Marmaris

The town of Marmaris is located at the meeting place of the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. Marmaris is one of the largest natural harbors in the world surrounded by pine-clad hills.

Situated in the south-west of Turkey, in Mugla province, Marmaris is one of Turkey's biggest holiday resorts. To the north lies the Gulf of Gökova; to the south, the Mediterranean. Datca Peninsula falls to the western side and to the east is the Lake of Köycegiz. The hills running into the sea and the beautiful bays make Marmaris the jewel she is.

The town is 60 kilometers from the provincial capital of Mugla and the mountainous nature of the surrounding countryside means that forestry plays an important part in the area's economy. The town boundaries are enclosed by 65,000 hectares of forest area.Although it is not certain when Marmaris was founded, in the 6th century BC the city was known as Physkos, and considered part of Caria.

The next important event during the history of Marmaris was almost two thousand years later, in mid-fifteenth century. When the Ottoman Empire begun to rise. After the efforts of Sultan Mehmet II. Who succeeded in conquering and uniting under one banner the various tribes and kingdoms of Asia Minor. Certainly, come of his greatest difficulties came from the Knights of St. John, who occupied the Dodecanese Islands. Based in Rhodes the Knights had fought for many years; they were able to withstand the onslaughts of Mehmet II until a succeeding and more powerful Sultan came on the scene.

It was under Suleyman the Magnificent that Marmaris came under Ottoman control. In 1522 Suleyman assembled in the bay of Marmaris a fleet of over 300 ships and a force of 200.000 strong to challenge the Knights' headquarters on Rhodes. After many battles, the Knights had to give up and the Turks overtook Rhodes for the next four hundred years.