April 21 – Patara Ruins and Kalkan

More ruins today.  We are visiting Patara, another ancient port city (originally known as Xanthos).  It was a major center for Apollo and was a major harbor during the Byzantine Period.  This site has had a fair amount of restoration done so some of the buildings are “finish” enough that you have a good sense of what they looked like originally.

The Bouleuterion or Assembly Hall (for the “town council” or council of citizens) was in particularly good shape.

We hiked up a hill that had pretty good views of what used to be the harbor, now silted in and a wetland.  Many of the cities we have visited were abandoned when the harbors, that were their main source of trading revenue, silted in by the rivers and they could no longer trade.

There was also very good theater,

the city gate

with a nearby octagonal fountain,

and tombs,

the stoa

and plenty of other ruins. 

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More Patara
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We also visited the nearby Patara Beach.  It is Anatolia’s longest beach at 12 miles and is also a turtle nesting beach.  Because of the turtles there is a long line of posts along the beach.  No beach umbrellas and such are allowed between the posts and waterline to protect the turtles.

We enjoyed sodas at the snack bar on the beach.

We stopped in Kalkan (down the hill from our hotel) for a little walk around the very small waterfront area. 

We found a very good restaurant overlooking the harbor.

Then it was back to the hotel for the afternoon.  Paul wandered down the hotel property to the waterfront where they had a great pool and views of the bay.