Akyaka: The Turkish Village with Big City Party Vibes

My first thoughts of Akyaka, were that a place like this shouldn't exist. Not because it's the greatest or most spectacular, but precisely because it isn't - yet it manages to evoke feelings reminiscent of other party spots along the Mediterranean. Think of Tel Aviv or Bodrum's beaches, but more idyllic and serene. And somehow still a party.

After checking into the hotel and conversing with smiles and nods to the monolingual hostess, I found a Bulgarian on the patio who knew enough English to tell me his reason for coming. He was a surfer, and evidently surfing in Akyaka Turkey is a thing to do among those who surf. And while surfers around the world have garnered a reputation for their willingness to go anywhere for good waves, they bring a certain subculture which Akyaka catered to.

You know what I'm talking about. Youthful, carefree energy, a penchant for good times and good vibes. So Akyaka, the quiet little seaside town where everyone walks on the streets because there are few sidewalks, matches the lifestyle in ways that I didn't know were possible for a town of its size.

If you walk around at night, you will pass down streets without meeting a single other human. Then you can turn a corner, head toward the beach and find restaurants and food stalls open relatively late into the night. keep walking and you'll find my favorite impossibility of Akyaka - a dance club (and a good one), smack dab in the middle of a quaint little village that shouldn't be able to support the sorts of industries which, to my American mind, were strictly the purview of big cities.

For me, it was one of those I-need-to-get-out-more moments; late night food you'd have a hard time finding in medium-sized American cities was here, and even DJ's and dancing that would make you think you were in Bodrum or Tel Aviv. Then you step out, breathe the fresh air, and listen to the solitude only a short walk away. I wondered how they did it; were Akyaka's relatively few inhabitants all party people? Was it some kind of public service to have these sorts of venues in a place that should have been to small to support such businesses? I didn't know the answer, but I did get a taste for a very specific kind of easygoing dancing/solitude night out which is an itch I doubt I can scratch anywhere else.

Following the impossible night out, the next impossible task was to eat a traditional Turkish breakfast alongside the river which runs through Akyaka, with a view of the mountain overlooking Akyaka, and not too far from the coastline of the night before. It was just a regular Turkish breakfast (which is never regular if you know), but it was there that I developed my abiding taste for kaymak; a creamier cream than Americans are used to which made me feel like I was spreading a cloud of serenity over my toast. All this seemed very par for the course considering how much of what I saw had defied expectation already.

After breakfast I jumped in the icy river because other people were doing it, and later strolled through the little town square where fancy storefronts beckoned to shops which served tasty ice cream and awful coffee. Akyaka achieved yet another impossibility in this; it became a place I would gladly return to even without any expectation of a decent cup of joe. I wonder how Akyaka will surprise me next.

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