Remote and dramatic, the broken limestone spur of Ta?l?k Burnu, ancient Cape Chelidonia, points like a warning finger out to sea. Just beyond the tip of the headland, a serrated line of pale, rocky islands rise sharp and sheer from the deep blue waters of the Mediterranean, the Be? Adalar or Five Islands.
Standing in the shadow of the lighthouse crowning the cape and looking out over a coruscating turquoise sea, it’s easy to conjure up images of ancient sailing ships rounding the point — and difficult to imagine a more atmospheric place to start a weekend hike along one of the finest sections of the Lycian Way.
The coast you’re about to walk along is sublimely beautiful, but for seafarers, it is perilous. Some 3,200 years ago, a Phoenician merchant ship, probably en route from the Levant to the Aegean, ripped open its wooden hull on a submerged pinnacle off the largest of the islands, plunging to its doom. It’s unlikely there were any survivors — few people in the ancient world, even sailors, could swim. But in 1954, a Turkish sponge diver, Kemal Aras, discovered the ship’s cargo lying on the seabed some 30 meters down. Aras may have been disappointed that there was no gold aboard the Phoenician vessel, but the marine archaeologists who “excavated” the cargo in 1960 were delighted with the finds they brought to the surface — ingots of tin and copper, bronze and stone tools, pottery storage jars, oil lamps and cylinder seals — now exhibited in Bodrum.
Though the cape and its offshore islands have presented a tricky proposition for shipping for over three millennia, a lighthouse didn’t appear until 1936. Built by the French company Berbier, Bernard & Turenne, the white tower of the lighthouse rises like a squat minaret from the scrub and pine forest carpeting the peninsula. It still functions today, its rotating light powered, rather quaintly, by clockwork and gas. Cape Chelidonia’s lighthouse has become something of a symbol of the Lycian Way, Turkey’s first marked long distance walking trail and the key to opening up hundreds of kilometers of previously little-walked, unspoiled coastal scenery between Fethiye and Antalya. Its retro-romantic appeal also caught the eye of the publicity gurus at Turkcell, who used it in an advertising campaign aimed at young and restless cell phone users.
There can be few more beautiful day walks (allow six to seven hours) than that between Cape Chelidonia and Adrasan to the north, where there’s plentiful accommodation for hikers. From the lighthouse, the trail winds up bluffs, skirts ridges and twists steeply down valleys as it negotiates the eastern flank of the cape, which forms the western boundary of the Gulf of Antalya. Ever present to the right is the sea, turquoise or aquamarine according to depth, almost white in areas where freshwater springs feed in. Sunlight diffuses through a canopy of pine trees, pine needles crunch underfoot, the air is resinous, waves thump gently on rocks, the odd gull cries plaintively out to sea and jays chatter noisily in the undergrowth. The path is well marked by red and white flashes painted on handy rocks and, more rarely, trees, making route finding fairly straightforward. Despite its scenic splendor, this section of the Lycian Way is remarkably unspoiled, and you’re unlikely to run into many other hikers.
Adrasan fronts a mixed sand and shingle beach sweeping around a deep blue bay, backed by the splendid, forested hump of Musa Da??, Mt. Moses, rising nearly 1,000 meters above sea level. There are a number of pensions and simple hotels strung out behind the beach, beyond it, to the north, several more line the banks of a crystal clear stream wending its way down from the mountains. There’s little to do in Adrassan but swim (if it’s warm enough) and enjoy a drink with your evening meal, but after a hard but rewarding day’s walking on the trail, it’s unlikely you’ll mind. Most pension owners are well used to walkers and will be able to prepare a picnic lunch for the next day — although there are a couple of basic stores in the village.
The next day begins relatively easily, with the trail picking its way across streams, through orchards and around greenhouses before beginning to rise steeply up onto the flanks of Mt. Moses. Emerging from the pine forest near the top of the mountain are a couple of open grassy areas, yaylas (summer pastures), still used by local villagers. They are at their best in early spring, when they are liberally strewn with wildflowers. Above the second yayla are the scattered remnants of ancient Phoinikous, dating back to the fifth century B.C. Tumbled, unexcavated, unlabelled and seldom visited except by the shepherds and their flocks, this romantic spot is littered with the lower courses of bath houses, shops, temples and defensive walls. As the path winds its way down from the ruins, look out for the sandy sweep of your goal, westward and way below, the beach at Olympos. Behind it, the spectacular Mt. Olympos (Tahtal? Da?? in Turkish) provides a perfect backdrop, thrusting its 2,366 meter pyramidal peak defiantly up into the blue sky.
Make the most of the views as the trail soon disappears beneath a canopy of thick vegetation — a real boon on hot days. Densely packed tress and shrubs fight for space and light in what seems more like a sub-tropical jungle than a Mediterranean scrub forest, but there’s no need for Indiana Jones style machete wielding as the trail is kept well-cleared. The most beautiful of the shrubs is the strawberry tree, with its distinctive red branches and peeling bark, the most irritating the prickly-leaved scrub or holly oak.
After a steep, twisting descent, the path eventually emerges just above the ruins of Olympos, largely hidden beneath vegetation lining the course of the Göksu (Skywater) River. Olympos was one of the major cities in ancient Lycia, the last safe harbor before westward-bound merchant ships attempted the hazardous journey around Cape Chelidonia. Perhaps emboldened by the isolated and inaccessible position of their city, the Olympians were an independently minded bunch, giving up their membership in the Lycian League to side with the pirates that flourished on the southern Mediterranean coast in the second and first centuries B.C. The Romans eventually subdued the pirates, and Olympos was absorbed into their empire, and the remains of the rock-cut tombs, free-standing sarcophagi, bathhouses, theater, temples and houses that have survived date from this period. There are far more extensive and better-preserved Roman remains in Turkey, but none quite so atmospherically concealed amidst luxuriant undergrowth as those at Olympos.
From the site of Olympos, the track cuts down the valley to join the beach where the Göksu empties into the bay. Perched on the cliff to the left of the trail are the walls of a Genoese fortress, to the right the waves lap gently against the curve of what is one of Turkey’s most unspoiled beaches, the breeding ground of the Carreta carreta turtle. In the winter and spring, you have to cross a stream (there are stepping stones) before entering the charming, laid-back settlement of Ç?ral?, a scattering of low-rise pensions, restaurants and shops spread out amongst the citrus groves and pines between the mountains and the beach. After a five to six-hour walk (and that’s not allowing time to explore either Phoinikos or Olympos), it’s time for a muscle-relaxing swim and a well-earned beer.
TRAVEL TIPS
How to get there:
The nearest airport is Antalya. Take a bus to Kumluca, dolmu? to Karaöz, then taxi to (within a 20-minute walk of) the lighthouse. Or head to Olympos (1.5 hrs from Antalya) and arrange for either your pension owner or a taxi driver to take you to the lighthouse.
Where to stay
Adrasan: Hotel Aybars
Tel 0 (…; www.aybarshotel.com
Ç?ral?: Cemil’s Pension
Tel 0 (242) 825 7063;
www.cemilpension.com
Site admissions
Olympos TL 3
Guides and Web sites
Guides: The Lycian Way by Kate Clow describes the route in detail, includes a map and has much information on the ancient sites and the flora and fauna.
Web sites: www.trekkinginturkey.com has up to date info on the trail and online sales of the Lycian Way guide
www.middleearthtravel.com is a reputable trekking agency that leads guided walks on the trail
10 February 2009, Tuesday
TERRY RICHARDSON ANTALYA