Kas: Sunken Cities, Sarcophagi…And Santa

Well, the first news is, we’re not going home. Our tour of south west Turkey is giving us so much enjoyment that the thought of leaving this glorious place, and weather, and returning to quarantine and maybe lockdown as the short days of the English winter descend, has lost its appeal. If it ever had any. 

So we’ve changed our flights and will now be in Turkey for another seven weeks, not returning to the UK until 1st December. We know the weather here will cool down – summer is over, after all – and there may be COVID related changes here too, but we’ve decided it’s worth the risks and we will now spend more time exploring this beautiful country.

Kas is an extremely quaint little town, climbing the steep hills away from the harbour, the stacked buildings of the town curved perfectly around the bay. A former fishing village, the town opened up to tourism after the coast road was completed, and is now a tastefully updated town with a cluster of bars and restaurants at the waterfront. Behind these is a network of steeply inclined narrow cobbled streets where attractive low rise buildings face each other through wooden balconies. So tasteful is some of the development that it’s not always easy to tell the old buildings from the new.

The surrounding area is absolutely steeped in history. A minibus ride out of Kas takes us to the seaside village of Ucagiz from where we take a boat out to some amazing sights. We are in Lycia territory here, the major Lycian Way hiking trail runs for over 500 kilometres along the coastal mountain ridge, linking the sites of major cities of the Lycian era.

Ucagiz is truly remarkable. A tiny village at the end of a dead end road down to the sea, it sits opposite the UNESCO protected island of Kekova; both the village and the island were once part of  the Lycian city of Simena, a hugely important port in its time. In a recurring historical theme of this trip, Simena was destroyed by a giant sized 2nd century earthquake, the effect of which was to allow the Mediterranean to surge in and submerge the city.

To view it now is stunning. Remains of harbours, churches and city dwellings are visible both on the shoreline and beneath the clear waters; the layouts of large buildings now completely underwater are clearly visible from the boat, and even more clear from the cliffs above. It really is amazing to see.

A short distance along the coast is Kalekoy, another remnant of Simena and the site of the remains of Simena’s castle – in fact, Kalekoy translates literally as “Castle Village”. This village is famed for being inaccessible by road – it can only be reached by hiking or from the sea. Its castle remains are well preserved and well worth the climb, for the views alone, but Kalekoy itself seems to be a victim of its own success and is a little cluster of souvenir shops and basic cafes catering entirely for the day trippers arriving in a constant stream of boats. A bit like we have.

It’s the turn of the hire car for our next sortie the following day, to the town of Demre some 25 miles away. Demre is a peculiarly unattractive concrete town on a US-style grid, but is notable for three claims to fame: one, it’s on the site of the ancient port of Myra, the point of importation of goods from Arabia making their way to Rome, in the process making Myra a hugely prosperous city, as well as being a historical stopping point for those making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. 

Secondly, this is massive tomato farming country, and Demre is nicknamed the “Tomato capital of Turkey”, surrounded by mile upon mile of greenhouse fields, though the greenhouse covers are plastic rather than glass.

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Demre’s third claim is possibly its richest: remarkably, it is the town which gave rise to the entire concept of Santa Claus as we know it. No really. St Nicholas lived here: in fact it turns out he was for centuries known as St Nicholas of Myra, and it was here that he earned his reputation for kindness, delivering presents to poor children and gifting dowries of golden coins to peasant brides. If he couldn’t enter the house, he would drop these gifts – you’ve guessed it – down the chimney. And so the legend was born!

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The bones of St Nicholas were stolen from Demre (Myra) in 1087, and taken to Bari in Italy where, by complete coincidence, we saw his “other” tomb only last year on our trip to Puglia. Turkey wants them back, by the way.

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The impressive remains of the St Nicholas basilica in Demre are well worth a visit, and are apparently a popular travel destination for Russian visitors. As a consequence, information signs are in Russian first, then Turkish and English.

From Demre we revisit Ucagiz, the point where we caught the previous day’s boat. We had liked the look of it as we passed through, and it doesn’t disappoint, with beautiful views, a remarkable number of sizeable sarcophagi dotting its cliffsides, and a clutch of fishing boats delivering to the pontoon restaurants. We clamber amongst and around the ancient remains, try to decipher the centuries old inscriptions carved into the tombs, then, inevitably, enjoy a terrific lunch of fresh fish grilled over a wood fire. The ramshackle homes of this little seafront village, surrounded by these ancient tombs and steeped in such fascinating history, make Ucagiz a charming place.

Our apartment at Kas is just above the main town, with gorgeous views across Kas and out to sea. By day, and from early morning, the muezzins’ call to prayer echoes hauntingly up from the three mosques in town; by evening, this is replaced by the brash sounds of live bands somewhere in the bars. Not quite so haunting, not quite so welcome, but redeemed by what is obviously a local restriction, because at precisely midnight every night, the music stops dead as if unplugged, and Kas once again falls silent.

Up until now, we had just one more destination before we returned to the UK. Now, the search for extra adventures begins…