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About Selimiye
After Marmaris, with the ending of the green sea of Turgut village, you meet with and get surprised and amazed by the crystal navy blue beauty of Selimiye. Suddenly, the mountains lose their dark forest texture and turn into the typical Mediterranean-Aegean maquis. These join with the almond and olive trees. Soon after, Selimiye village greets you like a painting with its houses scattered from the slope to the coast.
In Selimiye, the steep slope structure of the land and the limited source of water forced people to live facing the sea. Although the Turkmen nomad culture is dominant in Selimiye, Turks with Crete origin are settled in the village.
Selimiye Bay is one of the most important cruise stops between Marmaris and Bodrum. The coast area is full of green and the sea water is very clean and still. Yet, there are no beaches on the coast. The nearest sandy beach is Sığliman, which is 2 kilometers away. Selimiye Bay has the shape of both a natural harbor and a natural pool. The area has a volcanic structure and the sea depth reaches 30-40 meters if you lay off 15 meters from the coast.
Near late January and early February, the Almond trees surrounding the village blossom white flowers and they create an image as if it had snowed. Because of the richness of oxygen in Selimiye's air, a lot of people aged over 100 live in the village.
There are three castle ruins around the village. One is on the highest hill of Selimiye, the other at Sarıkaya hill and the last one in Kızılköy district. The watchtower and lighthouse, built 100 meters from the shore for guiding the boats, the monastery and the theatre are ruins that are worth seeing. The ruins discovered from the sunken rocks in the area are displayed at the Bodrum Underwater Museum.
Because it is close to the Hydas settlement, which was founded in 600 BC and is within the borders of Turgut village today, Selimiye was first called Hidas and then was known as Losta in the Byzantine period. It joined the Ottoman Empire in 1391. After the proclamation of the republic, transportation got easier and the village moved to its settlement area of today.
Current population is around 1400 people. The main sources of income are tourism, farming, fishing, and beekeeping. The dominant plant species in the region are maquis, oak, olive, plane tree, acorn, almond, daphne, sage, thyme, and chaste.
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