While ironing out the many creases in my flabby, knackered, middle-aged executive's body recently, the in-house masseur at The Mercer Hotel, one of New York's finest, said to me: "Do you remember when you had jet-lag as a kid?" Well, no, I explained, there weren't a lot of time zones crossed between Leeds and the tiny seaside resort of Filey on the North Yorkshire coast. The number for Metin Duru's Sunset Caf?laj Restaurant is 00 90 252 613 2429.. The harbour at Fethiye has plenty of day-trip boats to Sovalye.STAYING THERETry the slightly dilapidated but inexpensive Otel Sovalye (00 90 52 613 10235), where a double room with breakfast and an evening buffet meal costs €15 (£11) per person per night - though you may need a phrase-book, as the only languages spoken by the staff are Turkish and German. A week for two sharing self-catering accommodation at the Ece costs £630 per person, with flights from London or Manchester to Dalaman airport and return transfers by coach and boat. Erdogan's Ece website is . Charters to Dalaman are widely available for independent travellers from the UK From here, Fethiye is accessible by taxi or bus. Sharing our rickety table, under a canopy of stars, Metin told us with shining eyes of his love for the island, which in winter he and five or six other families have almost to themselves That's when the dolphins come, he explained. "For Christmas on the beach." TRAVELLER'S GUIDEGETTING THERELinda Cookson travelled to Sovalye with Tapestry Holidays (020-8235 7888; ).
But now he is fulfilling a long-held ambition to return permanently to the island. His food is cheap and cheerful: a spread of meze, bread and a flagon of yakut wine came in at under a fiver each And the cliff-edge location is second to none. Metin Duru has run Sovalye's only restaurant - the Sunset Caf?laj - since 1995.After training in London in the Sixties, Metin became a film-maker in Istanbul. Peeking over the shoulder of an elderly woman who pitched camp with her easel each morning, we watched a painting of dazzling butterflies take shape during our stay.Finally, forget the Sunset Beach of Hollywood soaps. At the tip of Sovalye is a simple - even scruffy - beach of the same name, from which each evening you can watch the horizon melt into a gouache of yellows and reds as day-tripping Turkish families pack away their picnic things for the day. During our visit in early August, the jasmine was overpowering.
Just as the peacefulness of Sovalye makes it a favourite retreat for writers, so the quality of light has a special lure for artists: keen; clear; shimmering. And the stillness in the air is made tangible by the headiness of the scents with which Sovalye is awash. Away from the water, the only noticeable noise comes from the island's wildlife - birds in their hundreds, and a non-stop cacophony of cicadas. A bored cat and a dog snoring under a pomegranate tree were the only life-forms we could find when crossing the courtyard to investigate.