Brits who travel mainly within Europe often do not consider Turkey, why? Possibly because they are not actually aware as to exactly where Turkey is.

It has surprised me personally as to how many apparently educated people seem to think it is somewhere vaguely near North Africa, “Has the trouble in Egypt or Tunisia had any effect on Turkey?” I have been asked that question several times over the past twelve months.

Many are surprised to hear that Turkey actually is situated on North side of the Mediterranean Sea; in fact Turkey’s Mediterranean coast stretches for almost 1000 miles it then stretches up around the Aegean Sea for another 380 miles this coast being adjacent to the Greek coastline with many Greek Islands closer to Turkey than Greece! , And the northern coast borders the Black Sea for a further 300 miles

The stretch of the Mediterranean coast, which has captured our hearts, is known as the Turquoise coast. On only our second visit to Turkey we arrived in Kalkan it was a total

surprise to us, we had treated ourselves to a belated honeymoon and booked a private villa, we arrived in the dark and from the pool terrace looked out across the bay at the delightful twinkling lights of this beautiful place, the reflections in the water added an indescribable touch of magic.

The following morning was no less wondrous, the sun had risen and we viewed with almost a sense of awe how the town spread around the natural bowl and tumbled down the mountainside to the water’s edge. In the harbour we could see an eclectic mix of luxury motor launches, yachts, gullets and small fishing boats each seemingly at home in these surroundings.

On our first venture into the town itself, we discovered it to be everything we could hope for, in a holiday it had all the shops one might wish for, clothes, jewellers, leather and ceramics and bars and restaurants to sit and enjoy anything from a coffee with pastries to lobster thermidor with exquisite wine, many with harbour side locations or sea views. All in all, a sophisticated, upmarket resort where the discerning traveller could happily while away a week or two.

Whilst strolling through the narrow cobbled streets of the old town one evening, we stopped to look in an estate agents window, the prices of property seemed too good to be true; but, true they were, we found ourselves making an appointment to look at something the evening after.

Now, whilst we had visited this idyllic little town and fallen in love with it, the idea of “buying into it” had not occurred to us, we hadn’t given it a thought. However, that is exactly what we did! The idea that we could actually own a villa as beautiful as the one we had hired for our “Honeymoon” was a dream.

The second property we viewed became that dream, a detached four bed roomed villa with a private pool and amazing three hundred and sixty degree views, the sea to the front and mountains to the sides and rear. Surprisingly, this dream cost less than a decent sized terraced house back in the U.K.

So, we left Turkey that first time with a whole new mix of emotions, I have to say that I did have moments where I wondered ‘at exactly what point was my brain taken out?’ There was excitement, pride, panic and a touch of terror`!

We went home with a mass of pictures on our newly acquired digital camera, all I had to do was learn how to download them to my laptop and then I could actually show what madness I had sunken into, (I jest!).

For anyone reading this article let me tell you that the whole procedure of buying, for us at least, was comparatively easy, largely down to luck! We actually gave power of attorney to the Estate agent that sold us the property, another impetuous piece of madness? Yes, but perhaps but as I said we may have been lucky in the agent we chose. From paying him the initial cash deposit and going to the official Notary’s office to make the P.O.A. legal, we had to do very little further.

We did however have to begin the search for furnishings and thank the Lord for the Internet! What a fantastic tool, virtually all of our arrangements and purchases were made and organized via our computer.

Now every villa just has to have a name, there are only so many variations of “olive” names that a small Turkish town can sustain; in any case we wanted to be different, we wanted to be individual, we wanted to be clever! So? We joined parts of our own Christian names together to form the word KATMAR! Yes our villa would be called “Villa Katmar” vaguely Turkish sounding we thought? We were right, without even knowing it at the time there actually is a Turkish word ‘KATMER’ it means . . . pancake! This has given our Turkish friends a bit of amusement over the past few years.

The next time we visited, which we were eager to do as soon as possible, was the last week of November the same year; we had asked for a bed to be delivered and curtains to be put up and that was just about it! We had arranged for various pieces of furniture to be delivered during our stay, even though at this point in time the villa was not actually legally ours, we had not got the title deeds and the final payment had not been made, the process was still ongoing, but that didn’t seem to bother anyone (least of all us).

The morning after, beautiful clear blue sky, bright sunshine and about twenty three degrees Celsius the Estate agent met us at the villa and we made arrangements for one or two alterations to the pool and terrace, whilst doing this I was wearing a short sleeved shirt, linen trousers and light weight shoes, he asked “Martin are you not cold?” he incidentally was wearing a thick padded jacket sweater jeans and heavy boots,

my answer? “It was snowing in Manchester when we left yesterday”.

Over the course of the next few days bits of furniture arrived and we became the “excited schoolchildren” again, the difference between Turkey and U.K. is that when something is delivered there, they unpack it, place it or fix it (curtains, shelving anything) in whichever room you want it, top floor included, and then they take all the packaging away with them afterwards!

We did get some time to walk around Kalkan and what a totally different experience it was, virtually no tourists, the place had resorted to its fishing village identity; I can now actually say in all honesty that it has a feel of a Cornish fishing village, but with sun! There were several restaurants still open but most of the shops were closed so wandering around the narrow streets was like exploring the town all over again, everyone we came across wished us good day and smiled warmly, any doubts I might have had as to whether we were doing the right thing by buying this villa were banished completely, in fact to this day I have to say that I probably like the out of season visits the best. In the height of season most of our Turkish friends are largely

occupied tending to tourists in some guise or other, in winter they don’t do too much and if they do the hours are so much more sociable.

But then again to while away long lazy hours reading a good book whilst stretched out on a sun lounger and taking the occasional dip in your own private pool to cool off, during the summer months is rather nice!

We left very reluctantly at the end of the week to go home to the freezing winter weather, but? The adventure had truly begun!

If after reading this article you are interested in holidaying in Turkey or even “buying into it” details of Villa Katmar, Kalkan and Turkey can be found at www.kalkankatmar.com

Check out Villas in Turkey