Day Trip to Kos from the Bodrum Peninsula

An Introduction to the Greek Island of Kos

Kos is a fingerling-potato shaped island about 4 km (2 ½ miles) from theBodrum Peninsula, making it a convenient location for a day jaunt from Bodrum or Turgutreis.

Bodrum and Kos as Historical Parents

Whereas Bodrum is known as the birthplace of Herodotus - the father of History. Kos, is the birthplace of Hippocrates, the father of Medicine.

On our list – but not visited yet

Each time we have visited the Bodrum Peninsula, I suggest ”we should take a day trip to Kos this time” – but the nooks and crannies of the Bodrum Peninsula distract us, and it remains on our “next time” list.

So although I can’t speak to Kos as a destination, there are plenty of websites that can, and below are my Top 3, which will give you a feel for the place, and help you decide whether you want to visit the ‘neighbours’ when you’re in town!

Reference websites:

Click on the icons/images to open the home pages in the same window, or click on the hyperlinks to open the page in a new window:

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Greekisland.co.uk promotes itself as an antidote to the flowery language of Greek holiday brochures, and offers visitor reviews of Greek islands and beaches. Their site covers all Greek Islands, split into 4 groups: Popular, Peaceful, Sleepy and Offbeat. Kos is on the Popular list, and you can read the summary recap of Kos and the Postcard Reviews here.

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If you’re heading to Kos for some history and culture, this travel-to-kos.comwebsite may start your culture-bells ringing. Their Top 10 List of things to see while on Kos — only has 5 historical sights on the list, and one of those is a tree! But there’s some nice 360° graphics and good selection of photo’s: Asklepion ; The Neratzia Castle;Hippocrates Plane Tree; Complex of Early Christian Basilica of St. Stephen; Epta Bemata

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The greektravel.com website/blog is a labour of love, and it shows. Matt Barrett started his Travel Guide as a hobby in 1995, and since then it has grown in popularity. His site covers all of Greece, but this link will take you to Matt’s Kos Information Page , which provides a succinct historical overview, and a description of the attractions. If he were to create a Top 10 list – it would definitely have 10 in it!

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And lastly, you can visit the Ferry Route information page within this site:

• Ferry and Catamaran Routes between the Bodrum Peninsula and Greek Islands

© All icons/images are sourced from the referenced websites, and the lead photo includes an in-picture credit.

Day Trip to Kos from the Bodrum Peninsula

Boat trips from Türkbükü

Daily Trips from Türkbükü

Unlike the gauntlet of day boats and captains you have to run in Turgutreis Harbour, the day boat cooperative in Türkbükü is decidedly more laid back. There are currently 8 boats in the cooperative, and they’re moored half way around the bay, anchored close to the beach - you can’t miss them:

There’s two tours on offer:

Tour 1 goes East – first stop Paradise Bay. I haven’t visited there yet, but it looks blissful.

Tour 2 goes West - and is a little Island drive-by. You’ll see the remains of a Byzantine church on the hillside of Apostle Island.

Tour 1	Tour 2
Cennet Koyu (Paradise Bay) Gök burun (?) Kızılkoy (Red Bay) Derin Liman (Deep Port)……	Apostol Adasi (Apostle Island) Tavşan Adasi (Rabbit Island*) Prasa Island (?) Ada Koyu (Island Bay)

*This is the Rabbit Island off the coast of Gündoğan (the next bay over) not the one near Gümüşlük

The Türkbükü Day Boat Tours leave the bay at 10:30am and return at 6:00pm

Whilst researching the stops for this cruise – I came across a good reference site for the Mugla coastline

Boat trips from Türkbükü

Turgutreis Market Video

BY

ROVING JAY

– JULY 2, 2011(EDIT POST)POSTED IN: LOCATIONS T-Z, TURGUTREIS

A walk around Turgutreis Saturday market

Turgutreis Market is the largest on the Peninsula, and the attached video is a walk around the food section. The produce offered by the vendors varies from a full range of in-season fruit and vegetables, to a local farmer selling goat’s milk in recycled coca-cola bottles.

Turgutreis Market Video

Day Boat from Turgutreis

Day Boat Trip from Turgutreis Part 1:

Negotiating our Destiny

After a hectic week sightseeing in Istanbul, the first thing I wanted to do when I arrived on the Bodrum Peninsula, was to spend a relaxing day on a boat. Our Saturday arrival, meant we headed straight to the weekend market in Turgutreis (video link) to shop for Mediterranean essentials – fresh fruit and vegetables in season, olives, feta cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and Olive Oil.

Then headed to the waterfront to enjoy an Efes while the heat of the day subsided. I’d planned on arranging a boat in one of the smaller locations, like Yalikavak or Gundogan. But as we could see the flotilla of day boats lined up in Turgutreis harbour, we decided to run the gauntlet of captains to see if there was a potential vessel for our Sunday jaunt.

As anticipated, we were met with full enthusiasm, as we dodged and weaved our way along the line of Captains, to tour the boats that sparked our interest.

Our last stop was at a boat called “Destiny”, where were chatted to the Turkish Captain, who spoke great English with a Cornish accent (picked up during winter’s spent in St. Ives) — quite distracting.

There were 4 points of negotiation – Direction, Noise, Cuisine and Cost:

Direction:

• “Destiny” offered North (Islands) and South (Beaches) tours, and a Northern tour was scheduled on Sunday. I really wanted the Southern tour, so the Captain offered to change the tour to the South tour, and assured us they would start out North – but aim the bow through the waves at an odd angle so that it appeared really rough. Then they’d announce that we were going South, because it was too rough to take the North Tour. Sounded like a plan…. but would it happen? Direction agreed.

Noise:

• We didn’t want any! We wanted a quiet, chilled boat trip, with no blaring music. Tranquility was assured. Noise level agreed.

Cuisine:

• We didn’t like to sound of the menu, so asked to be served Sea Bass for lunch. Menu agreed.

Cost:

• Well it’s Turkey. Cost is always negotiable – but it was more of a challenge than the direction change. He insisted on showing us his Ticket stubs for the other confirmed passengers to show how much they were paying, but we eventually got him down another 10tl.

We strolled away contented – with happy visions of tomorrow’s quiet Southern boat trip. I tiny voice in my head, questioned whether all of our negotiation points would be delivered against, but…….. only tomorrow will tell….

Read: Day Boat Trip from Turgutreis Part 2:

Day Boat from Turgutreis

3 tips for making the perfect cup of Turkish Coffee

What it takes to makes a perfect cup of Turkish Coffee

Have you tried to make Turkish Coffee at home? I followed the sage advise “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”, but each time my attempts were “foam-challenged”. If, like me, you’re aTurkish Coffee aficionado, you’ll know that the key to enjoying this caffeine-burst, is the foam.

After a little research, I’ve discovered the Top 3 tips for making the perfect cup of Turkish Coffee:

Tip #1: One Size Doesn’t fit all.

There’s a reason that Turkish Coffee pots are sold in sets — it’s so you can ensure you’re using the right size coffee pot (called a Ibrik or Cezve in Turkey). So that the water in the pot is at the optimal level for making foam.

The Water needs to be somewhere close to the middle of your pot (or at least about 1/2 to1 inch below the rim).

Here’s a guide to the pot size and the number of cups you plan to make:

Size	Capacity	Cups it makes(*)	Ibrik/Cezve Height
XX-Small	6 oz	1	2.75 in
X-Small	8 oz	1-2	3.00 in
Small	10 oz	3-4	3.25 in
Medium	12 oz	4-5	3.50 in
Large	14 oz	5-6	3.75 in
X-Large	24 oz	7-8	4.00 in

(*) 2-3 oz small demitasse cups.

Tip #2: The Perfect Grind

When beans are ground for Turkish coffee – it’s a fine powder. This consistency will help it float on top of the water. When you add the coffee to the pot, let the water slowing introduce itself to the water.

It’s a first date between granule and liquid and they need to take things slowly. So avoid sudden moves, and don’t cause a stir – by stirring them up! Let the coffee wallow on top until it’s ready to take the plunge.

Tip #3: The Big Chill & Gently Does It

Use cold water and heat is slowly, and don’t boil it. Boiling’s for Nescafe! – Turkish Coffee needs to be coaxed, not scalded, into life.

After following these 3 Tips – you’ll become a successful Turkish Coffee Barista, and you’re next cup of Turkish Coffee with be a success, and foam will no longer be a challenge.

Bonus Tip: Marvel at Success, but don’t fall at the last hurdle

With your Turkish Coffee relaxing in it’s cup – take a few moments to marvel at it’s beauty. This allows time for the coffee grounds to settle on the bottom. Resist the temptation to stir it up – not only with this make your coffee grainy – but it’ll also collapse the foam you worked so hard to create.

Follow this link to read Turkish Coffee World’s Step-by-Step instructions for making Turkish Coffee.

The feature photo is of my first successful cup of Turkish Coffee! Unfortunately, it had been drunk before I captured it for prosperity!

3 tips for making the perfect cup of Turkish Coffee

Public Beach next to Dodo Beachclub, Yalikavak

Memories of Childhood

I grew up near the North Norfolk coast, so to me, a day at the beach meant – inky-black water that was both choppy and chilly. And because this area of England sticks out into the North Sea – it captures the brunt of the cold Icelandic winds.

If you weren’t lucky enough to own a wind-break – any tan you might acquire was sand-blasted off, and your entire picnic lunch came with sand-seasoning. I still shudder at the amount of Cucumber and Dairylea cheese spread sandwichs I had to crunch my way through.

But I’ll tell you what — I loved it, and no amount of sand-blasting could erode the pleasure of a day at our local beach of Wells-next-the-Sea.

Twin beach found for Wells-next-the-Sea

During my recent trip to Yalikavak, I found the ideal beach to be Twinnedwith Wells-next-the-Sea. A beach, simply marked as Halk Plajı (translation: Public Beach), which is on the piece of land that sticks out of the mainland near Yalikavak.

Travel west, away from the town on Cumhuriyet Cad., and drive past the boat-yard. Just before you take a left hand bend to reach the Mosque – take a right instead.

As you coast along this northern part of the peninsular, you’ll see a bloated finger of land sticking out – this is the Halk Plajı.

When you reach the fork in the road — keep to the left (the right hand fork will take you to the Dodo Beach Club).

The western side of the point faces the blustery Aegean – and I think it would be a great place to watch the sun go down.

Whilst the eastern side of the point faces towards the mainland, and is nestled in a secluded elbow of land.

Halk Plajı wouldn’t win any beauty contests – but if you want to get away from the throngs that inhabit the tourist beaches, head here for a bit of local flavour. Parking is readily available, as there’s a large size scrub of land used as a car park.

Why not grab some fresh produce from Yalikavak’s weekly market, and then go for a picnic off the beaten track at this Halk Plajı.

Don’t forget to take something to drink – and maybe a wind break.

P.S. Does anyone know if this beach is known by any other name besides just, Public Beach? If so, please could you leave a comment below.

Read my other posts about Yalikavak

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