For over half a century BMW marketed its cars with the slogan ‘sheer driving pleasure’. Our Turkish hire car, the ubiquitous Duster, doesn’t quite live up to this tagline, but sometimes it’s the drive itself, as much as the destination, that’s the prize. For us, this ‘prize’ is the drive from Kalkan through the mountains to Sutlegen. And at just under 38km it takes less than an hour.

We first discovered this drive back in 2016 on our way to the ancient Lycian city of Arycanda, a gloriously unspoilt archeological site dating back to the second millennium BC, which surprisingly few tourists visit.

This area of Turkey is made for driving and the roads, and drivers, have improved hugely over the past few years. So on a beautiful June morning in 2022, we again head out on this much-loved route. What makes this journey so compelling is not just the stunning mountain scenery, the quiet roads, and the solitude, but also the tantalising glimpse of traditional Turkish life away from the more popular coastal areas.

As we drive this vast sweeping landscape past lush cedar pine forests, so familiar in this part of Turkiye, a meandering river, and the majestic, snow-capped Taurus Mountains we can smell the heat, the pine and the fresh air through our open windows.  This is a landscape of contrasts, offering up a tantalising glimpse of rural life in the lush valleys dotted with tiny hamlets, where white mosques and minarets stand out against the greenery, and small-scale farming and animal husbandry is a way of life. Many of the crumbling village houses have been replaced by neat, modern homes but enough of old Turkey remains to capture the imagination.

Before long we hear those familiar bells, and a large herd of goats appears in the road ahead. The goat herder slowly drives the goats to the side of the road before waving us on with his stick.

A tractor passes us, an old man at the wheel and his wife dressed in the traditional mountain costume of long sleeved blouse, pantaloons (shalwar) and headscarf sitting ‘side-saddle’ on the front fender.  Then we have the open road, and the landscape, to ourselves again save for a large tortoise making it’s slow, but purposeful, crossing to the other side.

To get to Sutlegen from Kalkan head for the D400 and at the traffic lights follow the sign for Islamlar. From there take the road to Elmali.