Orhaniye is a seaside village located 27 km (30 min) away from Marmaris. Compared to other villages in Marmaris, it is easily accessible, because is just on the side of the main asphalt road. The best route to get there from Marmaris is by following the Datça Road and turn left to Hisarönü direction. Part of the village is settled between the sea and the main road, and the other part is between the road and the mountains. The latter part of the village is really calm and peaceful. Most of the houses have gardens orange trees around them. People make their living mostly on farming here. But besides farming, there are many restaurants and accommodation places for tourism. While such facilities on the seaside have been serving for a long time, the number of those in the inner part of the village is increasing as well. Since the village is easily accessible and its flat land is available for construction, people have started to earn more economic income from tourism in this way.

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The place where Orhaniye is located, is a natural bay. The slopes surrounding the bay are covered with pine trees. In the middle of the bay there is an island of about 300 meters in length. On the island there are remains of a rampart, which are believed to belong to the Bybassos Kingdom. The sea in the bay is mostly calm, making it one of the places of choice for yachts to moor or anchor. There are two marinas in the village, one is quite big (Martı) and the other is smaller (Cennet Marine). Outside the marinas it is possible to swim, but obviously it is not really enjoyable. There are two reasons for that: first one is the ground of the beach is covered with hard gravel which gives you discomfort when walking, and the other is sea water is a bit blurry due to the yacht traffic inside the bay. But it is still possible to join a boat trip and have fun off the shore. The boat tours departing from Orhaniye visit beautiful spots such as Selimiye, Hisarönü, İnbükü Bay and Dişlice Island.

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Kızkumu (Girl Sand)

What makes Orhaniye famous, is the geographical formation in the sea called Kızkumu. This is a sandbank in the sea, where the sea level comes up to your knee, and is extending from the shore into the bay up to 600 meters. Hundreds of people come here to enjoy the feeling of walking in the sea. When walking on the bank you should wear proper sea shoes, for not feeling uneasy when stepping on hard gravels.

 

There are two myths about the formation of the bank. The first one is as follows:

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The king of Baybassos loses a battle, which he has struggled for many years. Soon after that the enemies capture the city, kill the king and all the people. The beautiful daughter of the king tries to escape from the enemies. While escaping she comes down to the shore, however she doesn't know how to swim. She fills up on her skirt with sand. Then a miracle happens: as she spreads the sand into the sea, a path starts forming in front of her. Owing to darkness, the princess loses her way in the sea, and gets drowned as the sand on her skirt finishes up.  

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The second and more romantic myth is about an impossible love: The beautiful daughter of the king of Baybassos falls in love with a poor fisherman. As a cliche, his father opposes this relationship. But, the two young lovers keep on meeting secretly. Every night, when the fisherman turns back from fishing in his boat, finds the princes waiting for him on the shore by the light of a fire she burns to guide him. The king suspects this situation. He orders his men to follow his daughter, and soon learns about what's going on. One night, the king detains her daughter in the castle, and order his men to give the fisherman a fake sign with fire. The poor fisherman follows the light, and soon gets caught by the soldiers. In the meantime, the princess escapes from the hands of the soldiers, and comes to the shore. When trying to cross the bay in order to save her love, a miracle happens: wherever the princes steps on the sea, turns into a path of sand, and she walks on the sand into the bay. Soldiers who chase after her, get drowned in the water. But one of the archers shoots an arrow and hits princess from her back. The blood flowing through her body turns the color of the sea into red. The young fisherman manages to escape from the soldiers, takes the princess in his boat, and leaves the bay with her. From that time on nobody sees them again. After that day the bay is called the Girl Sand(Kızkumu).

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In order to eternise this romantic legend, a sculpture of a woman was erected on the beach, representing the princess. However, this sculpture is so terrible that people alienate themselves from the legend when they see it. We hope that a professional sculptor will make artistic sculptures of both the princess and the fisherman as soon as possible.

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In sum, Kızkumu is not a very attractive place at all, but at least you can visit here to experience the feeling of walking in the sea. 

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