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The pearls of the ancient sites on the Turkish Riviera
Prepared by:
Dargan Bullivant, architect and partner of Odysseus Cruising
All these sites are easily reached from the coast when travelling
by gulet. Itineraries can be prepared grouping several sites
together. Other sites further inland can be reached by coach
or minibus within a day’s excursion from the coast.
Details can be supplied.
Amos
A spectacularly sited ancient site with beautiful views over
the bay of Marmaris. The defensive walls are fine examples
of polygonal masonry for comparison with Hellenistic rectangular
masonry on other sites. An attractive walk in a pleasant landscape
near the beach.
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Antalya
An ancient (and modern) port to the east of the Taurus mountains.
Founded in 159 BC as the principal port of the Roman province
of Pamphylia. It possesses a fine archaeological museum and
a virtually complete Roman gateway dedicated to Hadrian. The
oldest part is the Ottoman quarter around the small harbour.
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Aphrodisias
A truly remarkable inland site with a large museum of sculptures.
The on-going excavation of this site is one of archaeology’s
great revelations. A large number of ruins can be seen, some
reconstructed with great skill, which it is a particular pleasure
to examine at close quarters. Site under active excavation.
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Arycanda
Re-discovered by Sir Charles Fellows in May 1840, it is a
terraced city up in the hills, which may be compared with
Delphi. It is a place of great antiquity. It can be reached
by vehicle at the end of a deep-cut river valley with a 10,000ft
mountain in the background. It has a fine pure Greek theatre
(2nd Century BC), a spacious agora and a rare athletics stadium
(110 yards long) with complete seating and an honoured finishing
stand. Roman remains include an extensive bath and many large
temple tombs. Site under active excavation.
On return to the boat one can visit the necropolis of Limyra,
that epitome of a Lycian city, with the most extensive necropolis
on the coast with hundreds of tombs in fine condition, including
rock-cut house tombs, gable-ended sarcophagi and coloured
inscriptions.
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Aspendus
Best known for the most magnificent and well-preserved theatre
of the classical world. Built during the reign of Marcus Aurelius.
It is the best place to appreciate the grandiose effect of
a Roman theatre as it is so remarkably preserved. The auditorium
seats about 20,000 in 41 rows and it is still used each summer
for opera productions. In addition, and nearby, is the best-preserved
Roman aqueduct in Asia Minor, which shows how the Romans made
water run up-hill.
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Bodrum
Known in history as Halicarnassus of the ancient Mausoleum
(Tomb of Mausolus) fame (one of ‘The Seven Wonders of
the World’). It also contains the crusader castle of
St. Peter, built by the Knights of St. John (1402 onwards
and occupied by them until 1523). Home to the unique Museum
of Marine Archaeology (established by Professor George Bass)
which contains, amongst several other boats, an impressive
display of the oldest shipwreck ever discovered with its remarkable
contents. A pure Greek theatre (being carefully restored)
and the gigantic Myndus gateway, assaulted by Alexander the
great. At that time, it was the strongest fortified city known
in Asia Minor.
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Caunus
A great Carian city (Mausolus’ easternmost outpost)
with extensive remains on the Dalyan River with an excellent
Greek stoa wall which is still complete, a fine Roman theatre,
a Tholos (a very rare circular temple site) and a recently
uncovered main street with a particularly interesting third-generation
Early Christian church and a large Roman bath (Mausolus –
the 4th Century BC ruler of Caria, see also Bodrum). Site
under active excavation.
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Cnidus
Famous for the most perfect statue of Aphrodite by the Greek
master sculptor, Praxiteles (a head is now in England). The
city was planned and built with great ingenuity on a grid
with extensive terracing in the 4th Century BC. It has two
harbours, several temples, a row of Roman shops and four (at
least) Early Christian churches. Site under active excavation.
Exploring the site takes 2-3 hours.
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Dalyan
A particularly beautiful example of the many river valleys
that reach this coast. The river is fringed with reeds and
leads to the interesting site of Caunus and further on to
a large lake with its mud-baths. The river is navigable by
flat-bottomed boats which are needed to cross the shallow
sand bar near a famous beach which is the nesting area for
the rare Caretta Caretta turtle.
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Didyma
This majestic classical temple (no roof but walls and columns
still standing 65 feet (19.8 metres high), much taller than
the Temple of Zeus in Athens) housed a very famous oracle
for 800 years. Over 370ft long, it is one of the largest classical
temples ever constructed. Truly impressive.
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Ephesus
One of the greatest of all archaeological sites with one of
the largest classical theatres (seating 24,000) and exceptionally
fine Roman houses which are rare in both size and quality.
The great Basilica of St. John is nearby. Site under active
excavation.
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Euromus
All that is left here of an ancient city is a surprise, near-complete
Roman Corinthian temple, easy to reach and worth examining
in detail.
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Göcek
An attractive recently-built small town designed in a low-rise
traditional style. It nestles within a curve of impressive
red-stone hills covered with pale-green pine trees and it
faces one of the most beautiful gulfs with small islands.
This peaceful place is the best starting or finishing place
for a cruise, as it is also within 30 minutes of Dalaman,
an international airport.
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Iasus
Known to Lysander the Spartan, this now quiet small village
has a fine Roman forum with an exquisite council chamber nearby
and a new museum with a courtyard enclosing a nearly complete
Roman temple tomb (very rare).
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Kalkan
An attractive small town noted for old merchants’ houses
and shops in a setting of great natural beauty. It is a good
centre for visiting the ancient sites of Lycia such as Patara
and Xanthus (both large).
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Kas
Known in ancient times as Antiphellus. In Roman times it was
a major trading city famous for its sponges. An attractive,
small Turkish town, good for shopping and site-seeing. It
has a picturesque street of jewellers’ shops with the
finest example of a Lycian tomb known as ‘The Lion Tomb’.
Kas is the setting off place for visits to the small but charming
Greek island of Megiste (also known as Castellorizo).
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Loryma
This impressively large fortress, virtually intact, was sited
to guard a strategically valuable inlet of water large enough
to accommodate the Athenian fleet during the Peloponnesian
War and Demetrius’ fleet of 200 triremes assembled for
the siege of Rhodes in the 4th Century BC. One of the best
examples of Hellenistic military masonry, it is easily reached
after a short walk. Then to Serci Liman for walk through the
Kasara Valley (a 3,000 year old agricultural area) to ‘Goat
cleft’.
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Lydae
On the edge of this beautiful Arcadian valley are two large
well-sited Roman mausolea. One of a rare design with a ruined
dome on pendentives and the other with the remains of a fine
white marble sarcophagus inscribed to the family SARPEDON
(a hero of the Trojan Wars and said to be the founder of the
earliest Lycian community).
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Miletus
Once a great city on the coast (birthplace of the early philosopher,
Thales) known to St. Paul, who left from here when returning
to the Holy Land. One of the largest of Roman baths and the
site of the finest Greek council chamber anywhere.
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Myra
Sited inland a short distance from ancient Andriace (site
of more of Hadrian’s granaries). This is the port where
St. Paul changed ship escorted by a centurion in 60 AD en
route for Rome to be tried before Emperor Nero. It is one
of the earliest Lycian cities with extensive rock-cut house
tombs. Nearby is a Roman theatre (second only in size and
interest to Aspendus further to the east) recently cleared
and restored. Germanicus, heir of Emperor Tiberius, visited
here in 18 AD, one year before his tragic death near Antioch.
Site under active excavation. The church of St. Nicholas can
be visited. It was restored by Czar Nicholas of Russia in
the 19th Century.
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Olympus and Pliny’s Chimaera
A very romantic site near white-topped Mount Olympus reached
from the beach through an overgrown valley, passing a fine
and complete temple doorway erected 172-5 AD, dedicated to
Marcus Aurelius. Further up towards Yanar Dag, ‘the
Burning Mountain’, is the fire-breathing pit (Pliny’s
Chimaera of legend). This legend recounts that the Corinthian
hero Bellerophon (similar to Herakles) on the winged horse
Pegasus slew the Chimaera (a monster with the head of a lion,
the body of a goat and the tail of a dragon). It is, despite
the legend, a mephitic flame which has ‘issued continually
and unvaryingly from time beyond the reach of history’.
It gives a very hot smokeless flame and a brilliant light
which was seen far out at sea by Captain Beaufort RN (he of
‘the Beaufort scale’ fame) who visited the site
in the early 19th Century.
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Patara
After Ephesus, this is the biggest site on the Turkish coast,
and possesses a large Roman theatre, recently cleared, a complete
triumphal arch, the Roman successor temple of Apollo related
to the oracle of Delphi and one of the largest Hadrianic granaries
still standing and bordering the old harbour. Birthplace of
Nicholas (about 300 AD), later St. Nicholas. Site under active
excavation.
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Pergamum.
One of the most spectacular achievements of Greek imagination,
set on its ‘pineapple-shaped’ mountain (according
to Strabo), 1000ft above the plain of the River Caicus. It
was planned to equal or supersede Athens after Alexander liberated
the area. To be seen are the Acropolis with the magnificent
partly-reconstructed Trajaneum, a huge Roman temple, the vast
Greek theatre (10,000 seats), the site of the Pergamum Library
(one of the three great libraries of the ancient world) and
the Aesclepieum, famous as a great medical centre from Hellenistic
and Roman times, when Galen practiced here. One of the greatest
of all sites.
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Perge
The most important city in Pamphylia, birthplace of Apollonius,
a great mathematician of the Hellenistic age (born 360 BC).
The site is very large and noted for the enormous well-preserved
stadium with seating for 12,000 spectators (2nd Century AD),
the large circular-towered Hellenistic gateway, the marble-paved
main street and the very large agora (215ft square) were built
in the 4th Century AD.
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Phaselis
This, the easternmost city of Lycia, is a picturesque ancient
site set in grand scenery against a backdrop of mountain peaks,
Phoenicus, Olympus and Climax (7500 ft) rising in a chain
of splendour. Alexander wintered his army here in 332 BC and
it was visited by Hadrian in 130 AD. It has three harbours,
a fine paved main street, the remains of an archway in honour
of Hadrian, a rare aqueduct and a fine Roman theatre and tombs.
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Priene
A particularly fine Greek planned town, beautifully sited
and virtually untouched by the Romans, with an unspoilt council
chamber and the famous Ionic Temple of Athena, designed by
Pytheos (the architect of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus)
and a well preserved Greek theatre with stage and special
seating for notable people. The temple is said to exhibit
the finest example of the Ionic order of architecture, which
was the model for the columns of the British Museum in London.
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The Rhodian Peraea
Although not a site but an area, bordering ‘The Sea
of Tranquillity’, it contains many sites recorded and
mapped by Lieutenant Spratt RN and others in 1830-45. It is
a mountainous area of noble limestone country with a number
of small pretty Turkish villages for relaxation, easily reached
on foot from the sea.
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Simena and Kekova
A beautiful calm anchorage behind an island (with ruins of
an ancient church) fringed by a sunken city which can be seen
from a boat. On shore is a quaint Turkish village (no roads)
built on the site of an Hellenistic fortress now overtopped
by an old Ottoman fort, which can all be explored.
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Side
This large ancient site, dating from 750 BC, is on a peninsula
still surrounded by defensive walls which are amongst the
finest examples of Hellenistic fortifications (with a large
defended gateway) in Turkey and dating from the 2nd Century
BC. Within the walls are a vast Roman theatre (one of the
best examples of Roman engineering skills), two large agora
(one is 300ft square), a colonnaded street, Roman baths with
an exhibition of some of the finest Roman statuary in Asia
Minor and a large Early Christian church.
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St. Nicholas’ Island
Extensive ruins of a large Early Christian community crowded
on to a small hilly island, spectacularly positioned close
to a tall white limestone mountain. There are four early churches.
One situated close to the pinnacle of the island is linked
by a very unusual vaulted processional way leading to a ruined
bishop’s palace of the Early Christian Church. The island
is in some way closely associated with St. Nicholas (4th Century
AD), the patron saint of Greece and Russia as well as sailors
and merchants and the model for Father Christmas. A rare and
mysterious place. Site under active excavation.
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Symi
The exception – it is a Greek island. Although what
you see is not ancient, but largely built in the 19th Century,
it is a very fine example of a small town of exquisitely designed
and maintained domestic architecture, dramatically sited.
It is a rare and memorable experience to explore its streets
and enjoy its restaurants and shops.
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Triopium
A small fortified hilltop, a short hike above an ancient agricultural
landscape. It is a perfect textbook example of ancient Greek
skills in the design of military fortifications. The finest
example of its period on the whole coast. It was once the
acropolis of an ancient city that held Olympic-style games
with competitors from other cities. The views from the top
are spectacular and a small Early Christian chapel is to be
found within the walls.
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Xanthus
The prime city of Lycia, witness to several great tragedies,
the last being the assault and destruction (in 42 BC) by Brutus
and Cassius (the assassins of Julius Caesar). Spectacularly
sited on a high rock above the Xanthus River, it still shows
ancient Lycian tower tombs alongside a large Roman theatre,
a very large basilican church and a recently excavated Roman
street with a perfect stone paving 40ft wide, probably the
finest in Anatolia. Site under active excavation.
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