“Middle Town” Population: 11,500
Other name: Ortakentyahşı
Market: Wednesday (food), Friday (textiles)
“Middle Town” is a small settlement in the middle of the Bodrum Peninsula which, for most people, is no more than a snatched glimpse through the window as they head down towards Yahşı Beach or across the peninsula to Turgutreis or Yalıkavak. With time on your hands, however, you might want to hop out of the bus at the stop opposite the post office (PTT) which is housed in an old stone house.
If you head uphill behind the PTT you’ll come to a pair of 17th-century tower-houses vaguely reminiscent of those on the Mani Peninsula in Greece or of those at Arpaz, near Aydın. One, the Mustafa Paşa Kulesi, an old Ottoman watchtower, was restored as a private home by the hotelier, Vedat Semiz, but for many years served as the Ada Ev, a “hotel” for one or two people with its own drawbridge and hamam.
Ortakent’s mosque has a pretty portico and a pair of new minarets after the older one was obviously judged insufficiently impressive. As you walk towards it you may well find yourself battling the wind so it won’t come as much of a surprise to glance up at a ridge above the town and see the shells of half-a-dozen old stone windmills standing in a line.
South of Ortakent lie Yahşı and Camel Beach. To get to them turn left at the junction marked by a sculpture of a windsurfer.
Despite its kitsch-sounding name Camel Beach turns out to have one of the peninsula’s better stretches of sand, observed rather sniffily by a pair of camels who take the place of the donkeys that used to offer rides on British beaches. 
Sleeping
It look as if the Ada Ev is not longer accepting guests, sadly.
Transport info
There are frequent buses to Ortakent from Bodrum‘s town-centre bus station. Either take one marked Ortakent-Vahşı Beach or one marked Turgutreis which will pass through Ortakent in transit.
Note that locals call Ortakent “Köy (the Village)” when telling the driver where they want to go.
Camel Beach
