Destination Golf Turkey 2015 2015 | Page 6

A VIEW TO TREASURE Whether it’s a balloon ride over Cappadocia or a gulet cruise in the Med, Turkey offers a unique and unrivalled tourist holiday Somebody came up with a great slogan to promote Turkey about 25 years ago: “More classical Greek ruins than Greece, more classical Roman remains than Italy”. It is a good slogan and opened our minds to how Turkey is not really a country at all. It is an explosion of civilisation, the big bang, the cradle from which all of us derived everything that we think about as history or culture. Culture is one of those words that doesn’t belong in the same paragraph as mass tourism, yet Turkey manages to combine them effortlessly. The excursions from the resorts offer cities we have all heard of in the Bible, alongside glass bottom boat trips and paragliding. of the country where ancient remains are many, and beaches lap the hem of an azure Mediterranean Sea. A balloon ride high over Cappadocia is one of the high profile tourism experiences so enthusiastically rated by internet peer review sites. The best of the beaches in Turkey, in Europe, and perhaps in the world hardly has any sand at all, yet Oludeniz is perennially acclaimed by travel writers and peer review sites. It manages to land in the top division because of something familiar: location. When you first see it, Oludeniz seems like a rose petal sticking out into the sea, saffron on blue, the water on two sides of the petal and lapping in a curve around the end. Crowds of people flooding through Ephesus on Cruise ship day are testament to the Turkish delights awaiting the growing cohorts of eager tourists. That is Turkey’s triumph, for the secret is now out. Where to start? Most people start their adventure, not in the bustling bazaars of Istanbul, but in the south western corner Cappadocia Destination Golf Turkey | Page 4 The water is warm around the toes and when the wind gets up the sand doesn’t get in your eyes. There isn’t any. In fact the real magic of this beach cannot be