Along Turkey’s Sun-Drenched Coasts, a European Invasion

Along Turkey’s Sun-Drenched Coasts, a European Invasion

A cool, comforting indigo blue sea laps gently against several kilometers of lonely shoreline. Fig trees and olive groves dot the landscape above a stark white sandy beach where no one treads. In the distance can be heard the faint murmur of a lone car rolling down a craggy, mountainous road. There are still pieces of Turkey's shoreline that remain undiscovered, but droves of foreigners are fast gobbling it up.

The Turkish coastline has witnessed a construction bonanza fueled by moneyed Europeans seeking a relatively affordable place in the sun. Much of Turkey's once pristine coastline has metamorphosed into a coastal suburbia, replete with American-style apartments and luxury homes surrounding golf courses. On Turkey's Aegean and Mediterranean coasts, cranes and other construction machinery announce the arrival of this new crop of foreigners.

Weary of the construction frenzy in southern Spain, priced out of a dream home on the Italian coast, and squeezed out of France's overbuilt Cote D'Azur, thousands of Europeans now call some of Turkey's most picturesque regions home.

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