BEAUTIFUL PLACES TO SEE
Increasing number of visitors coming back each year to extend their Kaş experience beyond just blue waters and town square (meydan) activities of dining, shopping, drinking and letting the kids run around. Make sure to include daily excursions and visiting nearby places in your plans that are absolutely worth for every minute and aspect of your effort: hiking into the depths of Saklıkent Gorge, Sailing over the ruins ın sunken city of Kekova, and setting the sun with a glass of wine up at the Kalekoy Castle, driving up to Elmalı to visit its museum, handmade copper ware market and Vineyards, eating trout fish in restaurants of islamlar built right on the stream and surrounded with lush green fruit trees and grape vines and visiting the Greek Island of Meis just across the water for a memorable lunch and for its beautifully kept Mediterranean island architecture.
SAKLIKENT GORGE: Just under an hour by car (direction west)
The dramatic backdrop to a rural farming area (crops include tobacco, aniseed, sesame and cotton), Saklıkent (meaning “hidden place”) is also known by locals as “Kayıp Cennet” which translates as “Lost Paradise”. At 18km long, Saklıkent is only slightly shorter than the Samaria Gorge in Crete. As you approach, walk under the bridge and along a 150m wooden catwalk spiked into the canyon walls, ending at springs which bubble up under great pressure from the base of the towering cliffs, adding to the torrent of water rushing down from the top of the gorge. During the summer months the water levels decrease and it is possible to walk up inside the gorge for some 2km although this is largely a wading experience requiring submersible shoes. The sun never penetrates to the depths of the gorge ensuring shade to walk in and the water can be freezing cold, coming as it does from the 3000m high Mount Akdag. Once there you will notice that there are lots of lovely cool, shady restaurants dotted along the river to relax and enjoy the local speciality which is Trout (alabalık).
KEKOVA, The Sunken City: 30 minutes by car (direction east)
Thirty minutes by car from Kaş,towards Antalya, the road will bring you to the delightful fishing village of Üçağız (three mouth) islands and peninsulas. From here it is an easy step to hire a boat and visit Kekova Island and the sunken city. The shore of the island are Byzantine ruins, partly submerged below the sea. The result of a series of terrible earthquakes during the 2nd century AD, most of what you can still see is said to be the residential part of ancient Simena. Foundations of buildings, staircases and the old harbour can still be viewed. A short distance by boat from the sunken city is Kaleköy, a truly idyllic village overlooking this magnificent coastline. The village is home to the ruins of ancient Simena and a Crusader fortress. Within the fortress amid spectacular views a little theatre is cut into the rock and nearby you will find ruins of several temples and public baths, several sarcophagi and Lycian tombs. Kaleköy is accessible only from the sea. İt is part of the Lycian Way walk.
MEIS, The Greek Island of Megisti, aka Kastellorizo: 25 minutes ferry ride from harbour
Meis is just over 3 nautical miles off the Turkish coast, the closest Greek Island to the Turkish mainland. It is amongst the smallest of inhabited islands of the Dodecanese archipelago, and is the most distant from the Greek mainland. An island 6km long and 3km wide. The highest point of the island is Mt. Vigla at 273m, the terrain is very barren and hard limestone, and unfortunately there has been no natural water source found.
The island has had an interesting history being under the control of the Turks until 1915 with the population peaking at about 9000 people. The islands prosperity was based around regular trading with Kas and Kalkan but as ties were gradually severed with Greece this naturally suffered. The island was reclaimed by Italy in 1921 and thus all the people of the Dodecanese became legal Italian subjects. In 1926 an earthquake caused widespread destruction, and gradual restrictions placed on the inhabitants by the Italians meant that by 1940 due to emigration the population had fallen to approximately 1,400. In 1941 the British succeeded in overthrowing the Italians for a short-lived period but the Italians soon regained power until their surrender in 1943. The British then claimed as many islands as possible before the inevitable German action. The bombings of that year destroyed much of the harbour area and in the summer of 1944 a fire completed the devastation.
At the end of WW2 with the British in control, the inhabitants still classified Italian, the issue of whether Kastelorizo should be joined to Turkey or Greece became a heated debate. Eventually in 1947 the Dodecanese, including Kastelorizo was reunited with Greece. From the 1970’s to today many families have returned to restore their family homes. In the mid 1980’s an airstrip was introduced onto the top plateau of the island to help with the summer tourist trade, and now there are regular flights in the summer to and from Athens and Rhodes. The population is currently floating around the 200 mark and the military base on the island helps this significantly.
Getting to and from the island tends to be a demand only basis, and you do have to be prepared for a fair amount of hanging around both countries police and customs offices. The island has a fascinating museum that explains the history of the place, the harbour area is very picturesque and of course there are many back streets and coastal paths to wander around and soak up the atmosphere. Please remember that in Greece there is a long siesta period around the mid-day hours and so the museum and shops.
ELMALI: 2,5 hours by car (direction north)
Directly behind Kas dominates a host of fertile valleys dotted with traditional villages and towns where the weather is cooler, the scenery spectacular and the atmosphere relaxed. The perfect introduction to Turkish community life and hospitality is a visit to Elmalı renouned for its fruit orchards and agriculture, substantially apples and sugar beet, the name Elamalı literally means “with apples”. The colours, sounds and smells of the fruit and vegetable market, where produce can still be seen arriving by donkey and cart, set the scene.
Venture amongst the large number of Ottoman, timber-framed houses, whose higgledy-piggledy balconies straddle a maze of cobbled streets and alleyways ascending the hillside to the west. An essential part of the day is to join the townsfolk for lunch in a local Lokanta and pick up some unusual souvenirs from the artisan workshops, handmade sweets, intricate woodwork and colourful woven cloth.
OLYMPOS and the Chimaera: 2 hours by car (direction east)
A geological phenomenon known as the Chimaera or Eternal Flame is one of the most unusual sites of Lycia and reached via a 7km turn off, to the hamlet of Çıralı, from the main coastal road approximately 140kms east of Kaş, hillside from which a uniquely formulated, natural gas escapes, resulting in a series of flames issuing from the fissures. The fire has been burning since antiquity and spawned many legends in mythology. Most notably the worship of Hephaistos (Vulcan to the Romans), God of Fire and that of the fire-breathing monster with a lion’s head and forelegs, a goat’s rear and a snake for a tail, that is the Chimaera. Its silhouette incidentally is the logo of the state-run Petrol Ofisi chain of filling stations.
Also accessible from the main road but more pleasantly approached by walking for 15 minutes south along the long, sandy beach from Çıralı are the ruins of Olympos, one of the six major cities of the Lykian Confederation. There were over 20 mountains sharing the name of Olympos in the classical world. Although little remains and due to the luxuriant vegetation, exploration is not easy, the setting on the banks of an oleander and fig shaded stream is idyllic. A medieval castle and Byzantine-Genoese fortifications offer superb views of the beach from each bank of the creek. Most of the theatre seats are vanished leaving one fine entrance arch visible in the tangled growth. Aqueduct troughs provide the best pathways to a Byzantine villa with mosaic floors, a mausoleum-style tomb and a 5m high marble frame believed to be that of a temple cella.
Cool off with a swim in the clear waters at one of the three small secluded bays which contain the ruins of Phaselis 20kms further north or visit the fine beach at Andriake near Demre on the return journey to Kaş.