Turkey have trashed the majority of their accessible coastline with high rises and it is possible to drive the greece border (ipsala) around to alanya without spending a lira if you wanted. It is the mass market euro-trail - including many of the so-called discerning traveller spots - altho' you could kid yourself otherwise in the first flush of advanture.

Even unspoilt little spots like Gemiler (follow the road from the blight that is oludeniz through the dreary kayakoy then down the great twisty road to the cove opposite gemiler island) reek of tourist fleecing. Sure they are friendly with it but that is the Turkish way. They want your money which isn't surprising because it is a very hard economic reality for most people working in the service industry. 7 day weeks 12 hours a day is not uncommon from May on.

East of Alanya it picks up, turn right at the garage a few miles after and take the old coast to gazipasa rather than the new dual carriageway - there's a low shanty looking restaurant on a bend overlooking a cove, very scenic but they are rip-off merchants if you don't watch it. This is only a short stretch and you rejoin the dual carriageway at gazipasa. But from there to Anamur it gets more than interesting with the twisty coast road but that too is slowly disappearing with the building of the new road. Anamur & Bozyazi are the only out-of-it-main towns left on the coast. Stay clear of the yukky tourist area and maybe take the trail up the mountain that divides the alanya bay from next door bozyazi bozyazi bay to the east. preferably to arrive an hour before sunset or the dawn. (Turn left on the eastern outskirts of Anamur before marmuri castle and jink about a bit on roads until it becomes a dirt track. Avoid the over-priced restaurants near the castle for anything but a snack. If you are on a budget the lokanta by the river bridge in bozyazi is limited but affordable however the prices everywhere are creeping up year by year. There's a nice restaurant with a veranda of in bozyazi at the corner on the end of the main town road by the coastal inlet (turn right at the bank on the main crossroad lights if coming from anamur and follow it round). But get an exact price first, several times the charming two ladies who run it laundered our bill. Well, one lady is charming the other thinks she looks good is mercenary.

You can picnic in any campsite in turkey if you don't want to camp there - just pay the picnic fee. Dragon motel camping is right on the beach near the castle with many trees, likewise pulu camping (just east) which is municipal drive in there and follow the road to a small cove - avoid weekends particular sunday if you want some peace and quiet. This is out of season advice. I guess everywhere will be hopping most days in season.If you are vegetarian (i'm not) dragon camping is v good, pervin the likeable hostess speaks excellent english and her mother is an ace cook, they grow a lot of their own stuff. You get a table and chairs there for your picnic money or just visit the restaurant

It's also worth following the dead end inland road north from Anamur and keep going until you can't anymore. It follows the river up the valley.

Picnics....
If you want some sanity near selcuk for example go to the campsite on the coast and to the right in there are some trees you can picnic under. Then you can return to your digs. or i think they have some basic chalets to let (I didn't look at them) . the main camp area to the left is barren and usually full of dutch or german bloaterhomes etc, when we went (early one May)the area to the right was closed for camping but when we asked they let us go in there and camp, we're in a 4x4.

Bozyazi to Silifke is now a mix of stunning and new road, if you didn't see the old road you won;t know you are missing out on a roadside outfit that served snacks cay and had a hammock. These new turkish dual carriageways are great to get from A-B but there's a high price being paid in many other ways.

The expansion of the gazipasa airport in future and the completion of the coast road means that alanya will join up with silifke and more threateningly the often rude oblivious Adana (a big city) hordes who frequent the coast road as far as silifke now. More flights from europe will add to this and soon this little oasis will go the way of all turkish developments. para, para, para. The turkish rich get richer, the middle class become more americanised or european and bang goes the identity of yet another area under the guzzling corporate monster.

From kizkalesi on we're back to highrise blots on the coast road again.

I have a very dear old Turkish friend he's 92, he's seen it all, he's been a part of it all, he is resignedly disdainful of what he calls the "adana tourist"
with their rudeness, flash cars and rubbish dropping. Yes it is the national pastime. Visdit a scenic spot, take some selfies or pose provacatively for your boyfriend by the ocean, have a picnic, leave all your rubbish and waltz off back home to look at the shots you took. I'm not exaggerating I've spent many months at a time in turkey. i despair for the country. it is fundamentally split. There is a chism both in national and individual character.

~obviouly there are many exempt from this and they too worry greatly about where Turkey is heading.

Sorry I don't subscribe to this ecomomic powerhouse view, it is built on the sweat for no reward of many and worse. I won't go into the guy in power.


Just a few sketches hope some of it is useful.