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Datça

The town of Datça is a delightful seaside resort where yachting, sailing and fishing are a way of life. In addition to its many nightly entertainment spots, it has much more to offer with many fabulous restaurants and cafés, serving the finest in regional and local fare.

There are numerous shops selling only the highest quality in jewellery, rugs and various local handcrafts. Enjoy a traditional bazaar every Saturday in the centre of Datça, where you can always find something to fit your taste.

Datça also provides everyday conveniences such as banks, taxis, bus and boat terminals, post office, public transportation, etc…

Another unique characteristic of Datça is its climate. With a temperature rarely exceeding 35°C (95°F), combined with extremely high pure oxygen and low relative humidity levels, Datça is very beneficial to one’s health. The Datça peninsula has been renowned for its healing climate since ancient times. The famous Ionian historian and geographer Strabon (63 BC-20 AD) said about Datça: “Gods leave those, whom they wish to give a long and healthy life, in Knidos.”

The road from Marmaris to Datça is still a little bumpy, and winds along a fauna that gradually but strikingly changes from that of the mainland. The narrow isthmus after which the Datça peninsula starts is called Balıkaşıran (literally, where the fish could skip), in reference to the extremely short distance from one sea on the one side to the other sea on the other side. According to Herodotus, during the Persian invasions in 540 B.C., the Knidians had sought to dig a canal at this spot as a defensive measure and in order to transform their territory into an island. But an oracle was consulted who reportedly said "If the gods had so willed, they would have made your land an island. Do not pierce the isthmus." Whereupon they surrendered to the Persians.

In Mesudiye, a small village by the coast, there is a jetty owned by community of Mesudiye, the official name of the bay is Hayıtbükü.

Further away in the direction of Knidos, there is another village called Palamutbükü where a little pier allows boats to moore. Palamutbükü is a holiday village with a long beach. In former times, wine production was the main activity in this area.