Lycian Way Walk

Day 1 – Fly to Antalya Afternoon hike in the Gulluk National Park
Fly to Antalya in the morning. We will transfer to our hotel; after check in and a short rest, we will go for a short walk in the Old Town and have lunch at a nearby traditional restaurant. After lunch, we will have a short drive to the Gulluk Dag National Park, where we will start our walk. We shall explore the most dramatic historical site of the Western Tauros Mountains. Our walk will take us to the ancient city of Termessus, which originally dates back to as early as 800 BCE; this site is actually mentioned in the Homer’s book of Iliad. Today, objects from different historical periods can be seen on the site, but the ruins themselves are the remains of the Roman Empire dating back to 200-300 C.E. It is said that Alexander the Great gave up the idea of capturing the city when he first saw the heroic resistance of its people, but he took his revenge by burning the neighboring olive groves, which were the only food crop of the people at that time. We shall spend the entire afternoon walking the Lycian trails through the following areas: unidentified buildings, theatres, bouleuterion, necropolis, and the gymnasium. After exploring a hidden trail off of the “beaten path”, then we will return to our hotel. Overnight in Antalya.

Day 2 – Ucagiz and Myra – Lycian Metropolis
After breakfast, we will take a two hour’s drive to the town of Demre, which is the home town of St. Nicholas; this person later became a Christian bishop in 400 CE. and became known as “Santa Claus” in the Western world. We will visit a Lycian city, Myra, which houses the necropolis dating back to 400 BCE; it is literally carved into the cliff faces–one site faces the river, and the other one is pointed seaward. With the passing of time, Myra fell under the Roman Empire, and many structures from that era are evident, including baths, an acropolis and a massive semi-circular theatre that is still largely intact. After touring for a couple of hours around the Lycian and Roman ruins, we will drive to Kekova for the check-in at our hotel. Then we will all go for a relaxing swim in the beautiful turquoise waters at a nearby cove. Overnight in Kekova.

Day 3 – Simena and Kekova – Sunken city
After breakfast, we will cruise for half an hour with our private boat to the beautiful coast line of the underwater sunken ship yards of Kekova Island. The thrilling cruise over the sunken ruins will take us over the partly survived two to three storeys pitched roof ship yards along with their carved stair cases and interesting dwellings. We’ll stop for a colorful swim in a nearby turquoise cove; later we will walk up to a small village, Kale, where we’ll visit a breath taking hilltop castle where people used to hide from pirates. The castle site will give us a spectacular view of the partly sunken island of Kekova. Lunch will be served at a small place with traditional local Turkish specialties. Later, we will start our walk by passing some of the interesting landscape through the trails of the Lycians, which they built almost 3000 years ago. (3 hours). Once again, a refreshing swim in the local waters will be enjoyed by all before we return to our hotel. Overnight in Kekova.

Day 4 – Kalamaki and Patara
After breakfast, we will journey for an hour’s drive to Kalkan-Kalamaki; it is an authentic, small, picturesque village. We will start our walk (1 – 1.5 hrs) and along the way explore the Cyclopian style construction of the historic people, which is a marvel of engineering of the early Roman Period. We shall then stop for a picnic lunch, which will be spread under the old olive trees of the area. After an appetizing lunch, we will proceed for a two hour walk to the village where St. Nicholas was born. If time permits, we will explore the ruins of the earliest “lighthouse” in the world, which is almost 2000 years old. This lighthouse is located inside the ruins of Patara, an important sea port of Asia Minor Province during the Roman Empire. After another exciting day, we will return to our hotel. Overnight in Patara.

Day 5 – Xanthos, St. Nicholas cove and Dead Sea
After breakfast, a short drive will bring us to the ruins of the ancient Lycian capital, Xanthos, which was known in antiquity as the “City of Disaster”. Xanthos had a tragic history – rather than let themselves be overrun by the Persians, the inhabitants committed mass suicide in 540 BCE. We’ll walk through the ruins noting the different styles of stonework: Lycian, Greek, Roman and Byzantine Periods. We’ll visit the theatre; its walls were built to separate the theatre from the wild animals on one side and the Harpy, a family tomb situated on a monolith rock on the other side. We shall thoroughly explore the ruins of this site of antiquity. Mid – morning drive to St. Nicholas cove and catch a short boat ride to Pirate’s cove and start to our hike through the pine trees and Ottoman water cisterns (1 hour.). Arrival to Ghost town. After a rest explore the area with churches and left over Christian houses which are painted into Blue – Inspiration of sea; and red – inspiration of wine. This is one of the villages where a friendly population exchange has happened between Greece and Turkey in 1923 -1924. After a great Village lunch, we will start our long walk to dead sea by the Lycian Trail. (Gain elevation, 1500 feet) (2.5 – 3 hrs.). Later we will drive (45 min.) to coastal village Gocek to spend the night. Overnight in Gocek.

Day 6 – Lydia semi nomadic settlements
We will take a cruise to seagull cove (45 min.), then we will start our long walk through the forested trails (3 hrs.) and explore the semi – settled nomadic people on our way. We will also walk around late Roman settlements called “Lydia”. After this segment of the trip, we will cruise back to our village (45-60 min.) – a possible swim on the way back to our hotel. Overnight in Gocek.

Day 7 – Fly to Istanbul
After breakfast, drive to Dalaman Airport and fly to Istanbul to catch your home bound flight.