Milli Park (The National Park)

On a normal weekend, Turkish families love to spend the day outside, at the beach or parks or visiting some of the fabulous historical sites, and I've enjoyed many leisurely weekends with my Turkish friends doing just that.

But as this is now on hold until the virus has been overcome, I'm looking back at the Saturday some weeks back when it was sunny and quite hot and I 'found' the National Park known as Millipark. I wanted a change of scenery from Long Beach and knew there were beaches at Davutlar, a town a few kilometres from Sogucak. I totally missed those but heading straight through Davutlar eventually I ended up at the entrance to Millipark. If you wish you can drive through but, having read that there are no loos (always an issue) or restaurants in there, I decided to park up and have a short walk along the track at the side of the road. There is a small charge, depending on whether your are on foot or in a vehicle.  I think it cost me 6tl, which is less than £1.

There aren't sufficient words to describe how beautiful it is. The mountains rise up to the left of the road and to the right of the track are pine trees and flowers going down steeply to the crystal clear waters at the bottom. it is so lush and green.  Along the track are numerous information signs about the flora and fauna, which includes wild boar and panther, or the Anatolian Leopard as it is also known, not that one is likely to meet either of them unless you go deep into the park, or have had a few too many Rakis!







I was just thinking it was maybe time to turn back when I saw a dolmus stop ahead and then saw steps going down to a beautiful cove with white sand, so I had to explore further. There were people down there, some in the sea, some sunbathing on the beach and others enjoying picnics at the numerous picnic benches. I also discovered.....toilets. They are the hole in the floor type but very clean. There are also changing cabins, showers on the beach and what looks as if it has been a restaurant and possibly opens up in the summer.






As I walked back to the car I started planning that when my friends visit in October we will take a picnic to enjoy a day on that beach as well as a drive through the park.

Enjoy the photos.


                                 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

When it rains, it rains

According to the BBC's weather app, today in Kusadasi we will have 'light rain showers and light winds' and it will last all day.  I have only ever seen heavy rain here, not light showers, although it generally doesn't last for long. Yesterday, after heavy rain and thunderstorms earlier in the day, we had warm sunshine later on. We've had lightning and thunderstorms this morning which normally knock out the internet but, fingers crossed, it's OK at the moment. Already, I can see the sky clearing up to the northwest and, whilst still heavy, the rain has eased off slightly from when I took the videos.  The chair at the far end of the terrace, started off next to the table!
Read more

Stormy Weather

Image
As I lay in bed last night reading, I heard a distant rumbling and at first thought it was a car coming on the complex but as it repeated and started to grow louder I realised it was thunder.  It hadn't been forecast; not on my BBC weather app, anyway.  It got louder and louder until I was in no doubt that it was thunder.  I had a quick peek out of the window but there was no rain......... Eventually, I drifted to sleep only to be woken very suddenly by an extremely loud, overhead explosion of thunder and lightning.  I decided to take another peek out of the window only to see absolutely torrential rain coming down.  So I jumped out of bed to go close the lounge full length window/doors which I leave open all the time as they aren't accessible from outside.  Luckily, being set back 40 cms from the outer walls, no rain had come in.  The washing I'd left on the airer on the terrace was protected but I took it in, just in case. I decided to chance leaving the bedroom window/do
Read more

Dolmus - the Turkish mini-bus

Image
When I visited Turkey for the first time in 2004, the holiday reps in Olu Deniz told us about the dolmus with stories of them being old and battered, fitted with kitchen chairs strapped to the side to offer additional seating, everyone crammed in regardless of numbers and don't be surprised if someone gets on with a goat or hens.  Oh, and you get on sit down and pass your fare along the other passengers to the driver.   Whilst I didn't see any goats, hens or other animals on a dolmus, they were a bit old and battered and I once had to sit on a cushion placed on a wheel arch as a seat. On my return to Olu Deniz the following year, the old dolmus had been replaced with very modern, white mini-buses with automatic opening doors in the middle, proper seats, buzzers to request a stop and a limit on the number of passengers. I don't have a lot of experience of using buses back home but one day, I had decided to get one in to Halifax and I needed to be there by 12pm.  Me being m
Read more