Istanbul

Even though fall has started to fade away and winter has started to show its cold face, tour operators are offering one-day "fall tours" to destinations around İstanbul for city residents who are fed up with the dreariness of city life.

Istanbul, a city of many millions, can sometimes be unbearable with its traffic and crowds, and working life is exhausting for many here. But if you think that the chance to grab a weekend away from İstanbul has gone because the summer has ended, you would be wrong. Although tours to seaside resorts for a few days at the beach have ended, you still have the chance to escape from this tiring city for a day or two.
There are many destinations less than 100 kilometers away from the city center of İstanbul that offer opportunities for rest and relaxation for city residents, many of whom are reluctant to go far away, even in the fall.
Bülent Bek, the general manager of Travel Terminal Tours, said this time puts people in the mood for a different type of holiday, one that echoes the changing spirit of the season, and it is now time for fall excursions.
"Fall makes people more emotional, thoughtful and romantic," says Bek. Visits to villages and small towns such as Ağva and Polonezköy spring to mind when putting together tour itineraries at this time of year, according to Bek. Ağva, a small, green town to the northeast of İstanbul, is ideal for a one-day break from the urban jungle. Just under 100 kilometers from İstanbul, Ağva has been traditionally associated with summer getaways, with its long and clear beaches, but is now the first choice of those who want to flee the noise of the city and holiday peacefully during this season. Maybe the most attractive thing about this town is it is located in the delta of the Göksu and Yeşilçay Rivers. "We start the day in the early morning with a six-kilometer-long trek. It is an indescribable feeling to walk through the forests of Ağva on the rustling leaves," Bek said, while talking about the tour he organized last weekend. "After having lunch at a restaurant along the banks of the Yeşilçay, we took up a cruise along the Yeşilçay, ending where it flows into the Black Sea," he explained.
Polonezköy, the "back garden" of İstanbul, is also an attractive getaway for İstanbullus. Located around 20 kilometers from the district of Beykoz, a suburb of İstanbul, it was founded by Polish settlers in 1846. This "Polish village" -- the translation of the name in English -- is situated inside a forest which was declared a natural park in 1996
The charming Polonezköy
A one-day tour is the best way for visiting Polonezköy. There are plenty of relaxing places to visit in Polonezköy: the house where the founder of the Turkish Republic Mustafa Kemal Atatürk stopped once for a brief visit -- now a small museum; beautiful forested parklands; old wooden houses; and a few shops with local produce and crafts.
Those who like a more active outdoor life have quite a choice. Inland from the coast, the rolling hills and peaceful forests create an excellent environment for horseback riding; with horses available from the main square. There is also a very pleasant five-kilometer hiking path among cherry orchards. Although houses and restaurants serve a delicious selection of fresh local food in the village, having a picnic might be a better idea in Polonezköy since the restaurants are a touch expensive.
Tour operators note that fall is in fact the ideal season for trekking and walks in nature. "Nature shows off its splendor each and every season. The nature walks we organize are the best opportunity to enjoy the beauties of nature," said Cevdet Oğuz of the Tamzaratur tour agency. Stating that nature treks considerably increase in the fall, Oğuz said Tamzaratur organize journeys to various places, including the Menekşe, Erikli and Sultanpınar plateaus situated between İstanbul and İzmit.
"Apart from nature treks, local tourists mostly prefer tours which focus on culture in the fall and spring, which are more suitable for sightseeing since the weather is warm," Bek also said. One of the most popular cultural tours taken by İstanbul residents are those to Bursa's İznik district, formerly known as Nicea, which is famous because of its pottery and has been an important center of trade on the road to the East from İstanbul throughout history. İznik, an ancient town, was first established in 310 B.C. It was part of the Roman, Byzantine, and Seljuk empires and remained under the sovereignty of Ottoman Empire for an extended period of time. Since most of the historical buildings are well preserved, the area looks like an open-air museum.
A number of tour operators including Tamzaratur offer you a one-day trip to this town, which bears the traces of history. The former Ottoman capital of Edirne, along with Çanakkale, famous for the ancient city of Troy and the nearby World War I battlefield of Gallipoli are also among the alternatives for cultural enrichment that tour agents provide.
As for the cost of a day trip away from İstanbul, either by having a nature walk through Tamzaratur or by taking a rest amidst freshening weather in Ağva, one-day tour prices are generally around YTL 60-80 per person, all inclusive.
Kenan Oruç from Arnika Tourism said although there is a relatively less demand for fall tours this year due to the global financial crisis and its associated economic effects, a small trip to the unknown beauties of İstanbul is well worth the cost. Although a tour operator would recommend using a guide to get the most out of the places you visit, you can also travel to these spots under your own steam, which will help you save time and money as long as you are well equipped and well informed.

Patara Antic City in Turkey

As the huge glowing ball of the setting sun sinks slowly into the sea, it's possible to gaze through the eucalyptus trees and out across the sand dunes and imagine that you are in some remote corner of northern Australia. But then you turn and start to walk back to your pension, and suddenly you are wandering amid the massive marble remains of an ancient city, and this could only be Turkey after all, and Patara, on the south coast between Fethiye and Kalkan, more specifically.

Patara is well known for having one of the finest beaches in all of Turkey, 20 kilometers of soft white sand that stretches out some three kilometers south of the village of Gelemiş with no ugly high-rise hotels to spoil the vista. What is less well known is that some of the beach is still truly wild, a place where you can come and find yourself with only the waves for company, a place where you can walk for hours and rarely encounter another soul. To find that more isolated part of the beach, you have to divert away from the road that links Gelemiş to the main stretch of sand, and when you do that you will find yourself lost amid some of Turkey's finest ancient ruins as well.
Patara started life as a Lycian settlement, and there is plenty of evidence of Lycian presence left here in the form of massive sarcophagi scattered around the fields, each of them with a gaping hole where treasure-hunters have forced their way inside in search of gold. Later, the town became famous for its oracle, which was supposedly sacred to Apollo. However, archeologists have not so far found any trace of it. The town had the usual complicated history up until 42 B.C. when the Roman senator Brutus heard rumor of its wealth and forced the locals to surrender to Rome. Regardless, it seems to have remained an important place where St. Paul and St. Luke changed ship on their way from Miletus to Jerusalem. It was around 300 that Patara's most famous son was born -- St. Nicholas, who was slowly transformed over the centuries from a mere provincial bishop into Santa Claus, aka Father Christmas. But as at Ephesus (Efes), so at Patara. Slowly the harbor that had been the source of its wealth silted up until eventually ships could no longer use it. After that the town fell into decline until by the early 19th century British explorers could report that there was no longer anyone left in Patara.
Today as you walk down to the beach, you will quickly arrive at the remains of a triumphal arch that was erected in 100 for the local governor, Mettius Modestus. Then a little to the south you pass the remains of a large bathhouse and then of a basilica where it is perhaps a little too fanciful to imagine St. Nicholas having preached. From here you can either head on south to the sand or cut inland towards the remains of a stretch of wall. Near here, archeologists have uncovered a long stretch of marble pavement lined with shops with a colonnade running along each side of it, the İstiklal Caddesi, perhaps, of its day. It's a short walk north from here to explore what is left of a temple to Apollo which seems to have folded in on itself, its huge entrance cracked at the top and trees growing inside what must once have been the sanctuary of the god.
But however amazing all this is, it's mere window dressing compared with the real gem of Patara, which is a wonderful, virtually undamaged theater that dates back to the first century. This owes its fantastic state of preservation to the sand, which, over the centuries, flowed across its 30 rows of marble seats, thus protecting them. The sand has since been cleared away, leaving behind an incredibly evocative place to sit and ponder the fall of empires.
Near the theater the bouleterion (council chamber) also survives in reasonable shape, although access is barred to it for no very obvious reason. No matter -- you can still scramble up the hill behind the theater, which seems to have been the city's acropolis and where there is still an impressive cistern. From here a path winds round a stagnant stretch of water, all that remains of the once vital harbor. On its far shore stand the remains of a huge granary paid for by the Emperor Hadrian in the second century, and looking as it must have been built from the same blueprint used for the one at Andriake, near Demre/Kale. It's from the path to the granary that you can head west across the sand dunes and come eventually to the more isolated part of the beach.
The sand. The ruins. What else is there to Patara? Well, like İztuzu Beach, near Dalyan, this is an area still popular with Caretta caretta (loggerhead) turtles who come up onto the sand to lay their eggs from May to October. It is at least in part due to the efforts of turtle fans that development at the beach has been prevented, so we should all stick gratefully to the rules drawn up to protect the eggs and the baby turtles.
As for Gelemiş, this is not somewhere to get too excited about but rather a ramshackle collection of pensions and restaurants with the odd slightly larger hotel looking as if it has somehow strayed from nearby Kalkan. Most of these places are perfectly comfortable, and it's wonderful that they have been kept so far from the beach. It's just that there is nothing especially memorable about any of them, except, perhaps, their owners.
In the summer, there is the odd minibus straight down into Gelemiş. Out of season, however, you will need your pension owner's help to get back up to the main road where there is regular transport east to Kalkan and west to Fethiye. With time on your hands you can easily make an excursion west to two more ancient sites which together make up one of Turkey's UNESCO-recognized World Heritage sites: Xanthos and the Letoon.
Xanthos is just a short walk uphill from the main road at Kınık. Forgotten as it is now, this was once a hugely important town, the capital of Lycia, with fine monumental buildings to show for it. Here you will find another remarkably preserved theater, as well as the plinths on which once stood statues carted off to England via the port at Patara by the Englishman Charles Fellows. They now reside in the British Museum. It's easy to think that's all there is to see at the site, but if you keep walking uphill you will come eventually to the Lycian necropolis, a vast rockface pitted with picturesque tombs.
A little further along the main road is the turnoff to the Letoon, a vast triple temple dedicated to the brother and sister gods Apollo and Artemis, and their mother Leto, which retains some original mosaics, although the site is often partially under water.

WHERE TO STAY
Flower Pension: 0 (242) 843 5164
Golden Pension: 0 (242) 843 5162
Patara View Point Hotel: 0 (242) 843 5184
HOW TO GET THERE
Regular buses ply the coast road from Antalya to Fethiye, passing the turnoff to Patara. Out of season, you may need to walk or hitch a ride for the last four kilometers down to Gelemiş.