Time to reflect on another Great Day of our Holiday in Turkey

Wow what a day we had... Olu Deniz beach was fantastic and the late afternoon visit to "The Blue Lagoon"... well that was the icing on the cake!

Olu Deniz on Turkey's sunny Mediterranean Coast

On our holiday last year to Turkey we visited the beautiful region of Fethiye.  Situated on Turkey's South Western Mediterranean coast, the area between Fethiye and Olu Deniz is a particularly beautiful part of the country.

Fethiye is the provincial market town with its colourful harbour and waterfront promenade and it's glitzy yacht marina and Olu Deniz is the famed beach resort a few miles away.

Olu Deniz is one of the most photographed beach areas in Europe as it offers a truly stunning panorama with it's wide sweeping sandy bay giving way to an impressive mountain range that drops like a stone in to the clear Turquoise of the Mediterranean.

The beach at Olu Deniz is a mixture of fine sand and in parts with some shingle and rocky out parts.  You will find the sea quality is perfect, with a gentle current, clear blue water and a pleasant temperature.

This is a large expanse of beach, so finding a spot was not a problem and as is customary throughout the world, there are sunbeds and parasols for hire at a sensible price and for those who object to paying for a sunbed, you can do as many did... spread out your towel for free.

Behind the beach at Olu Deniz there is a lively resort with many restaurants, shops, bars and cafe`s.  The beach front restaurants serve an excellent beach snack type lunch but are a little more expensive than those set back off the beach front.

There are amenities like toilets and baby changing facilities... but go prepared would be my suggestion.  On a lighter note there are water sports facilities for the action and thrill seekers and for the real adrenalin junkies there is a tandem paragliding service which takes you to the summit of Mount Babadag, which over shadows the beach and from a heady 6,500 feet where you can be hurled off the top to descend with awesome views... I am told and then circling your way down to land on the beach itself.  You can sit and watch the para gliders circling and descending all day, it is fascinating to watch as they look like small birds when high up and aeroplanes when they land.

So after a spot of lunch and an afternoon of reading, sunbathing and watching the para gliders we headed along the beach a few hundred metres to the famous "Blue Lagoon".  I had read much about this area it looked beautiful in the pictures I had seen... so we decided to take a look and explore.

The lagoon is a natural inlet of the sea which has to navigate its way through a curled passage around a peninsular of land.  This peninsular of land almost cuts off the lagoon from the sea.  There is no tide so to speak but the steady flow of sea water offers the lagoon a fresh supply of water that has two properties, a lovely temperature and quite a bit of salt.   You can almost float in the lagoon and the water is like a bath temperature.  The lagoon is naturally beautiful but it is fast becoming so popular that we found the best time to visit was early morning or late afternoon when there were not so many of the visitor's.  At these times the visibility of the water improves and can be clear and blue.

The Blue Lagoon at Olu Deniz

The Blue Lagoon is a nature reserve and there is a small cost to enter this protected environment.  For our family it was well worth the cost to experience this.  The beach areas in the lagoon are the fringe of the peninsular that protects the lagoon from the sea and the around the waters edge of the lagoon itself.

With a full day spent at Olu Deniz and "The Blue Lagoon" we felt the urge to stay in the resort until sunset and with a ride up the high coast road that then looks back at the beach and here is the result.

Sunset at Olu Deniz

Early evening at Olu Deniz in Turkey can be strikingly beautiful... and must look absolutely incredible from one of the paragaliders as seen in this picture.

We stayed in a very nice villa in nearby Ovacik.   A pretty hillside resort which also sits in the shadow of Mount Babadag or "Father Mountain" as it is known.

Artemisia Residence Villas has two very pool areas, with a 25m pristine pool on each development, with lovely gardens and fabulous views over the Hisaronu valley down towards Olu Deniz.

We hope you can also enjoy your day at Olu Deniz and holiday in Turkey.

For more details on holidays to Turkey and in particular this region please visit www.artemisiavillas.com or call in the UK free on 0800 5118 333