The village of Kayakoy fell victim to the 1923 imposed resettlement of ethnic Turks from Greece, swapped with ethnic Greeks living in Turkey returned to Greece. The resettled Greek-speaking ethnic Turks found that the land they were given was poorer than they had been used to and soon moved out, leaving the village abandoned. In recent years it has become something of a tourist attraction, with bus services bringing tourists to the tea shop and pensions on the fringes.
The village is ruined because all the useful material has been removed over the years. It depends on your point of view whether you consider this vandalism or recycling. The remains include two churches (which had indeed been vandalised in parts as well as “recycled”) and schools, as well as many streets of houses – not much in the way of roads though; everything would have been carried by hand up the steep narrow paths from the bottom of the hill.
The day’s walk ended with swimming and sunbathing at at Olu Deniz lagoon. Paragliders dotted the sky and I had Turkish ice cream, but I did not think much of the lagoon as a swimming location. Then it is just a short trip by dolmus up to the hotel above Olu Deniz. I was gald to be well outside this substantial tourist resort. It must be unbearabale in summer especially when the temperatures can be well over 40 degrees (or so I was told). Yuk, not my scene, much too hot for any form of exercise other than swimming. And eating ice cream of course.
Series - Lycian Way
- The Lycian Way: day 1
- The Lycian Way: episode 2
- Lycian Way: day 3 or day 1?
- Lycia Day 4: wildlife and tombs
- Lycia – modern history intrudes
- A Lycian Canyon