Akyarlar, the village of fishermen and formerly of the notorious sponge divers with its traditional whitewashed houses, is located just 22 kilometres from Bodrum.

Turkey is the most important producer of bathing sponges. In May, the men of the villages around Bodrum set sail on their narrow boats along the western coast for five months to look for sponges.

The centre of Muğla is situated on a plain surrounded by mountains stretching from the foot of the Asar Mountain (Castle). Some of the most famous and impressive tourist centres are within the boundaries of the region of Muğla.

This sleepy and outstanding hamlet nestles in a very beautiful bay and is one of the oldest settlements on the peninsula od Bodrum. The original Lelegian city of Myndos once stood southeast of here. There are also some ruins around the village. The ancient city of Myndos partly lies under the water and if you know how to dive, you can visit the remains.

Ancient Mylasa, today Milas, was one of the most important cities in the interior of Caria. Early, insufficiently published finds date from the late Bronze Age, including some fragments of Mycenaean clay vessels, probably from the 15th to 13th/12th centuries BC.

The tip of a real admirer of Greek cultural buildings, whom we met in Euromos, led us to take a detour over the mountains to the coast: Iasos was the next destination.

The Mausoleum is the oldest of the ancient sites in Bodrum (originally called Halicarnassus) and was built by Artemisia II in honour of her husband, the Persian King Mausolos.

There is hardly any place around Bodrum (formerly called Halicarnassus) in which you will not find at least the foundations of a temple or the remnants of an ancient settlement. If you look at lot of the known names of Greek scientists, artists and scientists, you need to learn, that lot of them lived in today's Turkey.

Bodrum Museum is the biggest and most important archaeological underwater museum in the world and the only one in Turkey. A great majority of the relics on show consist of those raised during underwater excavations and those brought to the museum by sponge divers, now on display in the museum located in Bodrum Castle.

Datça is a pretty, quiet harbor where the Aegean and the Mediterrenean Seas meet. It is about 70 kilometres to the west of Marmaris on the south of the Datça Peninsula. The small town is lapped on one side by the waters of the Aegean Sea and on the other side by the Mediterrenean.

Bodrum, ancient Halicarnassus, is famous mainly due to the Mausoleum once located there, a tomb, the Persian satrap of Caria King Mausolus II. erected during his lifetime. The huge mausoleum was considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

After the Euphrates and Tigris, Seyhan and Ceyhan rivers, the Great Menderes River also belongs to the group of rivers that are extremely important for agriculture and thus for the development of humanity, because when people became sedentary, they were dependent on fertile soil and a constant supply of water.

Miletus is located (an hour away from Didim) in the city of Soke's Balat village. In ancient times it was on the western coast of Anatolia (currently the province of Aydın), near the Maeander River in ancient Caria.

Akbük is a place with a beautiful bay and surrounded by protected forests and olive groves. Located on the south west coast of the Aegean Region, approximately 19km from the lively resort of Altınkum, 65km from Kuşadası and about 70km from the Bodrum Airport.

Bafa Lake is situated in southwest Turkey, part of it within the boundaries of Milas district of Muğla Province and the northern part within Aydın Province's Soke district, approx. 30 km from Didim. 

Euromos, one of the antique cities of Carian lands, located between Lake Bafa and Milas town, is about 12 km away from the town center of Milas.

The small Turkish town of Söke is located on the A 525 between Kuşadası and Milas. Located as both a city and a district in the province of Aydın on the Turkish Aegean coast, the district had a population of 115,490 in 2008.

During our visit at some friends in Didim we had the opportunity to see some places next to the touristic spots of Didim. We heard about an old Greek village with old stone houses, we would like to see.

Our journey takes us along the country road between Selcuk and Söke near Izmir, where the ruins of the old Hellenistic settlement town of Magnesia can be seen from afar.

Priene rises just behind the small town of Güllübahçe on the road from Söke to Milet and is one of the most magnificent and best-preserved cities of ancient Ionia and is one of the most beautiful archaeological sites and sights in the region.