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06/28/2005: "Bad Ass Bodrum"

It's great when the preconceptions of a place turn out to be way off. It was that way with Bodrum in Turkey.

For many travellers, I guess, it still looks like a typical resort with many tourist shops and the constant attention from the merchants. But hold on a moment, there are worse places to be. The people are very friendly and not as pushy as many guide books have written about and the feel of the city is definately Turkish.

Sure there are British bars and the like but they are well hidden and authentic Turkish cooking is abundant. It is not cheap here, that said anyone coming from a richer country will be more than happy to get great service and a fantastic location to boot.

The inner marina is the main focus of the town although the streets radiate out from the dockside with plenty of scope for exploring. Tree covered passages shelter the shop browser from the heat in the older section near the port and there are plenty of watering holes and restaurants with a great selection of fish available.

For a bit of fun you can hop onto a boat, day or night, and have a drink or a meal and the hassle factor is minimised with a smile and constant movement onwards. Linger a little too much and you will get the arm twisting patter of the shop owner, but those with experience can easily shrug this off and continue happily on. After all everyone wants to make a buck right?

I am staying in a small youth hostel, the Bodrum Backpackers. It is very clean and cheap, only 15YTL about £6, with plenty of hot water, only 5 beds in the room and en suite bathrooms with great facilities. The street is noisy all night but that is Bodrum, a couple of extra beers and you don't notice that either.

All in all I am very happy with the place, if I get to work in the next few days I will probably hang out here a while but if not I will be of down the coast to Kas.

Happy Hour is calling gotta run...................