Turkish delights

Genoese castles, Greek ruins and wonderfully friendly people. BRENDA WEBB explores Turkey in the searing heat of midsummer.

It's 43 sweltering degrees.

I'm sticking to the seat in the non air-conditioned Turkish dolmus (minibus) and can't decide whether it's hotter with the window open or closed.

The breeze from outside feels as if it's coming from a furnace but at least it's moving, unlike the stale, still air inside.

None of the locals on board look hot and bothered.

Some are even wearing trousers and long sleeves and several women are in full traditional dress.

When I fan my face, point to the bus's temperature gauge and comment to the conductor that it's very hot today he shrugs and says in faltering English "no, not hot last time it was 50".

Who needs a Turkish bath when you can sweat it out in a Turkish dolmus?

There is a reason for our journey in this unbelievable heat.

We've anchored our yacht, Bandit, near Altinkum in the Gulluk Korfezi, (gulf) not far north of Bodrum on the Turkish coast.

The ancient ruins of Didyma a religious sanctuary to Apollo, famed for its oracle long before that at Delphi in Greece became prominent are only a few kilometres away.

Fellow Kiwis on a yacht anchored nearby tell us the ruins are worth visiting.

We're not quite brave enough to bike there in this heat or pay "tourist" prices for the comfort of an air-conditioned taxi so we go peasant-style and pay $5 for the return trip on the dolmus.

The Temple of Apollo was the largest Ionic temple in the world and the ruins are a spectacular sight sitting among the sprawling outskirts of Altinkum.

The three massive 26m high columns that still stand give some idea of the size of the complex that was 120m long and 60m wide.

It was destroyed by the Persian Darius in 494BC and lay in ruins until Alexander the Great rebuilt it in 300BC.

The marble temple was never quite completed, probably because of its complexity and size, and was destroyed by earthquakes in the 15th century.

The ruins are impressive and we're thrilled we made the trip, despite the heat.

Altinkum is a crowded, noisy and slightly shabby city, but one that oozes a certain amount of Turkish charm, far more so than the big resorts of Bodrum and Marmaris.

The locals are friendly and delighted when they discover we come from New Zealand.

The waiter at the restaurant we go to one night takes a while to realise we are Kiwis, not Poms. "You speak English you must be from England? I know Manchester, Arsenal and Liverpool." No, we are from New Zealand, we say.

"What language you speak?" English we reply.

"So yes, you are English!" It takes a second trip in with an atlas and some small Kiwi souvenirs before he comprehends totally. "Ah that New Zealand," he laughs.

Eating out here is cheap we pay $10 for a filling meal of pide (thin pizza dough stuffed with spicy mixed meats) and lamb kebab.

Altinkum has some lovely golden sandy beaches that stretch for miles along its sheltered coast from just after daybreak until dusk they are jam packed with people.

We watch, stunned, as Turkish women swim in full-length suits including headgear with only their faces, feet and hands, showing.

Friendly children with big smiles on their faces meet us when we row ashore and take our lines, tie up the tender and whisk our rubbish off to the bins.

One day they swim out to Bandit and clamber on board asking, in very poor English, where we are from.

They are fascinated when I take the atlas out and show them where New Zealand is.

The Turkish Ionian Coast that we are enjoying so much runs from Cesme in the north to Bodrum in the south.

Cesme is a low-key tourist town that sits around a harbour with a 14th century Genoese castle on the waterfront.

Between Cesme and Sigacik we find some wonderfully secluded anchorages with amazingly clear water we can see Bandit's anchor on the bottom 20m down.

Sigacik is a medieval walled town and inside the walls it feels like little has changed at least in the past few centuries.

Women in traditional dress cook over open fires while men congregate at the local cafe drinking coffee and playing cards and backgammon.

We stumble across a Turkish woman making and selling gozleme for $2 each. It is a thinly rolled dough filled with potatoes, spinach, feta cheese and herbs and cooked on a hot plate over coals.

It's dinner for the night and a cheap, delicious and filling one at that.

All along this coast we find markets where vegetables and fruit are never more than $1 a kilo.

Produce on offer includes glossy eggplants, vine-ripened tomatoes, crisp lettuce and rocket, sweet and mild green and red peppers, fat and juicy nectarines and peaches and beautiful melons.

We are reluctant to leave but we have to get back to the Greek Islands where the prevailing Meltemi wind promises some respite from the heat.

We'll be back to Turkey soon.

- The Marlborough Express