A Hidden Hamlet on the Aegean Sea

New York Times Travel writer, Seth Sherwood, writes about the fun to be had in Turkey. Read about the beaches, history, and more in the article The St.-Tropez of Turkey.

“For the upper-crust Turkish crowd at the club, Bianca, the difference was merely academic. Sitting inside an on-site jewelry boutique doubling as an office, the club’s owner, Emre Ergani, stroked his handlebar moustache and boldly declared that the Champagne-drenched, celebrity-draped French Riviera hotspot was a kindred spirit of Turkbuku, a fishing town whose traditional draws have included red mullet and sea bream.

‘St.-Tropez is a place for people of A-plus quality, and so is Turkbuku,’ he said, explaining that the town had lately rocketed from picturesque beachfront backwater to second-home haven and party playground for Turkish celebrities. As a glass case holding $7,000 Champagne flutes sparkled behind him, he added that international stars were now getting wind of Turkbuku, too.

‘People I know from St.-Tropez are buying houses here,’ Mr. Ergani said. ‘Turkbuku is taking over St.-Tropez.’

On the face of it, this seems an outrageous claim for this hamlet hidden on the Aegean, the body of water that Homer called ‘the wine-dark sea.’ Even the most desperate addicts of checkout-aisle literature and live red-carpet reports probably wouldn’t recognize the name, which sounds halfway to Timbuktu and might reasonably conjure images of a Turkish answer to Mötley Crüe.”