Turkey - Part 6 - Sunken Cities and Fires

Mar 15
6 min read

There were plenty of ancient sites to visit on our route from Fethyie along the turquoise coast, and we eventually picked the site of Tlos which sits in a stunning position on a plateau and was noted as being one of the most important cities of ancient Lycia. When we arrived we were glad to realise our zest for ancient cities had returned after a break and it wasn’t too long until we were wowing at the location, the amphitheatre (which was having work done on it), the Ottoman fortress on the top of the hill and more rock tombs.

Not far from here is the Saklikent Gorge, which read as being a spectacular 18km gorge through the mountains. There are wooden walkway platforms suspended over the water for the first section, then after these visitors have to wade through the water to continue. A google review suggested it wasn’t open at the moment, but we thought we’d check it out as we were passing, but as we pulled up, the car parks were empty and the place was deserted - very disappointing, but apparently it was due to water levels being too high and strong after the heavy recent rains.

We headed back to the coast and had planned to visit and park the night at the ancient city of Patara. When we reached the entrance to the site it was only an hour before closing, and the guy on the ticket desk was adamant that we could not come in and stay overnight, which we know other motorhomes have done. Feeling a bit peeved, but having saved ourselves €30, we continued on to another Park4Night spot on a hill overlooking the bay of Kalkan. We’d seen lots of areas with poly-tunnels on the plains today, which make quite a sight and not in a good way. The parking spot was tucked away in an awesome spot. Colin discovered my bike tyre was flat yet again, so this time he put a new tyre on. There was a large moon that night which lit up the bay beautifully.

We were also treated to a nice sunrise in the morning. Colin did some yoga and was joined in his downwards dogs by two real dogs. He gave them some food, but the younger one really just wanted to be fussed over.

We drove down into the town of Kalkan, which was once a Greek fishing village but all the residents migrated in 1925 either to Greece or Australia. The town is known as the ‘poshest’ spot on the Turquoise Coast and is the place to come for fine dining and cocktails. We stuck to coffee. The old town is made up of steep cobbled streets, with flower bedecked buildings and boutiques.

We passed some lovely looking beaches tucked in bays on our way to the next main town of Kas. It felt a bit more of a working town than Kalkan, but is the place many visitors come to take boats trips and for scuba diving. There are a few relics of ancient times, but the theatre is in amazing condition and even better, there was no charge to see it. Built in the 1st Century AD, it could sit 4,000 in its day.

We continued on to the coastal village of Kekova, famous for the sunken ruins in the bay here. The city became submerged after a series of earthquakes in the 2nd Century CE, and you can take a boat trips out to see the sunken structures which are about 6m below the surface. We toyed with parking for the night in the harbour, but there was very little space, so we drove back up the road to a campsite that had good reviews. Kekova Camping was a quirky site, geared towards hikers of the Lycian Way, but there was a nice spot for us to park up Lolly. The views back into the bay were beautiful and the very forward campsite cats and dog became our constant demanding companions.

The owner of the site, Ahmed, a lovely guy, made a couple of calls to see if we could join a sea-kayak tour the following morning. He said they wasn’t one running, so we resigned ourselves to doing a boat trip. The next morning we walked down to the harbour and came across a group getting ready to go out in kayaks. The leader said we’d be welcome to join them. We were very keen, but not dressed at all appropriately and hadn’t brought our cossies or rafting shoes with us. We didn’t have time to get back to the campsite to change, so in the end decided ’what the heck’ - there was a washing machine at the campsite.

We joined a French family of 4 (Dad and 3 daughters), and we had about three hours out on the water, with a stop at a beach (where you usually have a swim) and later a stop at Kalekoy, where there is an impressive Crusader Castle.

The water was crystal clear and thankfully it was a calm day, so there were few ripples to spoil the visibility. After the beach stop we drifted slowly over the sunken city where we could see the foundations of buildings, staircases, and the harbour wall. Amazing.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/a868c8_e6bc1e23b40f4ad6933106a51b118b70/360p/mp4/file.mp4

We paddled across to Kalekoy and were given an hour to walk up to the castle. It was quite a steep rough path, but we were rewarded with fabulous views of the bay and back to Kekova. We even saw a little tortoise. It was a shame all the waterfront bars and restaurants were still closed for the off season.

After the tour we grabbed a bite to eat in Kekova, then went back to the campsite to get our salty and damp clothes and shoes cleaned up. Our jobs were interrupted by the two very demanding pussycats. We tried introducing the white fluffy cat to Solomon, our toy truck cat - neither were impressed.

The weather was good and the site so lovely, we decided to spend another day here. We went down to the harbour intending to have a swim (well Colin wanted to anyway), but the sea wasn’t quite so inviting the next day, so he gave it a miss.

Before we headed off the following morning we had a cup of coffee with Ahmed and a guy that was camping who said he’d arrived there 3 months ago while walking the Lycian Way and had never left. They were both learning how to play chess now in their spare time.

Our first stop wasn’t far along the coast. We saw swathes more of the poly-tunnels on the coastal plains, while the road we were on hugged and twisted its way long the coast.

The ancient city of Myra was built in the 2nd Century BCE. It was once one of the most important Lycian cities and we enjoyed looking around the well preserved theatre, the honeycomb of rock tombs and the many pieces of intricately carved reliefs around the site.

It was on the outskirts of the small town of Demre which we weren't planning to visit, but then read it was the birthplace of St Nicholas (aka Father Christmas). The ancient church of St Nicholas where he was laid to rest had some nice frescoes and mosaic floors.

While I'd popped into to a supermarket to get some provisions, a man stopped to say hello to Colin and gave him some a bottle of olive oil from his farm - what a lovely gesture.

We had a scenic drive towards our next destination, Olympos - famous for it's ancient ruins, having a beautiful beach, and the eternal flames of the Chimaera. The town is quite a backpacker hangout so there were lots of campsites and small pension accommodation around the town.

We gave the ruins a miss, but did want to see the Chimaera at dusk when the fires are more visible. The car park was a few kms outside town, and there is a stiff 30 minute hike up a very rocky and uneven path to reach the area with the fires. It is quite a bizarre sight. The gas seeps from the ground and ignites as it comes into contact with the air. Apparently they cannot be put out with water - they will just reignite with a new flame. We had purchased some marshmallows at the entrance, but after the first two remembered how sickly they are and tried palming them off on other visitors. We walked back down just as the sun was setting while there was still some light, as even with a headlight torch it would have been easy to slip on the big steps and uneven ground. Back in town, we parked up by the river running through and had a bite to eat in a local bar which was busy with locals watching Galatasaray playing a league match.