Welcome to Fethiye … or Should That Be Ölüdeniz?

Thursday, 10 October
Ölüdenİz, Turkey

We arrived in İzmir, Turkey just three days ago, and we’re already on the move.

There are no posts for the past two days.  That’s because they were all about chores and errands.

Tuesday was laundry day — nice not to have to wash clothes by hand for a change!  Then, we re-packed our bags — this time for our upcoming trip-within-a-trip.  Wednesday saw us doing errands outside the house; all unexciting.  Somewhere in there, however, we managed to squeeze in afternoon tea at Léone — we didn't need any arm twisting to enjoy some of the tempting pastries from the glass display case.

Sorry, no photos from our afternoon tea … but we were back at Léone this morning to start our travel day with a tasty breakfast — and this time I did not forget to take a picture or two.

A traditional breakfast platter, with buttery croissants, and a
croque-monsieur (top left) split five ways … the Makings of a tasty start to our day.

The trip-within-a-trip I mentioned above is a family vacation.  We set off with mom, and Aylin and Murat [my sister and brother-in-law] this morning; my nephew Hakan will be joining us on Saturday.  With a 5-hour drive ahead of us, we were on the road by 9:45a.  Technically, our destination was Fethiye, a city and municipality of the Aegean province of Muğla.  The drive was uneventful, with a few stops at overlooks along the way to enjoy the scenery.

211 miles (340 km) brings us from İzmİr to Ölüdenİz in Fethİye.

Unfamiliar with the hotels in the area, we’d asked Aylin and Murat for suggestions.  They turned to friends of theirs for recommendations and came up with two properties for us to consider — both in Ölüdeniz [literally dead sea, but officially translated as blue lagoon], a very popular beach town in the municipality of Fethiye.  Since we’ll be getting our beach-fix during our week-long boat trip, we opted to stay inland at Monta Verde Hotel and Villas, a property located halfway between the beach and downtown Fethiye.

Scenes from around Monta Verde Hotel.

At the time we made our reservation, the rest of our party wasn’t sure if they would be joining us.  With that in mind, Mui and I had booked a quiet room in the main building.  When everyone else decided to join us, I suggested that we switch to a villa.  But when Aylin called to make the change, the proprietor — friend of a friend — suggested that we might find the villas too far from the amenities.  “Besides,” he told Aylin, “I’ve put your sister and Mui in a lovely room that I think they will enjoy.”  And so, she booked a two bedroom suite — billed as a family room — for the four of them.

Our rooms are in the main building (center),
but at our request, they don’t overlook the pool/bar area.

Our third floor corner room is recently renovated and has a balcony.

Daytime and sunset views from our balcony.

After settling into our rooms, we regrouped to drive into downtown Fethiye for a quick look-see.  Even though the summer crowds are gone, the waterfront was busy, with parking at a premium.  We lucked into a place not far from Uğur Mumcu Parkı.  The park, which opened to the public in 2012, was developed as part of Fethiye’s efforts to transform itself into a boutique city.  Overlooking the harbor, it serves as the town square, with fountains, topiaries, and flowers adding color and flowing movement to the grounds.

Erected in 2001, the monument is dedicated to the martyrs who fell
during the country’s fight for unity.

Continuing our walk along the waterfront promenade, we made our way past cafés, bistros, and various other eateries overlooking the marina.  Not wishing to ruin our appetite — dinner is included in our room rate at Monta Verde — we settled for cold beverages and a sandwich split five ways.  Next, we made a quick stop at the marina to pay the balance owed for our Blue Voyage charter.  Then it was back to the hotel for some R&R and pre-dinner drinks.

The pool patio is a nice place to enjoy pre-dinner drinks.

Dinner at the hotel is served buffet-style in the dining room on the pool patio.  The tables were all taken by the time we showed up.  Filling our plates, we walked up one flight to the Deck Restaurant instead.  After dinner, we debated sitting on the patio for a while, but everyone was tired, and it had grown quite chilly, so we all retired to our respective rooms rather early.

Meet Monty, a stray that found a home at Monta Verde.

Not sure what we’ll be doing tomorrow … the temps are supposed to warm up considerably, so a visit to the beach will probably be in order at some point during the day.