ALTINKUM INFORMATION

Altinkum

Altinkum is a resort town located on the shore of the Aegean sea in Turkey. The name "Altinkum" translates to "golden sand". The town has three main beaches. Altinkum is popular with British and Turkish tourists.

There is a range of bars and restaurants offering a range of Turkish and British food. The beach-side restaurants tend to cater mostly for British Tourists. Further afield in Didim, there is a selection of authentic Turkish restaurants.

The Temple of Apollo is only a short 10 minute journey from the resort centre.
It is located near many other ancient sites, including Miletos and Ephesus.
The new Didim Marinaproject, expected to be completed in 2009 will be the largest on the coasts of Turkey, and provide visitors with an American style shopping centre, restaurants, supermarket, gym & fitness centre, cultural office, banks, swimming pool and children’s facilities as well as offering berthing for up to 620 yachts. You can read about Altinkum and Yacht Marina's latest news by visiting Didim TodayAltinkum's local online newspaper.
More pictures of Altinkum, Akbuk, Didyma, Miletos and Priene can be found at Explore Didim

As well as a range of attractions, there are a few characters around Altinkum. Mama Rosa is a woman well known throughout Altinkum. She is considered a local legend, and for years has been growing herself roses and, for the price of a lira or two or a drink of pop, she will give half a dozen roses. She did used to have a friend who travelled with her, but she was murdered a few years ago by a jealous boyfriend. Mama Rosa can be identified by a flower-print skirt and is often sitting on the ground with her roses in a bucket beside her.

Transport

Altinkum is 1 hour 30 minutes transfer from Bodrum Airport and 1 hour 45 minutes from Izmir Airport.

Didim

Didim, home of the antique city of Didyma with its ruined Temple of Apollo, is a small town, popular seaside holiday resort and district of Aydın Province on the Aegean coast of western Turkey, 123 km (76 mi) from the city of Aydın.

Geography

Didim is located on the north shore of the gulf of Güllük opposite the Bodrum peninsula villages such as Torba, Türkbükü and Yalıkavak. The district consists of Didim itself, a coastal town of 26,000 people and a number of small towns including Altınkum (which means golden sand), Gümüşkum (silver sand) and Sarıkum (yellow sand).

Tourism is the main source of income for the area, especially in summer, but agriculture is also an important contributor, the main crops are wheat and cotton. Animals, especially sheep and goats, are raised mainly for local consumpt

History

See Didyma for a full account of this ancient city, settled in the neolithic period, established as colony of Mycenae and then Crete in the 16th century BC and subsequently possessed by Persians, Seleucids, Attalids, Ancient Romans, and Byzantines as part of the province of Caria. The area came into the hands of Turks following the defeat of Byzantium at the Battle of Malazgirt in 1086. She was captured again Byzantines in 1098. She was captured at first by Menteşe in 1280, after Aydınoğlu in 1300. Didim was brought into the Ottoman Empire by Mehmet I in 1413.

Etymology

Didim takes its name from ancient Didyma, sited close to the town. During the Ottoman Empire the town was known as Yoranda or Yoran and under the Turkish Republic was called Hisar (meaning castle) and following its destruction in an earthquake in 1955 was rebuilt and renamed Yenihisar (new castle). She was bounded to Söke district until 1991. She became the district as Yenihisar and was later given the ancient name Didim to distinguish it from other places in Turkey called Yenihisar in 1997.

Tourism

This coast has thus become a very popular holiday resort and is genuinely attractive with its long sandy beaches, clear blue sea, ancient ruins to visit, and its own microclimate, benefitting from hundreds of days of sun a year and warm winters, allowing residents to enjoy the famous beaches and watersports even in January. Perhaps the most attractive bays are the smaller quieter ones further from the centre, such as Haydar, along a dirt road around the shore of Akbük (white bay).

As Didim is so well-situated in the 1980s people from large cities around Turkey, especially Ankara, began to buy holiday homes, apartments, and villas in the area. Most of these were built as cooperative housing projects with private beaches. The attraction of the area is proved by the number of Ankara families that have now been going to Didim for two or more generations, and even today you will see many cars with Ankara (06) numberplates in Didim in summertime. Property values are now rising dramatically and the building boom continues as foreign buyers, especially the families of Turks living and working in Europe, follow their lead. The growth of Didim in the 1980s was enhanced with the building of hotels to accommodate visitors, originally from Britain but now from Turkey itself, on cheap package holidays. Since about 2001 British people have begun to buy holiday homes in Didim, establishing themselves as a visible community of many thousands, to the extent that utility bills in the district are now printed in English as well as Turkish. [1] You will see the Union Jack and other British flags all around Didim, especially in the bars.

Didim town has hotels, a weekly market, a waterpark and the antique temple of Apollo nearby. Didim is also close to a number of other ancient towns and natural wonders: Lake Bafa national park is nearby, along with the Büyük Menderes River and historic sites such as Miletus and Priene.

In the evenings, visitors try to find somewhere quiet to sit by the sea and look at the lights of other towns across the water, but for those of a more energetic nature, Didim has a number of discothèques, smaller bars and clubs, some with live music, mostly Türkü (Turkish folk music). However, Didim is mostly a quiet, family resort with a great coastline, and visitors looking for nightlife would be better off in Bodrum. Summers in Didim can involve sitting on the balcony drinking rakı, playing volleyball, sitting on the beach, or wandering along the seafront while eating sunflower seeds. The local station, Didim TV, is in fact an amateur project by a television repair shop owner and neighbourhood councillor (muhtar), and is mostly advertisements for local shops and hotels.

The construction of the new fifty million dollar Didim D Marina is expected to encourage further tourism and rising property prices in the area. Development of the third beach area in Altinkum has already begun with an expected completion date of 2009.

Places of interest

For many the most dramatic feature is the ruins of the Ionic Temple of Apollo with its columns pointing up into the sky, and its legend of the romance between Apollo and Daphne. The original temple and home of an oracle was destroyed during the Persian Wars and the one we see today was rebuilt following the victory over the Persians of Alexander the Great. [2] [3] [4]
Nearby Miletos, the ruins of the ancient city including a well-preserved antique theatre, stadium, baths of Faustina, temple of Serapis and much more.
Bars and clubs include:

Garden Bar (with its happy hour and loud pop music).
the huge Medusa discothèque, one of the largest in Turkey.
Ali Bar, Didim's rock music locale.
Atelier Cafe Olive Painting exhibition open all year round in the village of Akköy, a 10-minute bus ride to Didim town center. Mrs.Sara Ilguzer's paintings from the village Akköy of local scenes of the country-side of Didim Turkey.
Mosquito Bar&Music Club, locating right next to The Garden at the Altinkum Beach, is a fantastic place with exclusively good music and cocktails, open between 8pm-3am.(Yali St. No:19)

Akbuk

Akbuk became a township in 1991 and is developing quite nicely just as planned. Most of the infrastructural work has been done. Clean roads, beautiful and very calm beaches welcome you to Akbuk as it is an ideal resort for those who love quiet times alongside water sports.

Many people who come here from big cities decide to stay here after their
retirement. It has been explored by tour operators in recent years.

Weekends are the busiest time for Akbuk shores like Altinkum. Early in the morning or late the night amateur fishermen trying to catch biggest seabass or seabrim on the shores of Akbuk. Sometimes they are coming from along journey to catch fish here.

There are fish farms located on the south west direction of Akbuk Bay which are bringing very good income for Turkeys economy. Total lenght of the beach is 11 kilometres for Akbuk. Amateur fishermen especially go near to fish farms. Just incase if there no fish, they can buy from the outlets of some fish farms.

CUPRA is a delicious kind of fish. 400 - 500 gr. each approximately. SARIYANAK KEFAL is another type mullet fish to be tried. Both you can grill or fry with olive oil. While grilling fish or meat or chicken you can pour olive oil brought from olive trees along the mountains of Akbuk. And settle for 20 min. for better taste.

Here on this page we have a photo of CUPRA fish plate. SARIYANAK Kefal (is a kind of mullet) is longer and thinner than CUPRA (pronounces as Chouproa).

The economy related tourism in recent years has made available the local Fishermen's boats for boat trips along the coasts of Akbuk for the duration of the summer months. During your visit to Akbuk, the chapel on the coast line close to the town center is very well preserved and can be visited since it is open to the public. There are big holiday resorts, 3 star hotels and also one 4 star hotel, along with one resort for French tour operators rated at 5 stars; There are also small pensions, motels available during the summer season. Restaurants by the sea, serve delicious fish and local food that should not be missed, which all can be had at reasonable prices . -

How to get to AKBUK

There are local transport minibusses with a sign post "Akbuk Birlik" runs in every 20 minutes between Altinkum - Akbuk and in every 20 minutes between Söke - Akbuk.
If you are travelling from Izmir to Bodrum; second crossroad after Didim turn a nice climb before lake bafa on the right, you will see sign post indicating AKBUK also Didim.