The Honeymoon

The honeymoon was a 2-week holiday in a small village in Turkey called Turunc (pronounced Turunch). The village is situated in a small bay on the south-west Mediterranean coast of the country (Turunc can be found in square B4 of the map).

Here is a postcard of the bay, which shows a small part of the Hotel Turunc (where we stayed) on the right edge. The beach in front of it is private to the hotel. Turunc village itself is on the other side of the bay - about 10 minutes stroll from our hotel.

The stroll to the village passes the local Yacht Club, from which are beautiful views over the bay. The surrounding mountains are covered with pine trees, which are used by the local bees kept by the locals. The bees produce pine honey which is sold by the locals. The honey is delicious - not too sweet, with a subtle nutty flavour.

Due to the local terrain, the closest we got to a dramatic sunset was the sun slipping down behind the mountains. The rocky slopes were made up of some quite unusual formations though.

The local plant life is quite amazing too - e.g. rubber plant trees! The hotel had plenty of beautifully kept borders, and archways covered in rambling plants - all in flower when we were there. In the village, almost every cafe had a 'ceiling' of climbing vines, with bunches of grapes hanging down.

Turunc is a beautiful place, and much more suited to a peaceful, relaxing holiday. Nearby are the resorts of Icmeler and Marmaris, which are much bigger places with lots of nightlife. Icmeler has the most expensive hotels in the area, and the biggest yachts in the harbour!

Every Monday morning, the local bazaar was held in Turunc village. This is where I bought a large selection of mercerised crochet cotton! There was, of course, a fantastic collection of Turkish carpets on sale too, of which the hotel had a fascinating display together with books on the subject for everyone to read.

There were plenty of excursions to go on if you wanted to explore. We went on a daytrip by boat which gave us wonderful views of the surrounding coastline. We also went on a daytrip to the mudbaths at Dalyan, which incorporated a walk around some ancient ruins.

There are plenty of watersports facilities, all at excellent prices. John (otherwise known as Jasper - my husband) learnt to windsurf by taking a 5-hour course with instruction. We both snorkelled in the brilliantly clear sea water, and swam in the hotel's olympic-size pool.

The hotel had its own Turkish House, which any resident could go in at any time to relax. It was decorated in the traditional Turkish style, and was very cool and quiet.

Turkish Links..

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E-mail me at steph@stephthornton.co.uk

Author : Steph Thornton.
Last modified on : 19 May, 2003.