Can You Guess Where This Beach Is? Proves Something.

Where in this world is this gorgeous ocean scene?

These photos — azure waves and alluring soft sand — have sat trapped on my computer for a year. Interest in travel to the country pictured has plummeted as stability there was shaken. Thus, the challenge: Can you even match the happy scenes here with a place repeatedly screamed about in the news?

Me leaping in the ocean… but where?

Yes, Turkey is the country in which I took these photos — Ladies’ Beach in Kusadasi, just across the water from Greece, to be exact. What’s so striking, browsing the 9 previous articles about my 2015 Turkey trip, is how drastically the international narrative about the country has soured over the course of mere months.

Beachfront dining in Kusadasi.

I wonder about the variety of emotions right now among the 75 million people living in Turkey. How many souls are heartbroken to be lost in a swell of negativity, when there is still so much good around?

This is my favorite photo of them all. You are beautiful, Turkey!

In 2013 when the bombs exploded at the Boston Marathon just blocks from our apartment, that tragedy was all the media focused on for months regarding our beloved city. But I remember walking through Boston the week after the Marathon, gazing up at the sun-dappled pink flowers in the Public Garden. I heard TV vans zoom past, cameras pointed towards the sadness down the street, and all I could think was, “That sadness isn’t the only thing in this city. So much else is still going on. Don’t forget the beauty here!”

The Turkish flag flying high above the tranquil beach.

And thus I give you these seven photos of a happy beach in Turkey. We see your beauty, Turkey. I think of you often, and send love and positive energy!

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I’m curious to hear from you, readers: Which places that you’ve traveled to or lived in contrast in some way with the media’s predominant narrative about them? Please do share.

Lillie Marshall

The author, Lillie Marshall, is National Board Certified Teacher, fitness fan, and mother of two who has been a full-time public school educator since 2003. She launched Around the World “L” Travel and Life Blog in 2009, and over 3.7 million readers have visited this site over the decade. Lillie also runs Teaching Traveling Global Education Community and Drawings Of… Educational Cartoon Site. Subscribe to her monthly newsletter, and follow on social media with the links below!