Mount Chimaera was the name of a place in ancient Lycia, known in Turkish as Yanartaş, or ‘Burning Rock’, where methane and other gases emerge from the rocky slopes of Mt Olympos and burn. Some ancient sources considered it to be the origin of the myth of the monster called...
We had a great afternoon at beautiful 18 kilometers long sand beach backed by large sand dunes. It is one of Turkey’s best beaches and due to its length, it´s never crowded. Sunshades and loungers can be rented and there are also some shops and a café. Depending on the season, parts...
Lycia, an ancient maritime district of southwestern Anatolia, lay along the Mediterranean coast between Caria and Pamphylia and extended inland to the ridge of the Taurus Mountains. In Egyptian, Hittite, and Ugaritic records of the 14th and 13th centuries BC, the Lycians are described as...
It was an ancient Phrygian city in southwestern Turkey, about 10 kilometers north of the ruins of Laodicea (🎫 200 TRY). Situated on the Coruh River, a tributary of the Buyuk Menderes River, it was probably established by Eumenes II of Pergamum in 190 BC. It became a sacred city, its chief...
Pamukkale has been made eternally famous by the gleaming white calcite travertines overrunning with warm, mineral-rich waters on the mountain above the village. It´s not allowed to roam freely around the photogenic travertines, but walking down remains one of Turkey’s singular experiences...
We spent a few hours discovering the lost ruins of Aphrodisias (🎫 70 TRY). This remote site in the Anatolian hinterland trumps many of Turkey’s ancient sites for its sheer scale and lushness. It was an ancient city situated on a plateau south of the Maeander River. Sulla and Julius...
Akyaka is a seaside town that is located in southwestern Turkey at the edge of the Datca peninsula along the Aegean Sea. It is popular for its laidback lifestyle and natural beauty. Akyaka was the second town in Turkey to join the “Cittaslow” (slow city) movement and has resisted...
Beaches, boutique hotels, trendy restaurants, and clubs – this is the Bodrum – summer destination in southwestern Turkey at the northern end of the Gulf of Kerme of the Aegean Sea. More than any other Turkish seaside getaway, it has an enigmatic elegance that pervades it, from the...
One of the quieter alternatives to the rumbling Bodrum city center is the Gümüşlük bay. Despite the glaringly visible inroads of modern tourism, tradition and tranquillity are partially preserved by local open-air vegetable markets and the rugged coastline, overlooked by scarcely...
Once we arrived at Lake Bafa in southwestern Turkey, we realized that the lake faces ecological catastrophe due to untreated industrial wastewater coming from factories in Muğla’s Bafa. However, We did not come for beach holidays, but to explore the village and nearby ruins of Herakleia...