by greenmavi
Muğla, which connects the Aegean and Mediterranean seas with its turquoise waters and virgin bays, is waiting to be explored. It is like a hidden paradise, where the sun, blue and green are intertwined, shedding light on the history of hundreds of ancient cities and ruins from 8,000 years ago. Muğla has Türkiye’s longest coastline, it hosts many local and foreign tourists with its historical and cultural values and natural beauty. The city is located in the south of the Aegean Region. In addition to its magnificent sea and natural beauty, it is also the home to many civilizations such as the Carian, Lycian, Roman, Byzantine, and Seljuqian, as well as the Menteshe Principality, and the Ottomans.
In ancient times this city was named Caria, Menteshe under the Turks, is called Muğla today. Muğla was also mentioned in the works of the world famous traveler Evliya Çelebi, and the famous historian Herodotus. The famous historian and “father of history” Herodotus, who was born in Bodrum (ancient Halicarnassos), reported that the “Caria” came from the Aegean islands and settled in this region. On the other hand, the Turkish sailor Turgut Reis, who was an admiral in the Ottoman Empire’s navy and known as the conqueror of Tripoli, was born in this land, and the town where he was born was named after him.
Muğla, which is frequented by millions of people because of its natural, historical and cultural beauties, and with its districts Bodrum, Fethiye, Marmaris, Köyceğiz, Datça, Milas, and Ortaca, and hundreds of bays waiting to be discovered, looks literally like embroidery.
In addition to its enchanting sea, sand and sun; Muğla has a rich potential by offering various other possibilities. Tourism types such as water sports, cycling and trekking, paragliding, green tourism, caves, health and cultural tourism generate the alternative tourism diversity in the city.
See Muğla
Connecting the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas, Muğla is known where the time has stopped, the history and nature are protected, sea and pine forests are intertwined like an aquarium.
Located in the south of the Aegean Region, Muğla conquers the hearts of visitors with both its historical and cultural values, preserved from antiquity to this time, and its soul-warming sun, sparkling sea and untouched bays.
The first human settlement in Muğla, which has been home to many civilizations throughout history, dates back to the pre-historic period according to the rock paintings in the caves in the region.
Visitors to Muğla, while enjoying the sea, sand and sun on the one hand, visit hundreds of museums and archaeological sites in the region, and take a journey through history as well.
Walking the ancient roads
Muğla has a great potential in terms of many alternative tourism types in addition to the sea-sand-sun holiday type. The Lycian Way (Likya Yolu), the Carian Way (Karia Yolu) and the Kanuni Trail (Kanuni Yolu) are trekking routes that are of great importance for trekking, which is an alternative tourism type.
The Lycian Way, one of the oldest known roads with a length of 540 km and connecting 19 ancient cities along its path, is regarded one of the 10 best long-distance walking routes in the world.
The Lycian Way, which has a history of thousands of years, and which is still used by nomads, starts from Fethiye and extends to Antalya. The Lycian road passes between the coast and mountains, and generally consists of Roman roads, old paths and mule roads. Along the course, there are beauties of nature such as Kabak Bay (Kabak Koyu), Cennet Bay (Cennet Koyu), Butterfly Valley (Vadisi), Patara, Kekova, Korsan Cove, Gelidonya Lighthouse, Adrasan, Çıralı; ancient cities such as Antiphellos, Sdyma, Letoon, Limyra, Simena, Xanthos, Patara, Apollonia, Chimera, Myra, Olympos, Phaselis.; It is possible to swim in virgin bays and stay in settlements, accommodation facilities or tents on the road.
Touch İzmir
Kemeraltı Bazaar
In the Kemaraltı Historical Bazaar you will find products from the skilled hands of İzmir that bring together the traces of the past with the texture of the present. These products sometimes take you to the past and keep the history alive and sometimes they reflect the face of modernity.
You should stop at Kızlarağası Inn, located in Halim Ağa Bazaar in Kemeraltı, which is one of the most popular inns in the city with its Ottoman-style architecture. There are shops selling ceramic, wooden and glass souvenirs, local handicrafts and evil eye beads, silver jewelry and antiques.
If you want to have a souvenir of your vacation, you can consider the evil eye bead made in İzmir. Evil eye bead, glass art with its colorful and pleasant appearance, attracts attention not only as a decorative product, but also for use from the past to the present. You may want to touch to get rid of fears, distress and negative energy.
Cave of Seven Sleepers / Eshab-ı Kehf
This cave, which is mentioned in the Qur’an, is considered sacred by Muslims and Christians. A legend of the Eshab-ı Kehf Cave is told among the people.
According to the legend; Seven young men, who were members of the Christian religion brought before the Roman Emperor Decius or Diocletian, because they refused to offer sacrifice to pagan gods. Together with their dog Kıtmir, these seven young people choose to escape from death and took shelter in this cave.
They fall into a deep sleep for 300 years. The first to wake up goes to the city to buy food, but is caught because of the outdated money he has. When he comes to the cave with him, they see nothing but a nest where seven birds perched. For this reason, this place is known as Seven Sleepers Cave.
House of Virgin Mary
Christians believe that after Jesus’ crucifixion, the Virgin Mary came to Selçuk with his apostle John and spent the last years of her life here. That is why the House of the Virgin Mary is considered one of the holy places of pilgrimage.
The house received visits from Pope Paul VI in 1967 and Pope John Paul II in 1979, which strengthened the belief that Virgin Mary lived and died in Ephesus. This site has become a frequent destination for pilgrims, since the image of the Virgin Mary is venerated not only by Christians but also by Muslims. A special mass is held each 15 August and attracts innumerable visitors.
Ayasuluk Castle
Ayasuluk Castle is located on the Ayasuluk Hill in the town of Selçuk which was the first place of settlement of Ephesus. The castle is also famous for its view overlooking Selcuk. It is not known exactly when was the castle built.
The city walls seen today belong to Byzantine, Aydınoğulları, and Ottoman periods. The walls, built of stone, brick, and plaster, are supported by 15 towers. In the castle, there are stone tiled streets, cisterns of various sizes, a mosque and at the highest point the remains of a church.
Şirince Village
Şirince, located in the Selçuk district of İzmir, is one of the most famous villages of Türkiye. Şirince earns its name, which translates as “cute” in English, with its nature, streets, houses and people.
The village is located about 10 km from Selçuk and 83 km from İzmir. You should definitely visit Şirince it is famous for its wine and stone villas and its reputation goes beyond the borders of the country. The local 19th century architecture is well presevered in the village as most of these houses are carefully restored by their new inhabitants, now welcome visitors as small pensions, restaurants, cafes or shops.
The village maintains its cultural character with thematic education, mathematics, art and theater facilities.
One of the places of interest in Şirince is the market in the center of the village. Many products from soap to olive oil are sold at the bazaar, where you can also buy handicrafts made by local women.
Another must-do activity in the village is tasting the world-famous Şirince fruit wines. You can stop at the wine houses to taste homemade wines made from many different fruits such as blackberries, blueberries, melons and strawberries.
Nazarköy
At the fifth kilometer on the way to Torbalı from Kemalpaşa, one can see an intersection adorned with the colors of the evil eye bead. This place is the Nazarköy village. Previously known as Kurudere, the village has been home to evil eye bead workshops for 75 years. The name of the village was then changed to Nazarköy (the village of the evil eye) in 2009.
Established among pine trees, the village welcomes visitors with stands of evil eye beads in every color and size.
Evil eye bead workshops can also be found here, where the sounds of skewers and iron are heard in front of 1,200-centigrade furnaces.
Mahmut Sür, who has been making evil eye beads for 43 years in his atelier in Nazarköy in İzmir’s Kemalpaşa district, is on the UNESCO List as a Living Human Treasure List (LHT). This title is given to people who possess a very high degree of knowledge and skills required for performing or re-creating specific elements of the intangible cultural heritage.
Kültürpark
It is a peaceful place where you can breathe some fresh air, listen to the birds, and touch the pines with the meticulously grown trees and flora. There are 9 thousand 500 trees brought from all over the world, from America to Siberia, from Europe to the Far East within the Kültürpark.
İnciraltı Urban Forest
It is a place where you can enjoy both the sea and nature in İzmir. Moreover, you can do exercise walking, jogging and picnic in this area. İnciraltı Urban Forest covers an area of approximately two million square meters with İnciraltı fishpond.
The Natural Life Park
There are countless different species roam freely in their natural habitats is the largest natural life park of Europe. The Park is home to 1048 animals in 128 species from mammals to birds and reptiles, as well as endangered species such as the Asian elephant. Being a member of The European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), the Natural Life Park attracts great attention, especially from children.
Homeros Valley And Recreational Area
Taking after its name from the Iliad and Odysseia epics, the valley offers the serenity it promised. The recreation area including seven kilometers of valley arrangement includes picnic areas surrounded by rare flowers. The area was also traditionaly known as a resting place of the poet in the past.
Karagöl Natural Park
It is a place for an escape from the city. It is on Yamanlar Mountain in Karşıyaka district. Karagöl is İzmir’s oxygen reservoir. At the end of your journey with all the generosity of nature and the magnificent İzmir Bay, Karagöl welcomes you like a picture that reflects every shade of green. You feel yourself in a postcard in Karagöl. Karagöl is a gorgeous nature paradise and provides an opportunity to explore the beauty of Yamanlar Mountain. You can have your picnic in Karagöl while watching the elegant swimming of ducks.
Çiçekliköy and Yakaköy
These two neighboring villages, whose mountains and stones are covered with pine forests, promise pleasant hours away from boredom and stress with their dazzling clean air, colorful flowers that bloom in spring, f
smell
Muğla
As soon as you set foot in Muğla, you can smell the sparkling sea, clean air and pine forests intertwined with the sea with the winds blowing from the Aegean and Mediterranean. While you breathe the scent of plants and fruits in the citrus gardens in many districts of the city, you will go to other lands.
In the Butterfly Valley (Kelebek Vadisi), you can inhale the scent of lavender flowers and chaste trees, which set the ground for the natural environment of the butterfly family. The scent of sweetgum trees, which are an endemic plant species and are found only in the form of forests in America and Köyceğiz in the world, is unrivalled.
And if you happen to be here, do not forget to smell the buffalo linen that stands for Bodrum, the oleander and bougainvillea that decorate the streets in Datça and overflow from the flowerpots in front of the doors, and the almond flowers that bloom in the spring.
Selimiye
Selimiye is also one of the frequent destinations for blue cruising between Bodrum and Marmaris.
It is a village surrounded by green, with clean and generally gentle seawater. Small restaurants gathered around the pier generally serve for boats. Around Selimiye there are three antique castle ruins named Hydas. The ruins of the Hellenistic walls in the southeast hill of the bay can be visited. The Lookout tower 100 meters offshore was built in order to provide guidance for the boats approaching Selimiye. Also the lighthouse, monasteries and other ruins are worth seeing. Remains unearthed from wrecks in the region are exhibited in the Bodrum Underwater Museum (Bodrum Sualtı Müzesi).
In Selimiye which is the natural harbour for boats in stormy weather, the “shallow harbour” beach is one of the places worth seeing.
There are many restaurants around the pier where yachts are anchored in Selimiye. In restaurants that serve mainly seafood and fish, you can choose either grilled or steamed fish, depending on the kind of the fish. Pure olive oil and bay leaf add a different flavour to steaming. Stuffed courgette flower is a specialty of the Southern Aegean.
Saklıkent Canyon
Saklıkent Canyon (Saklıkent Kanyonu) in Muğla’s Seydikemer district is a highly preferred natural attraction with its natural track consisting of steep slopes and cool waters, where the sun does not reach in hot summer months. Everybody is welcomed to have a walk on the 2km wooden pier attached to the canyon walls, along the 18 km Eşen Stream (Esen Çayı), which flows powerfully during summer. The remaining 16 kilometres of the Canyon can only be visited by those with professional equipment for canyoning. Only the sky can be seen among the rocks that exceed a thousand meters in places. There are also activities such as rafting, zipline and bungee jumping in the water flowing from the canyon for adventurous visitors.
Karabağlar Plateau
We recommend that you leave the city centre of Muğla and see Karabağlar Plateau (Karabağlar Yaylası), which is 3 km away. With its cold spring water, great plane trees, abundant fruit trees, it is a place of escape in hot days. The whitewashed, red-tiled houses of the Karabağlar Plateau bear the same characteristics as the preserved historical houses of the Saburhane district of Muğla. The delicious “kuyu büryanı” served in restaurants in the neighbourhood of Karabağlar Süpüroğlu quarter is one of the tastes you shouldn’t miss.
Butterfly Valley
Butterfly Valley (Kelebek Vadisi) is one of the most prominent places in Muğla (Fethiye), which has created an isolated structure from the outside world thanks to its natural and protected structure surrounded by the sea and steep cliffs. It is a very surprising effect to see billions of butterflies covering the rocks, the trunks and leaves of the trees, in short, everywhere like a shawl, after a little painstaking climb in the rocky and pine valley, which is declared a 1st degree natural protected area and closed to all kinds of buildings. With a sound or a tiny movement, the butterflies fills the sky, casting a shadow over the valley. The valley in question is home to more than 80 butterfly species.
Kabak Bay
Kabak Valley (Kabak Koyu) is one of the natural protected areas where many endemic plants are located. It is a bay for yoga and nature lovers, athletes who prefer the camping sites surrounded by nature and wooden bungalow houses. The bay, which is a paradise including the Lycian way walking route, is among the places that should be visited.
riendly people, local products, appetizing breakfast tables and picnic areas.
Agamemnon Hot Springs
“Agamemnon Hot Springs” cited by Homer’s legends and the geographer Strabo’s works have been used as a curing centre from ancient to present times. The spas where the wounded soldiers of Alexander the Great were treated were very popular in those times. This region is presently called “Balçova Springs” and offers thermal waters, mud baths and a source of drinking water. The Balçova Springs, which also provides accommodation, are particularly beneficial for the treatment. The curing water of the Balçova Spas contains sodium chloride..
