Iztuzu Beach, an arc shaped 5km stretch of sand on the Mediterranean coast, is accessible from Dalyan in two ways – either by boat, which takes you to one end of the beach, or by car/bus which takes you to the opposite end. For me, as nice as the river boat is, it’s even more spectacular to go by car, passing by the beautiful, serene, Lake Sülüngür on the way.

As you follow the road higher along the mountain road, among the pine trees, you are greeted with beautiful views of the beach. It looks really impressive and you can really see the shape it forms, a fairly narrow beach, with a small lagoon behind it at one end, and the reeds and Dalyan river behind it at the other.
 
The reason we chose to drive on that day was to visit the Turtle hospital which is at this end of the beach. The hospital is towards the back of the beach, overlooking the lagoon with equally stunning views – mountains in the distance, trees and beautiful pink flowers in the foreground, reeds, and that calm, still water, just beautiful!
 
Another bonus of driving, is the chance of getting a closer look at the wildlife. On our way back along the mountain road, we saw a tortoise minding his own business trying to cross to the other side (I’m sure there’s a ‘why did the tortoise cross the road’ joke in there somewhere!). Berkay stopped the car and helped him along his way, saving him from inevitably getting run over. I love how the tortoise’s legs are just dangling in these photos, bless him, I’m sure he was grateful for the little intervention!