In 1977, a bohemian Istanbul transplant named Ayla Emiroğlu opened a sixteen-room pension on a stretch of Bodrum coastline that was mostly cow pasture and stray cats. Locals nicknamed her Maçakızı, the Queen of Spades, for her looks, and the name stuck to the property. When the original site fell through, she found a plot only reachable by boat and built what’s now recognized as Turkey’s first beach club. Her son Sahir Erozan took over, relocated the operation to Türkbükü Bay in 2000, and built it into the Turkish riviera’s most photographed hangout, a two-story wooden deck that steps straight into the Aegean, favored over the decades by guests ranging from Kate Moss to Mick Jagger. The restaurant earned Bodrum’s first Michelin star. The beach deck, sun loungers flat against turquoise water, is still the real draw. Fifty years in, the Queen of Spades still runs the table.
