I read your account of your travels over to the east(Places to Visit forum) and found them very interesting Hazel. They sound the sort of trips that a lot people may like to make.
I know from speaking to friends who teach English in some central areas of Turkey that it is more acceptable for women to travel with someone else than to travel alone. I am not saying it is dangerous, only that it is socially more acceptable. One lady I know who teaches in Usak (a central area)said that it is not acceptable for a lone woman to sit next to a man on a dolmus. Fethiye is much more liberal than a lot of places in Turkey.