Kalkan is a lovely small hilltop town that overlooks a tiny
bay.
Its quaint, traditional, white-washed houses, shuttered windows and balconies garlanded with brilliant flowers that cascade to the streets below, make it the ultimate in a peaceful holiday town in the Mediterranean region of
Turkey.
Narrow winding streets lined with souvenir shops lead down to the charming
marina.
Every morning
boats busily take tourists to one of the nearby
beaches or small
bays.
As the sun sets it is Kalkan style to meet on the roof terraces for a drink before dinner and enjoy the comings and goings of the
yachts, the business of the
marina and the panoramic view.
Kalkan is situated on a beautiful small
bay near
Antalya province. Nearest airport is Dalaman (2 hours by taxi).
You can enjoy a daily island excursion in a
gulet (wooden hulled local
boats), a moonlight dinner
cruise, or go by minivan to the nearby villages of
Patara and Bergin.
Patara beach is a 20 km long, unspoiled white sand
beach 12 km from Kalkan.
There is another beautiful small sandy
beach (Kaputas
beach) 5 km from Kalkan. Unfortunately there are no sandy
beaches in Kalkan.
Let us start in the direction of Kalkan after having stayed long enough in the Islands of Karacaoren, Island of Ships,
Harbor of Bektas and the
Dead Sea.
We leave behind the capes named Kotu Burun and Yedi Burunlar and pass of shore at a distance of 2 miles from the shallow in the southeast of Ince Burun and arrive in front of
Patara.
But since the sea is always rough here, we don't come to a stop. We keep on sailing, watching the wide sand
beach of
Patara all the time and pass between Yali Burnu and Islands of Catal and reach Kalkan.
Kalkan is exposed to the northwest wind and therefore, the
yacht Harbor and the breakwater here, serve as a safe shelter for the
sailboats.
The
yacht Harbor is at the latitudinal position 36 degrees 22 45" north and longitudinal position of 29 degrees 50'50" east, and its depth inside changes between 1-7 m.
It is easy to enter and go out between the breakwater. Electrical and water connections can be made in the
yacht Harbor and the necessities concerning the
yachts are met.
The garbage is gathered up three times a day in the
yacht Harbor by the Municipality of Kalkan that manages it.
Kalkan was an old
Greek village called Kalamiki at that time.
It has become a place preferred by many people now, with its clean boarding houses, and restaurants of fresh appetizers and fish.
You can go to places of
ruins in the whereabouts such as
Patara, Letoon and
Xanthos from here, see them and return by
sailboats during the same day.
The
Harbor of Yesilkoy opposite Kalkan, is another good place of anchorage, too.
Other interesting sites in
Turkey are:
Antalya,
Kemer,
Phaselis,
Olympos,
Demre,
Kekova,
Simena,
Aperlai,
Kas, Kalkan,
Patara,
Xanthos,
Letoon,
Tlos,
Pinara,
Oludeniz,
Fethiye,
Gocek,
Knidos,
Caunos,
Ekincik,
Gokova,
Marmaris and
Bodrum.
