Anyone who has been to Turkey will know that any tourist walking through the street is likely to be befriended at some point by someone selling rugs, or killens as they’re called in Turkey, and this particular evening was no different for me in Antalya, on the Turkish Mediterranean coast. By now I had become an expert in explaining that I was at the start of a year long journey around the planet and that I wouldn’t be buying anything, but this very friendly gentleman, Kamal, convinced me to come into his shop to show me some of his killens, having first understood that I was unlikely to part with any cash. For the next hour or so he showed me some of his finest rugs and explained the story behind each one as we sipped away on the traditional small cups of apple tea together.

As I left his shop empty handed he asked in which direction I was heading after Antalya to which I replied Marmaris. He told me not to go there as it was too touristy and advised me instead to go to a small fishing village beyond Marmaris, called Bozburun. He assured me it was lovely and that I wouldn’t regret it, so I said I would bare it in mind, we shook hands, I thanked him for the tea and friendly chat and retired for the evening.

Over the next few days I slowly travelled west towards Marmaris with some new backpacker friends I’d met recently. And after a couple of days in Marmaris we considered what the rug seller had told us a few days earlier and thought heck why the hell not and jumped on a bus to Bozburun, not really sure what to expect.

We arrived by minibus at about 9pm at night in total pitch black. The driver in his broken English assured us that we had at least arrived in the right place, but we couldn’t see anything other than a little old man standing at the side of the road as we hopped off the bus. As we started walking aimlessly towards the nearest sign of life the old man says ‘Have you come from Antalya?’. Taken slightly by surprise by the old man I say ‘yes, we were there a few days ago’. He replies ‘Kamal told me you were coming, I’ve been waiting for you’. Whaaaaaat?! Even though we hadn’t arranged anything definitive, this lovely old man had been waiting at the bus-stop every night for us to arrive so he could meet us and show us to some accommodation!

So, he then led us down to a house right by the water-front and told us we could have the whole house to ourselves for about £8 per day between us. Next morning when we woke up to a beautiful sunrise we could finally see where we were, which was a beautiful little fishing village with mountains all around us and we had a lovely little house all to ourselves right by the water’s edge. Not only that but we had a little jetty and a boat we could use too.

Later that morning as we walked along the water’s edge a man stopped on his bicycle and said he’d seen us on the bus the previous evening and wondered if we’d like to go fishing with him and his friend on his boat later that day. So not for the first time recently we thought again, why not?

It was a lovely, fun day out on the sea, in glorious sunshine, and having caught a few fish he came by the house later on, helped us both prepare and cook the fish and to top it off even brought a bottle of wine to share.

The next day we lazed around on our balcony and in the evening found the local bar where we played games and chatted with the locals who for no reason other than we may have bought some bread from them that day, or they’d seen us in the village, or just to be friendly, bought us drinks and made us feel like part of the village.

It was really tough leaving after a few days. We just couldn’t believe how friendly the locals had been, so welcoming, wanting nothing in return other than a smile and a handshake.

From a chance meeting in a little shop in Antalya to being accepted into a small fishing village community, I will never forget those few days along the south coast of Turkey. They taught me that not everyone has a hidden agenda. There really are some beautiful people on this earth and we can only hope to meet as many of them as we can.