The tea enjoyed in natural surroundings and the meal cooked outdoors tastes somehow better. In an ecological village, where no chemicals or technological devices are used in food production, you can experience the delicious aroma of Mediterranean cuisine. The Pastoral Valley Ecological Village in Muğla’s Fethiye district offers everything about village life we long for, in an attempt to promote an ecological lifestyle. Visitors to the village sit down to meals cooked outdoors and spend their days in the field picking tomatoes.
Ecotourism, which combines agriculture and tourism, offering a great opportunity for a vacation in nature, is attracting a great deal of attention. Guests at the organic agriculture village spend some of their time working in the field, with tourists who stay in the wooden houses permitted to pick their own organic products from the fields. Those who stay at Pastoral Valley also learn arts in the local workshops such as rug making, wood carving and how to prepare local dishes. As part of ecotourism, technological devices — including TVs, computers and cell phones — are not used in the village. Ahmet Kizen, who owns the place, says the food is cooked over wood fires rather than in gas ovens.
Cooking is also part of a guest’s duties. For this reason, tourists cook their own meals and bread. Local dishes that cannot be found in a regular restaurant are taught to tourists and prepared by them in the village. Ashley Cole from Canada, who selected the village for her vacation, says that she found it over the Internet. Noting that she stays in a stone house and wakes up to the sound of birds in the mornings, Cole says: “I love it here. I pick tomatoes and oranges. I also pick strawberries in the field. I will strongly recommend this to my friends when I get back to Canada. I do not like mass tourism places; it’s nice to have a quiet vacation and work in the field.”
The Patika Ecological Farm in the village of Faralya in Fethiye also offers a vacation in nature. At the farm owned by Çiğden and Erol Scott, visitors can experience growing fruits and vegetables and stay in stone houses.
The Kaya Guesthouse in Kayaköy offers a vacation for tourists who want to feel at home. The facility is run by Filiz Almalı, who offers all the comforts of home. At the entrance, you have to take off your shoes. The food is cooked over wood fires and the ingredients are organic. Almalı also says that visitors are allowed to pick grapes in the field.