Visiting Fethiye: Ways of Lycians

“The longer one movies, the smoother the motion. There is a refinement, like a wheel being worn by the road it traverses. Now, wandering is simpler than an instinct. It’s not even a thought.” – Old Sean

Shore Ghost

Following my time among varying ruins and towns after leaving Izmir, I drove through the early night into the town of Fethiye.

Fethiye is a coastal community known for its beaches and surprisingly robust nightlife. Much of the city’s action is found on the coat, either by following a seaside walking area or browsing through the sprawling market space slightly to the south.

When I first arrived in Fethiye, my main function was checking into my Airbnb. My host, despite having a profoundly limited English vocabulary, was nevertheless a lovely and helpful man. Bearded and enthusiastic, he let me into my room and quickly gave me an impressive list of local recommendations for the area.

Greatly cheered by the welcome, I decided to spend a few minutes exploring the nightlife community. I ended up joining a young lady for apple tea on the coast and spent another portion of my night dining at traditional Turkish shops. Before I knew it, the hour had grown sinfully late and I needed to return to bed.

High Reach

During this particular visit, I had booked my Airbnb for a total of two nights. This made waking up the following morning a rather relaxing activity. I went to a quiet nearby café which served exquisite coffee and equally impressive breakfast brownies.

Compellingly fueled by vice and sugar, I then hopped into my rental car and made my way south. Driving in Fethiye is  a minor nightmare. The traffic is intense, all the roads are a single lane at best and pedestrians lunge boldly over concrete with very little hesitancy. However, I eventually made it to my destination.

The Overwatching Necropolis

On the fringes of the city, embedded in cliff walls, there stands the Amyntas Rock Tombs, one of the distinct cliff carved tombs of the Lycian people.

Lycian Tombs are elaborate funeral chambers carved into cliff faced, generally distinctive to the seafaring Lycia people native to the southern coast of modern Turkey. Archeological research suggests the tombs were built in “high” places somewhat close to residential towns to place departed ancestors closer to the Lycian concept of heaven.

Some scripts state that the Lycian people believed their dead were carried to the afterlife by magical winged creatures that resembled sirens. While the seafaring Lycian people were a distinct political group with its own national identity, their architecture was heavily influenced by their Greek, Roman, and Persian neighbors. With an independent history reaching back around 2000 BCE, the Lycian people were eventually assimilated by the Greeks and the Romans.

There are four types of Lycian Tombs: Temple-style tombs, Sarcophagus Tombs, Pillar Tombs and House-style Tombs.

The cliffside tombs are entirely visible from the road, so I didn’t feel the need to personally enter. I cheerfully took my photos and continued on my journey.

Kayaköy’s Maze

A short while after leaving Fethiye, I continued south to seek out the community known as Kayaköy. Historically, the area is also known as Levissi or Karmylassos. The region was once a Greek settlement which eventually converted to Christianity. However, the ruins have been abandoned for hundreds of years. Now, an endless maze of grey stone rises over low trees across the surfaces of rolling mountains.

The massacres of ethnic Greeks and other Christian minorities during the Ottoman Empire in World War I  led to the almost total depopulation of the village’s 6,500 Greek natives by 1918. These former inhabitants were removed from their properties and became refugees in Greece or faced execution through forced labor.

The community is now a stone ghost town, preserved as a heritage museum village. It consists of hundreds of rundown but still mostly standing Greek-style houses and churches which cover a small mountainside. The only people within are vendors selling handmade goods, tour groups and the occasional grazing herd of goats.

The actual views around the region are gorgeous. Flowers blooming press smells on the breeze. Old stone nooks and roads gives the settlement a fragile, isolated sensation. There is very little noise, allowing visitors to enjoy a measure of peace while they explore.

Throughout the ruins, there are many interesting sites. There are 14 chapels, 2 churches, 2 academic buildings, a customs building and numerous houses. Complex construction including cisterns, courtyards, gardens and drains are all present.

The area is impressive for its size and accessibility. Visitors can freely wander through a quiet, flower-tinged landscape for hours at a time.

I eventually returned to town for a small lunch. There were traffic guards taking photos of parked vehicles, as it’s apparently illegal to park on the road outside of Kayaköy. I got ahead of them at a clipped walking speed, moving my rental out of the way before I earned myself a ticket for poor parking.

Edge of the Route

After my time in Kayaköy, I drove out to the starting trailhead on the Lycian Way. If I had more time available to me, I would’ve personally loved hiking the entire route. However, to do so would take a full month, an amount of time I simply didn’t have. But that didn’t stop me from lightly jogging along the trail for an hour or so, just to gaze at the scenery.

I returned to my car, ready to make the final push to Ölüdeniz, literally translated to “Dead Sea”, due to its calm waters even during storms. Ölüdeniz is the beach town gateway to a protected, gorgeous lagoon with cresting pebble beaches and a surprising number of floating party boats. Paragliders swoop above and the horizon faded to soft orange as the day reached its conclusion.

While I didn’t have any proper swimming gear, I was perfectly capable of splashing through the beach waters, browsing numerous cafes and relaxing with a few locals who seemed pleased to chat with me. My favorite area was Kidrak Beach where I was given an entire seaside to myself, water streaming around my toes.

I like standing in the ocean surf, on general principle. One of the more humorous stories I’ve picked up in life comes from Nordic Mythology, the tale of Skáldskaparmál. During a portion of this story, the giantess Skadi (jötunn goddess Skaði) is offered a husband from among the gods after the unjust death of her father. However, she is only allowed to choose based on the feet of the gods. The giantess hopes to select Baldr, the most handsome of the gods, but accidently selects Njörðr  (Njord) the Seafarer. The god had the most stunning feet imaginable after eons of them being smoothed and refined from standing in the ocean’s currents.

I’m not sure my feet would win any matrimony contests. But standing in the water does feel nice.

Softly Said the Rain

Sadly, I wasn’t able to spend too long lounging. Eventually, a slight but steady drizzle of rain began misting down on my vacation. I was growing a wee bit sleepy, so I opted to head back to Fethiye for the night.

Upon my return to Fethiye, I spent the rest of my evening wandering around calmly. I passed strange party ships, ballerina sculptures, grooming cats, tiny shops, restful tea spots, shallow duck ponds, umbrella-covered shopping arcades, piles of spices, tourist shops, vegetable markets, sunset overlooks and calm canals.

Finally, I bought myself a bowl of cheesy street-corn and seated myself by the water, content to let the rest of my night slip away.

This is my last night in Fethiye. Tomorrow, I’ll get back on the road in the hopes of exploring the full coast and another series of historical ruins.

So until then,

Best regards and excellent trails,

Old Sean

Written April 8th, 2024

Read more about visiting Fethiye and seeing the world by visiting Leftfade Trails Destination Info.

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