Exchanging houses with like-minded people offers the opportunity to experience a culture in a very personal way, no matter where it is in the world. So it is with excitement and trepidation that we board our flight in London for Istanbul. We have accepted an offer of a home exchange in Sarigerme, on the southern Mediterranean coast of Turkey.

We arrive early afternoon and right from the start, Istanbul is an attention grabber. So many flavors to this city with its myriad mosques and minarets, Roman and Byzantine architecture, trams trundling along busy avenues, the mournful cry of gulls swooping over the Bosphorous, alley cats down cobbled laneways laying in the late afternoon sun, potted red geraniums on doorsteps, trinket and knick-knack sellers in bazaars, cafes of tea drinkers, mouthwatering nougat and Turkish delight shops and not to forget the opportunistic carpet sellers.  

Istanbul charms with its memories and reminders of the many cultures that have contributed to the growth of this metropolis which straddles the divide between East and West; ancient and modern, it is such a city of contrasts.

From Istanbul, travelling on the ferry, train and buses, our journey takes us overland to include some of Turkey’s great UNESCO World Heritage sites. We have some apprehension given the political unrest and terrorist attacks in different parts of the country, but we have been assured all will be well.

From the comfort of the small centrally located Basileus Hotel, ever-helpful Omer and Salim on reception book our ferry and bus tickets to Izmir for the first part of our overland journey to Sarigerme, as it is not possible to book the tickets online.  

Istanbul to Izmir

Istanbul’s Yenakapi ferry terminal is the starting point for our trip across the Sea of Marmara, which separates Turkish Europe in the north to Asian Turkey in the south. It will take us to Bandirma, a commercial city and transit point for Izmir. Salim has written a note for the ferry man who passes our tickets to us with ‘No. 6’ written on them. We assume, rightly, that this is the departure berth.

We board the ferry for the two-hour journey. On this day, the Sea of Marmara is lashed by driving rain which is thrashing frantically against the ferry windows as we dip and sway across the waves. Any chance of a view from the window seats is nonexistent. A young man, seated alone, constantly peers into a wicker basket where a small grey cat is whining. We sip our Turkish tea and look on with interest. Despite the challenging weather, it is a pleasant trip.

It is still raining heavily as we emerge from the ferry at Bandirma, find a taxi and make our way to the coach station. As promised by Salim, our bus tickets, which are so inexpensive, are waiting as is a large new Kamil Koc coach ready for departure to Izmir. There are few people on this clean, spacious coach for the five-hour journey so we each have window seats. Our trepidation is beginning to fade as a coach assistant welcomes us on board, makes us Turkish tea and offers snacks. Right on time the driver departs the terminal, and we are on our way to Izmir. All so much easier than I imagined!

Our journey takes us across huge winding ranges that head into deep valleys where abundant pomegranate, olive and fig orchards flourish along with carefully tended productive market gardens. We watch small villages come into view and rapidly vanish.

Along roadways and in fields, shepherds, sometimes young boys, sometimes old men, watch small flocks of goats, sheep or cows as they graze -- a constant reminder of an ancient farming culture. And throughout the countryside the red poppy grows wild and free along the side of roads and in fields -- a symbol and a reminder to Australians of their ancestors who fought and died at Gallipoli in World War 1.

Late at night we arrive in to one of the ancient cities of the Mediterranean world, Izmir, Turkey’s third largest city. Once known as Smyrna, this city is steeped in history having been founded by the Greeks and taken over by the Romans before becoming part of the Ottoman Empire in the 15th Century.

Izmir to Selçuk

As we leave the coach station, the lights from the houses on the sides of the surrounding mountains shine like scattered jewels in the darkness. It is a beautiful and welcoming sight. While there is plenty to see in this intriguing city our time is brief as we move on to the charming village of Selçuk, gateway to some of the great archeological sites of ancient Turkey, and a stop off point for us.

It’s a two-hour train journey to Selçuk, one of the most visited towns in Turkey due to its close proximity to Ephesus. We alight from the train and are met on the platform by the ever-helpful local carpet seller who makes sure the owner of the family-run Nazar Hotel comes to collect us.

Selçuk, with its Roman/Byzantine arches, complete with storks’ nests on top of the arches, the ruins of the Basilica of St John, and the Ayasoluk Castle on the hill, is the ideal base for exploring the ancient sites surrounding the town as many are within walking distance. And for something different, if you have a camel and are in Selçuk in early January, you can enter your camel in the Camel Wrestling Competition, a tradition which is supposedly 2,400 years old.

With the help of a local guide we visit fascinating Ephesus, a UNESCO World Heritage Area. Our guide brings to life the history of this outstanding ancient city. The ornate facade of the Celsus Library with its Corinthian style columns is reported to be the third richest library in ancient times due to its capacity to hold more than 12,000 scrolls. Built in 117 AD, the remains of the library are an imposing and impressive sight.

In the nearby mountains above Ephesus, a simple stone cottage is reportedly the house where the Virgin Mary spent the final years of her life, although there is some debate around these claims. However, thousands and thousands of petitions and prayers, written in languages from all over the world, are attached to the Wishing Wall by the many visitors and pilgrims who visit the site each year.

Further afield from Selçuk we travel with a small group to the World Heritage Site of Hierapolis, one of the ancient cities of the Aegean, apparently instrumental in the spread of Christianity in Asia Minor during the 3-4th Century AD.  Nearby, the Pamukkale travertine, known as the ‘Cotton Castles’, hold mineral rich turquoise pools of water in lustrous white terraces. It is a spectacular site and attracts more than two million visitors a year. Hierapolis and Pamukkale were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Area in 1988.

Selçuk to Sarigerme

Three days later we leave Selçuk on a small bus bound for Aydin where we transfer to our Kamil Koc coach for the three-hour journey to Dalaman, the town nearest Sarigerme. Again, we are captured by the passing countryside, the scattered villages, orchards, market gardens, shepherds and their flocks, and the ever-present red poppies. It is also during these two trips that random vehicle searches occur, and security police stop our buses. All passports and identification cards of the driver and passengers are handed to the police who take them to a nearby facility and once checked, return them and we are on our way again.

In the late afternoon, we arrive at Dalaman where our British hosts are waiting to take us to Sarigerme, 12 km away.  Sarigerme enjoys a Mediterranean climate of long hot summers and short mild winters so it is a popular holiday spot for British tourists and families who appreciate the sandy beaches, warm shallow waters and picnic areas. The one main shopping street is a miscellaneous collection of fashion and sports shops, trinket and souvenir bazaars (with an abundance of the ever-present Nazar eye amulets), cafes and restaurants and there is no shortage of accommodation to suit all tastes.

Our home exchange for the next ten days -- a comfortable residence called Venus Apartments -- is perched high on a hill in front of a densely wooded forest. A small balcony overlooks the village and surrounding countryside and in the distance is the deep blue Aegean Sea. At night, the music from the village can be heard, the notes drifting on the breeze through the warm night air to settle gently on the mountainside.

Every day we leave the apartment to walk down the hill to the village, past local homes with vine-covered patios, assorted vegetable patches, lemon trees and chickens scratching in the dirt. Along the main street hay-laden tractors rumble by, an elderly lady takes her two old cows to greener pastures and a collection of local dogs lay sleeping in the middle of the road.

At times we meet the man who comes halfway up the hill to call to his sheep foraging in the forest. From the undergrowth the sheep appear and the man and his sheep trundle back to the village -- subtle reminders of a farming culture that lives on in these old villages.

The Babylon Bar and Restaurant becomes our eatery and judging by comments on travel sites, it’s a favourite restaurant with many holidaymakers. Every day we arrive to sample their selection of fresh, slow cooked authentic Turkish cuisine. We dine upstairs by an open window to watch the passing parade of life on the street below. The ever-attentive staff spend their quiet times chatting with us about their lives, amazed that we have come from so far away. At times it is a clash of cultures as Tina Turner songs compete with the Imam in the mosque next door as he calls people to prayer.

The taxi drivers at the end of the main street know us. “Venus Apartment,” they say. The hill is too steep to climb at the end of the day, so they obligingly return us to the apartment. It is easy to hire a car, but we are not confident with the Turkish road signs and as our British friend says, “If you want to lose your life, it will happen on a Turkish roundabout. No-one knows who they are supposed to give way to.”

It’s an easier choice to catch local buses which run frequently to the beach or to the nearby towns of Ortaca and Dalaman. We go to Fethiye for the local market which is a shopper’s delight. One of the great delights of this trip was the ease of catching public transport, the excellent road networks, and the competent and safe bus drivers.

Further afield from Sarigerme, we join a 12 Island boat trip, an idyllic day of sailing the beautiful Göcek Bay including an opportunity to swim and visit the ancient rock tombs. At Oludeniz, another popular beach resort, we sit on the beach and watch the paragliders leaping from Babadag Mountain to glide the 2,000 metres or so to land on the esplanade. For something different, Dalyan’s mud baths and turtle beach are popular tourist activities close to Sarigerme, although for a real clean it’s probably hard to beat a Turkish bath at the Hamam.

Exchanging homes is a wonderful way to experience different cultures and this was especially so in Turkey. Despite our initial concerns, at no time did we feel unsafe as random security checks by police on cars and buses for vehicle and identification inspections, including roadblocks into Sarigerme, occurred most nights while we were there. It was reassuring seeing this level of attention to safety from the police. As we left Sarigerme to head to Fethiye to catch our ferry to Rhodes, we knew that given the chance, we would do it all over again. 

Header image: © Vin Coffey