The Sunday Times November 14, 2021 7Travel Mediterranean
J
utting into the
Aegean on Turkey’s
southwestern
flank, the Datca
peninsula is a place
of rugged landscapes, striking
sea views and — when it feels
like it — some pretty
spectacular weather.
Gobbets of rain pelt the
windscreen and lightning
forks the horizon as our taxi
weaves up the road towards
D Maris Bay, a self-styled
six-star resort perched in a
remote spot amid almond
trees and mounds of volcanic
rock. Datca is a protected
area, so it hasn’t been spoilt
by mega developments — in
fact, by any developments.
D Maris Bay is there
because its owner bought abuilding dating from the
1970s and refurbished it into
the marvel it is now. It’s a
two-hour drive from Dalaman
airport, but the hotel caters
for the impatient: there’s
a helipad.
The inclement weather
means that when we arrive at
the lobby — an airy atrium of
beige marble and dark wood
— we’re deprived of the
seductive view that we
later see is provided by its
oversized windows: terrace
bar, infinity pool, white beach,
deep blue sea, bobbing yachts.
But when we wake the next
day and realise that stormy
night has given way to perfect
morning, D Maris Bay’s prices
immediately seem less
unreasonable. To invert whatTURKEYAnkaraIstanbulD Maris
Bay
50 milesAegean
SeaMarmarisD-Resort GocekHotel Villa MahalDalamanWinston Churchill is supposed
to have said of his Labour
rival Clement Attlee: it is an
immodest hotel with little to
be modest about.
Turkey has had a torrid
couple of years, accused of
suppressing the true extent ofIslands off the
coast of Gocek,
above; soaking
up the sun at
Hotel Villa Mahal,
insetOliver Shah enjoys a taste of the high life — and a blast of
late-summer warmth — on the Turquoise Coast’s glitziest spots
President Erdogan’s insistence
that the central bank cut
interest rates despite soaring
inflation, which has seen the
Turkish lira plummet against
the pound and dollar.
You wouldn’t know it here.
An Audi on a plinth by the
entrance — a monument to
some kind of commercial
tie-up between the carmaker
and D Maris Bay’s owner, the
billionaire Ferit Sahenk’s
Dogus Group — tells you this
is not the contemplative
Turkey of the Bosphorus and
Orhan Pamuk.
This is the Turkey of big
boats, big egos and
conspicuous consumption.
Dogus’s investments includeNusr-Et, the Instagram-
friendly Knightsbridge
restaurant run by golden-steak
pedlar Nusret Gokce. Better
known as Salt Bae, he has
become a “meme legend”
on social media by serving
customers morsels such as a
£1,450 gold leaf-coated wagyu
tomahawk in flamboyant and
theatrical style — slicing the
meat at the table, sprinkling it
with salt and feeding it to them
off a knife. The Beckhams,
Leonardo DiCaprio and Wayne
Rooney are said to be fans.
There’s a branch at D Maris
Bay. If it’s too bling for your
tastes, there is an outpost of
the international sushi joint
Zuma, also owned by Dogus.
It looks positively low-key in
comparison to Nusr-Et.
There’s an everyday
Turkish restaurant,
D Maris Kitchen; a
St Tropez-flavoured
seafood eatery,
La Guérite; and
a posh Greek
taverna, Manos.
The last is our
choice for Saturday
night. We’re whisked
via water taxi (in effect,
a cheerful, stubbly guy in
a speedboat) to a beach
across the bay, where Manos
occupies centre stage. What
begins as a simple enough
evening — baked feta, prawns,
wine — turns into something
else. The restaurant steadily
fills with the superyacht
crowd. There are tight white
jeans, little black dresses,
open-necked linen shirts —
and lots of pouting selfies.
The previously atmospheric
bouzouki-plucking over the
speakers grows louder,
quicker, more urgent. Staff flit
around the tables offering
plates for sale. Teetering
stacks are amassed on
competing tables like casino
chips. Then the waiters lead
endless raucous rounds of
clapping and dancing,JOSHUA WINDSOR/ALAMYContinued on page 8→TURKEY
its Covid crisis last year in the
hope of attracting tourists
back quickly and deprived of
Brits all summer 2021 while
on the UK’s travel red list (it
finally came off last month).
Its economy has taken an
additional battering thanks toSIX-STAR