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.


                                 

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