April 19 – Phaselis and Myra

Another half day drive to our next hotel.  The drive follows the Mediterranean coastline on our left and the Taurus mountains on our right. 

First stop is the ancient city of Phaselis.  This is a Greek city founded around the 7^th century BC.  The ruins are buried among the trees.  Sort of a first for us and it made for an interesting visit. 

The city had three harbors, making it an important trading port in antiquity.

This is the large harbor.

There were remains of the aqueduct

the long, central street,

and many buildings.

The theater was fairly small and a bit overgrown.

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More Phaselis
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We had hot chocolate break at a very large, very deserted roadside restaurant.  Their tourism hasn’t recovered yet but this owner also owned a farm so he was able to keep the restaurant.

There were great views of the valley below, filled with greenhouses.

The drive went through some inland areas...

Tomato Art in the Round About

and along the coastline so there was much to see.  The Mediterranean Sea was lovely...

and we drove by this small harbor. 

Our mid-afternoon stop was in the ancient city of Myra where we had lunch and then walked over to the Church of St. Nicholas (the original Santa Claus…yes, he was from Turkey).  No photos inside.  There is a lot of restoration work going on.

The main remaining ruins in Myra are the theater (Roman)

and the Lycian period (168 BC – 43 AD) rock tombs. 

More photos of Myra.

As we drove along the coast we could see various islands very close.  Turns out they are Greek islands.  Very close indeed.

We had a stop to see the Kaputaş Beach

and the very narrow canyon that coming off the beach.

We drove by the town of Kas with its pretty harbor.

We are staying just outside the main part of the town of Kas with our hotel (Patara Prince). It’s a lovely property that climbs the hillside and gives us great views of the bay.