It was not difficult to come to Aydın with our speed that did not fall below 120 on İzmir Aydın highway.. The main task is to go to Muğla from the Çine road.
It is not as difficult as we expected. Divided road works, one of the few acts of the government that appeal to me, have reached the final stage.. Those curvy cliff roads are very relaxed and widened.
I more or less remember Muğla where I came years ago.. Not much has changed. The square is the same, the streets, the streets are not too crowded. Although some streets are riddled with infrastructure works, there is no negativity to be considered too much.
We did not come to sit.. Gotta get out and go somewhere. Muğla hosts the most important tourism centers in Turkey with its many districts.. Their distance from the city center is frightening.
These districts, built on the intricate bays of the Aegean Sea, are quite far from the city center.. We say let’s have a drink and swim a little without getting too tired.
We cross Ula slowly. This is a quiet town.. We watch the Gulf of Gökova from the location called Sakartepe, which has a unique view.. The bottom is like an ant.
The highway stretching to Marmaris and Dalaman is noticed in detail on the plain.
It must be quite difficult to build a road on such an elevation. Despite this, the road, which used to be a one-way and one-way trip, has grown to four lanes.
The oxygen coming from the forest and the sea that starts where the forest ends.. Everyone’s dream of retirement…
We turn right at Akyaka turn. We are about to enter Akyaka town. Everywhere is full of vacationers. No matter how close the sun is to set, people wrapped in towels are in a hurry to get out of the sea with their flip-flops.. The globalizing town is full of supermarkets.. Each one packed with shoppers. As we continue on the narrow gravel asphalt, we reach the town center with cobblestones.
The area allocated as a parking lot near the beach is under the control of the municipality.. This parking lot, which is guarded by private security, is free of charge.
After our short exploration tour, we will move on to the picnic area right next to this beach the next day.
We start walking through a narrow entrance with the sea on our left.. It is a magnificent bay and is full of boats everywhere.
As the foamy waves resembling ocean waves crash on the shore, the forest on one side, the blue flag beach on the one hand, and the high clouds on the other.. It’s too beautiful to be boring.
Everyone is chatting and playing backgammon on the beach. Stray dogs on a leash greet visitors.
The only serious problem is flies.. They can occupy your legs during long pauses.
As we start itching, we decide to have a drink and turn around. While sipping our coffee on the shore of Gökova Bay, we breathe in the fresh air.
Time to return.
The NEXT DAY
After the day of discovery, we go to the picnic area more consciously. We reach the Çınar Forest Picnic Area, a little outside of Akyaka.
At the fenced, border post-like entrance of the forest area; a guard wearing a hat sits on it with linear marks on it with a thick layer of salt. He’s quite old. Next to him, a radio jingle from the searchlight.
Don’t forget the ticket stub in your hand!
Every car that enters It costs 2 YTL per person and gives one ticket.
Akyaka Municipality is working!
Until now, the seating at the entrance I’m not against any kind of payment except for the order.. This place has to be protected somehow.. No matter who shakes their hand, they are right.
We take out our barbecue and meat for a picnic. Preparations are in the final stage. While we were trying to find a tree and sit down, everywhere was covered with watermelon peels, diapers, plastic bags, cigarette butts, napkins, newspaper trash.. There’s even a sanitary pad, that’s all!
Is there a garbage container in the middle?
I can’t see it unfortunately .
If I say that this situation is common and not to react, I can still find many things to react to!
The comfort of people having a picnic is starting to increase my nervousness. People picnic and eat in the dirt.
It would be a shame to expect respect for the environment from these people who have no self-respect.
We can’t afford to have a picnic in this mess, so we’re starting a short cleaning job.
We say, let’s at least clean up our environment.
We start collecting from the bags that are always found in the trunk of our car.. We collect kilos of garbage that can be recycled in a short time. Since there is nothing we can throw away soon, we fill them in a cardboard box we find and leave them.
I don’t think I can forget the way people look at us when they are collecting trash for the rest of my life.. If everyone took 10 minutes to do the cleaning, which we did in 15 minutes with 3 people, there would be no garbage left.
However, we could not learn not to throw garbage, let alone collect it.
This is how bad everything gets when the human factor enters this unique nature.
The rest?
We had a picnic and went to the sea with peace of mind.
Akyaka is under the occupation of picnickers!
