Kapi Creek, Muammer'in Yeri (Muammer's Place)

halkidikiskipper
May 31, 2022
2 min read

One of the special features of the Lycian Coast are the 'one restaurant bays' set up to cater for visiting yachts. There are more than 20 between Datcha and Fetihye all of which are a similar format, a single restaurant in a beautiful idylic bay, usually very remote and often not connected by road. The restaurants have been set up by local entrepreneurial families who build a pontoon which extends from a restaurant for yachts to moor up to. To make life even easier for you to moor up they have blocks or chains on the sea bed attached to lines which the visiting yacht uses to secure the bow of the boat (instead of phaffing with an anchor). All of these one restaurant bays are unique and are all very special.

Our first day out of Gocek was to Kapi Creek which is home to the Gobun Restaurant. It lays claim to being the first such restaurant built exclusively for visiting yachts, and to my shame, despite having been there a fair few times I've never really asked about the restaurant's story.

The first restaurant at Kapi Creek was started by Muammer Gobun in 1976, in fact originally there were two restaurants which merged in the early 90's. Kapi Creek is not served by a road, has no connected services and is 7 miles (ish) by sea south of Gocek. It is very remote by any stretch of the imagination. Back in 1976 the mass production yacht industry was embryonic, as was going on holiday on a yacht which had only really just started with flotilla holidays in the early 70's (it was this that drove the need for mass produced boats, as told in the book 'from the deck of your own yacht'). But what really made Kapi Creek possible is water, which is supplied from a well up the hillside, Muammer's well. Gobun restaurant today is bigger, it has expanded, the pontoons (now more than 1) are less rickety and you can even get very basic internet. What hasn't changed are the people, Muammer is still there, now in his late 50's as are many of the staff, including Mehmet who's worked for Muammer for 40 years (he was 13 when he started a Kapi Creek). You have to admire the entrepreneurial spirit, resilience, stoicism (they seem to have just shrugged off the effects of the recent pandemic) and sheer hard work of the people in places like Kapi Creek. What's more, despite the basic facilities, the food is really good (we had the best mezze and fish since we've been here) and you can even get fresh 'village' bread every morning!

So here's Muammer and Mehmet. You'll notice Mehmet is sharing a private joke with Ellison, suggesting when she's fed up with me she should go to him in Kapi Creek. Not sure how Mrs Mehmet would feel about that though.