn’t get any further. I’ve heard that in peak season, this destination is packed, but on the evening we dropped in – it wasn’t that busy, and we couldn’t resist the chilled vibe.

We took a seat on bar-stools at the outside bar, which has a nice view of the bay and is shrouded with an array of trees. The waves lapped against the beach, and were a gentle accompaniment to the tunes being spun by the resident DJ, who was at the back of the open-air lounge mixing on his laptop.

The bar staff were friendly, and we whiled away a couple of hours drinking and chatting.

I’m sure we wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much if it was packed, and music pumping – but I felt like we’d discovered a jewel of a location, which left us with a desire to return.

Daytime visit to Club Gümüşlük

A couple of days later we needed a location for a sunbathe and swim. Although Gümüşlük Bay isn’t a patch on Türkbükü Bay – it’s convenient for a quick couple of hours of beach time, and we plotted on the loungers in front of Club Gümüşlük. As usual, the expectation is that you buy food and drink from the nearby restaurant, but they were great, and Club Gümüşlük didn’t continuously bug us to keep consuming.

Bit by bit, we discovering hidden treasures on the Bodrum Peninsula, and Club Gümüşlük has made it to our treasure chest.

• Address: Gümüşlük Yalısı, Gümüşlük, Bodrum, Turkey
• Telephone: +90 252 394 34 01
• Email: otel@clubgumusluk.com

© Underground Map: Club Gümüşlük

Club Gümüşlük Bar & Restaurant, Gümüşlük

Buying a House in Turkey Part 6

Finally a day off from house hunting. We decided to go an discover a little bit more about the area we were considering moving to.... Gumusluk. We went to the Bodrum Otogar and jumped onto the Dolmus. We went speeding along the straights, and racing up the hills. Bibbing at the tourists "Hey do you want a ride?"

Some of the roads were pretty rural. It was a fun way to travel. Donkeys on the side of the road, cactus and olive groves. Arrived at Gumusluk bus station, and it was a short walk to the beach. We hung out at the beach for the day -- a couple of feet away from a restaurant, and they looked after us all day, bringing us food and drink whenever we wanted it. It was only a small beach. The bay is pretty enclosed, with a great view of Rabbit Island. There were a mix of different fishing boats, and trees with gourds in the bay.. As the sun went down, we walked along the bay and took some shots at sunset.

We hopped on a dolmus to Yalikavak, and spent a couple of hours in a local bar, before hopping back to Bodrum... it took about 45 minutes to get back.

Buying a House in Turkey 3

Went to meet Evren from Sunshine Turkish Homes. We'd found these guys from the Internet -- via a site called Turkey Twinkles. I swapped a few emails with the site owner, and they recommended Sunshine Turkish Home. We'd been surfing the STH site for a couple of months, and had a good idea of the area we wanted to buy - but we were open to any suggestions. Although Bodrum looked like a good place to have a vacation rental, it wasn't our idea of an optimal place for living long term. It was definitely going to be a balancing act to make a decision. With Sunshine and Twinkles -- how could the future look anything but bright?

Evren sent us some info about some possibles, and I spent more than a few hours in my corporate castle in LA perusing the house specs and photo's:

"We have few properties that needs renovation in Gumsan Complex, GUMUSLUK. Gumsan is a well maintained complex with swimming pool, cafeteria, markets, private beach and 24 hours security. It is split to 2 as GUMSAN 1 and GUMSAN 2. Gümsan 1 is located on the beach side and Gümsan 2 is located on the hill side. The swimming pool is located in Gümsan 2. The cheapest property is located in Gumsan 2 just by the swimming pool. It is already renovated but the kitchen is not fitted yet. The property has 60 sqm closed area. There is a living room with open plan kitchen and a bathroom in down stairs. There are 2 bedrooms and another bathroom in top floor.

And Also in Gumsan 1, there is a great property which is 100 meters from beach. So, it is a really good investment and a summer house.

The other property that needs renovation is located in Yalıkavak. Ideal for the DIY expert or the true bargain hunter, 3 bedrooms, roof terrace and sea views this property is located about 7km from Yalikavak. The property is located on a complex with 2 swimming pools, mini market and snack bar. The property itself is split into 2. The main part of the house with 2 bedrooms open plan kitchen livingroom and bathroom and the lower apartment which can be finished to consist of bedroom and bathroom (or small studio unit). There is a roof terrace with great sea views and a small garden to the rear and a good sized plot to the front of the property. Currently the property needs completely renovated. There are PVC windows and door but full refurbishment is needed. If you can do it yourself great, if not no problem we have a team of experts to take care of everything for you.

12th September 2008: 2nd day in Turkey, and off we went to STH to meet Evern, who was going to drive us around to Gumusluk, Yalikavak and Gudogan.

The view from the first house we went to see in Gumsan 1, Gumusluk, and the

outside of the first house we visited: These properties were really well situated, and the scenery was so lush, but the houses were quite small. But what this first house did do, was make us fall in love with the Northern coast of the Bodrum peninsula.

The next house, just a little bit further up the coast, had another great view: It was a baking hot day, and I could image waking up with view of the Aegean each morning. Any disappointment from our trip to Gumbet, had disappeared, and I was getting butterflies in my stomach.

The next house made those butterflies multiply. The complex was about 3km outside of Gumusluk, and I loved the view. But there was lot's of work to do on the house -- or to put a positive spin on it... lot's of potential.