Day trip from Kalkan to Kekova Island
November 27, 2009 by APS
Filed under Tourist Attractions
What to expect: Boat ride, swimming, Lycian and Crusader ruins, a couple of pretty villages to browse around, cafes and restaurants on the water’s edge…
Ucagiz (Three mouths), the village where you hire a boat for Kekova Island
Find time if you possibly can for a day trip to Kekova, an enchanting stretch of coast the other side of Kas. Kekova, means ‘field of thyme’ in Turkish, and refers to an area comprising an island lying adjacent to the coast where a sunken city lies, a beautiful enclosed sort of lagoon at the far end of which yachts and gulets anchor, and a couple of picturesque villages for wandering around, one of which is approachable by boat and is crowned by a castle. Kekova is also the site of ancient Lycian towns, whose funerary monuments and ruins are there for exploring should you so wish. As an alternative to driving the whole way, you can hire a boat for the day in Kas. This means, however, that more time is spent getting there, though you will be able to take in more stops on the way.
Ucagiz: (ooch-ah-ez) The starting point for a boat tour of the Kekova region is the small hamlet of Ucagiz, which means ‘three mouths’ in Turkish and refers to the three gaps leading to the open sea.
Village shop, Ucagiz
Ucagiz is a pleasantly ramshackle, sleepy place with wooden balconies draped in bougainvillea, a few carpet and trinket shops and a number of waterside cafes and seafood restaurants. It is also the site of the Lycian town of Teimiussa, whose necropolis lies immediately to the east of the village. The tombs here date mostly from the early Roman era, though there are a few with Lycian inscriptions which indicate settlement at least as early as the 4th century BC. Further on there is evidence of a long dock carved out of the rock.
Boat trip:The boats for hire at the quayside vary in size from an open fishing boat with an outboard motor to a medium sized gulet. A two hour trip will allow time for a cruise alongside Kekova Island where the submerged ruins lie, plus a couple of swimming stops along the way and a brief visit to Kalekoy, the village with the castle on top. Allow more time than this if you want to look around the castle. Though the island remained inhabited into the Byzantine era, Dolichiste suffered from the devastating earthquakes of the first and second centuries (141 A.D. – 240 A.D.), as a result of which much of it is now submerged.
Submerged ruins, Kekova Island
Simena – Kalekoy (castle village): After having cruised along the ruins of Dolichisiti, you will most likely head back across the water towards the picturesque hillside village of Kalekoy, the ancientSimena. The castle was built by the Knights of Rhodes earlier known as the Hospitallers of St.John, an organisation that apparently exists to this day.
The Hospitallers of St John
The history of the Hospitallers is so extraordinary, it’s worth a short aside. Their origins go back to 11th century Jerusalem where they provided hospital care for Crusading soldiers and pilgrims. As monks in armour, they practised a uniquely militant form of medical philanthropy and soon became the most formidable military order in the ‘Holy Land’.
On being ousted from the said Holy Land at the fall of Acre in 1291, they moved first to Cypress and then, in 1309, to Rhodes, which they ruled as an independent state even issuing their own coinage. They remained in power in Rhodes for a couple of hundred years, during which time they built castles along the coast of Asia Minor (including, presumably, the one here in Kalekoy) and generally behaved in a belligerent, not to say piratical fashion, against their Muslim rivals, all the while maintaining their alter-ego role as a medical charity.
Some few hundred years later they were pushed out of Rhodes by Suleiman the Magnificent, and so moved on to Malta, which they proceeded to rule instead, and where, as was their wont, they built massive defences as well as a famous hospital.
By now they were known as the Knights of Malta, and over the years grew less belligerent and devoted their time to medical care and administration. Having ruled Malta as a territorial sovereign state since 1530, they finally lost power in 1798 to the superior forces of Napoleon.
Kalekoy (Castle Village) the ancient Simena:
Kalekoy, Lycian Simena
Worth a climb to the top, if only for the view. The last time I was there, entrance to the castle cost 7 lira. The castle walls were built on a much older Lycian site that includes a small, seven tiered theatre. As with all Lycian settlements, Simena has a substantial necropolis with tombs lying to the west and north of the castle.
Directions to Ucagiz – Kekova from Kalkan: Head out on the road to Kas (pronounced ‘Cash’). The Kalkan-Kas route is spectacular. Cut out of the mountain side, the road overlooks the sea the whole way and across to the Greek island of Rho, the small neighbour of Kastellorizo or Meis. For a guaranteed picture postcard photograph, take a quick look down on Kaputas Beach just outside Kalkan. (This is not called the Turquoise Coast for nothing, as you will see.) No need to enter Kas. Just bear left on the highway to Finike (D 400) when you approach the town. Some 15 km along this road you will see a road to the right that is signposted for Ucagiz / Kekova. It is 19 kilometres from this point to Ucagiz and the sea. As indicated on the map, the road passes through the village of Kilichli.
To get to the Kekova area, head for the village of Ucagiz as shown on the map below:
How to get to Kekova from Kalkan
View Villa Lukka to Kekova in a larger map
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