Bodrum Gumbet Forum Turkey

The first time we ever went to Bodrum was in the summer of 2002. We were in Fethiye on holiday (for the third time) and a Turkish friend who was on holiday in Bodrum asked us to go and meet them there. Loads of travel advice from our hotel staff and we were off. Our first ‘big’ travel adventure in Turkey actually but again, that’s another story. We were there for one night and to be honest, for us, it was the night from hell. If you like the sort of place where you get bars with very loud outdoor music and they’re all in a row so you can’t actually hear one bit of music OR have a conversation, then maybe you would have liked Bodrum at that time. (I don’t know if Bodrum is still like that.) I personally thought it was awful – and then I woke up the morning after (about 8 am after going to bed at about 5am) and went for a walk…

…Bodrum is exceptionally pretty and I wanted to go back there – in better circumstances (not summer). The Castle of St. Peter on a small peninsula in the sea, 2-storey, flat roofed, white-washed houses nestling into the bay and cobbled streets in the old town.

We went back there in November 2008 with friends and stayed overnight and we saw a completely different side to the town. We stayed in a pension (I think it was called Artemis) on the seafront for a very reasonable amount (70 lira for the room, with breakfast and a view of the bay as in the second photo). I’ve read in guidebooks that Bodrum is purely a summer town.

This is very far from true. It may be true of Gümbet which seemed completely closed down for the winter but Bodrum – as I’ve been told by Turkish friends – is a bit of a playground for Turkish pop / rock stars and actors who live in Istanbul but have holiday homes there. I was expecting Bodrum to be sleepy in winter but all is active – but in a nice way. As you can see in the photos, the weather wasn’t the best but it didn’t matter.

Source – turkey for life