Iztuzu

Iztuzu Beach

Iztuzu is where Dalyan opens onto the sea. On one side is the Mediterranean, on the other the delta and the mangroves. The beach is long, almost four and a half kilometres, and the wind sometimes blows from the side, the water is shallow and warm. Caretta caretta turtles nest here. During the nesting season, the rules for the beach are strict; it’s best to read the warnings posted on the beach that day. Lights, vehicles, night walks… all of these are a matter of the season.

It’s a classic route from the village: early morning from the pier, slow water, then sand. You can also go by road; in summer, the parking lot has its own rhythm, and it can take a bit of patience. Your day is spent swimming, taking a nap, and then heading back to the village in the evening, when the canal is lit up in a different light. The salt on your skin, the sun on your shoulders – that’s the taste of the day.

The deserted shore we visited on our lake tour was not İztuzu. The place where we entered the water on horses was the lake shore at the end of the path leading out of the farm; reeds, silence, another water. People sometimes confuse the two, understandably: both are water, both are Dalyan. But one is the sea and the turtle, the other the lake and the horse. When you pile the two together in the same morning, neither the turtle nor the horse remain in your mind, only the anxiety.

For us, the beach is one day, the horse is another. Going back from İztuzu and then taking a two-hour boat ride to the same lake can be exhausting. The next morning, crossing the channel and riding a horse in Çandır seems more desirable. The three-day plan easily divides it into two or three days. If the children want a short farm ride after the beach, that can be arranged — just don’t cram the long trail into the same heat.