Travel: Bodrum Peninsula, Turkey - Features - Scotsman.com Travellers in the know are calling Turkey's Bodrum peninsula the St Tropez of the east STANDING on the pine and olive tree-strewn hillside of the Bodrum Peninsula, gazing at the chic yachts bobbing in the turquoise water where the Aegean meets the Mediterranean, I laugh out loud remembering a telephone conversation from the previous week. On hearing I was off to western Turkey's Riviera, a friend expressed her disbelief. "There are only a few sleepy fishing villages there," she complained. How wrong she was. There is so much more: fragments of an ancient civilisation and a 5,000-year history to start with. Bodrum town and the surrounding area, its cool hotels and bars, is being heralded as the St Tropez of the east. It is the place to see and be seen, or simply to retreat into the undiscovered bays. My friend's skewed 1990s view really needs to be put right. Homer described the Bodrum peninsula - originally known for its sponge-diving villages - as the Land of the Eternal Blue. The area has always been an insider hideaway for the well-informed traveller. During the 1920s, writer Cevat Sakir Kabaagac, an Oxford-educated exile from Istanbul, fell for its craggy charm and incredible light and began a Bohemian movement for those who didn't want to conform. Then in the 1960s, poets, artists and philosophers discovered it for themselves and came from all over Europe to bask in the warm climate and to investigate the untouched coves and azure waters. Of course, the elite followed. In the last few years this secluded area has become a sophisticated mecca for the Istanbul party set and a savvy selection of international holidaymakers always on the look out for the very best. Expect to see knowing looks and insider mentions of Mandarin Oriental, Aman, Kempinski, Six Senses and the Four Seasons being exchanged and whispered across decks. You will find sleek boats, luxury hotels, beach clubs, super glam girls and boys, and stunning bays. The culture, of course, holds it all in place. For those sailing along and hopping from unspoilt glittering bay to glittering bay punctuated by lazy snorkelling, the hotels promise a scene of cocktails, incredible seafood, music and gossip when the sun goes down. The bougainvillea, agapanthus and mimosa-clad Macakizi is the perfect landing spot and Bodrum's HQ of chic boutique hotels, with terraced casitas built into the rock face. Perfectly placed in the stylish Türkbükü area in the north, it is a slick family operation run by the legendary, very well-connected Sahir Erozan (it was started by his mother in the 1970s) and comfort and simplicity are key. Cool whitewashed rooms are decorated with local paintings, kilims, stripped linens and Rifat Ozbek cushions. Each has a terrace and a sea view and the higher up the hill you are the better the view. A lounger on the decked beach pontoon or stool at its hedonistic bar are much sought after. The restaurant at dinner attracts both the knowing and glamorous, and the old school and new talent rub tanned shoulders while eating the freshest catches of the day - sea bass, groper, lobster and clams. The most recent talk is of the Antonio Citterio-designed Residences at the new Mandarin Oriental, in the previously untouched Cennet Koyu (Paradise Bay) in the north-east of the peninsula. Set to open in early 2014, it is the first European resort and residences for the hotel group and a timely arrival There will be 98 villas (50 per cent are already sold), 116 apartments and a hotel sympathetically set into the hillside by design and environmentally-obsessed developer Vedat Asci. He has decided to leave the buildings clad in local stone, unpainted in the traditional style, and is determined this spot remains idyllic - more than 100,000 new native trees and shrubs are being planted. Bodrum town in the south is home to three historical sites of great importance and a stunning marina. The only town in existence with radial streets to the harbour, its strict conservation regulations mean the tiny winding roads have never been widened and the houses remain in natural stone or painted white, with a height restriction of two floors, all of which helps maintain its traditional Mediterranean style. Even though many of its statues reside in the British Museum, make time to visit the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the tomb of King Caria of Maussollos and one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was likened to a lighthouse as all boats could see it on approaching the town. Then there's the vast 5,000-seat fourth-century amphitheatre which is now used for concerts. Perhaps most unexpected of all is the 15th-century Bodrum Castle which, after a major overhaul in the 1960s, became the mesmerising Museum of Underwater Archaeology, one of the largest in the world. Over the last 50 years sponge divers have led international archaeologists to discoveries from the Bronze Age. Reconstructed boats show hauls of glass, urns, weights and measures, jewellery, tools, glazed bowls and chess sets, all lovingly restored and put on show to provide a magical social history from 1,000 years ago. It would be hard not to be enchanted by this historical and exotic place, with its mild climate, bright, bright light, fiercely hot summers, relaxed Mediterranean temperament, chic hotels, supreme attention to detail, class act service and buoyant Turkish economy (I bet they are thrilled not to be part of the euro). I can easily see why the peninsula is the place of the moment, and for me a lesson in never listening to the opinions of out-of-date soothsayers. n Turkish Airlines has just added Edinburgh to its destinations, with four flights a week to Istanbul from £201pp return and ten flights a day from Istanbul to Bodrum from £159pp return (www.turkishairlines.com). The Macakizi Hotel, Turkbuku, Bodrum (www.macakizi.com), prices from £230pp for two nights; The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, Bodrum at Cennet Koyu (Paradise Bay) open in early 2014, as well as the resort Mandarin Oriental, Bodrum (www.mandarinorientalresidences bodrum.com)