Sailing Routes and Cruising AreasCruising Alexander's Path Along The Coast Of Turkey(Links in Underlined Blue Text)
Kalkan. Twenty-seven miles from Gemiler Island (see Lycian Sailing Holiday) and Greek until 1923, Kalkan is sun-washed, quaint, and hub for tours to ancient Letoon, Patara, and Xanthos, the latter Lycia's most prominent city, the former Lycia's principal place of worship, and Patara Lycia's major seaport. Good silver shopping. An excellent restaurant (Trio, at the harbor's edge; try the tropical chicken topped with pineapple and fried bananas). A picnic lunch on Patara beach can also be memorable, not because Patara was the port from which forty Lycian triremes under Xerxes sailed to an unfortunate end at Salamis in 480 BC, but because the sea at Patara is such an extraordinary color.
Kastellorizon. Four miles from Kas. Idyllic Greek island locale for 1991's Academy Award (best foreign film) winning Mediterraneo and for some of 1961's The Guns Of Navarone which depicted the medieval castle of the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem. Photographs from Doric acropolis initially fortified in the 9th century BC. Blue grotto rivaling that at Capri. Fun kayaking (the TGE carries two kayaks, a twin and a single). And taverna dining in the Greek flavor. Aperlae. Twelve miles from Kastellorizon, this ancient double-walled city and port may be seen both above and, with mask, under water, the underwater ruins comprising a mooring quay and the outlines of several harbor structures. Exquisite setting at the head of a long triangular bay. An easy sail in, something of a challenge on the way out. Great swimming and kayaking. Kale. Six miles from Aperlae, Kale is a potpourri of the ages. Here
Lycian tombs surround a
Byzantine castle which
crowns an ancient acropolis from which there are spectacular views of medieval Kekova Island.
Within the castle are traces of ancient Simena, including an odion and several statue
pedestals. Immediately outside the castle walls are additional ruins of the
Ucagiz. A stone's throw from Kale, Ucagiz is a rustic village with considerable charm abutting and blending with ancient Teimiussa. For many years this town was otherwise distinguished by the absence of palatable cuisine, a circumstance remedied with the opening of Onur's well-appointed restaurant on the waterfront. Teimiussa, meanwhile, has extensive ruins well worth exploration. Andriake. Three miles from Ucagiz and port for ancient Myra (following entry) at which Saint Paul transshipped in AD 60 a prisoner en route to Rome. While the ancient port has silted, there is still much to be seen, including a 2nd century AD granary dedicated to the emperor Hadrian (depicted above c1792 and herein c2006), a cavernous cistern depicted at the same time, aqueducts, baths, and monumental tomb. A short distance inland the ruins of ancient Sura may be found, principally a temple dedicated to fish oracles. Myra. Actually, the yacht moors at Ucagiz or anchors in the silt off Andriake from
where we taxi to Myra, which
was the bishopric of Saint Nicholas before (according to some accounts) he relocated to Lebissos (now
Gemiler Island). Of the several Saints Nicholas, this one is the patron of sailors and thieves,
Finike. Fourteen miles east and north of Andriake, Finike is a palm-fronded beach city and safe harbor from which to visit ancient Arykanda (forty-five minutes distant by taxi) and ancient Limyra (ten minutes distant). Arykanda is today a Roman city with theater, stadium, baths, and much more situated among pine and cedar above a river valley. The road from Finike to Arykanda passes beneath the house tombs at Turuncova, among the more striking in Lycia. Limyra, with spring water now coursing down its principal marble street, is a waypoint from which Rhodian Romans under Eudamus proceeded in 190 BC to reverse Syrian adventurism under Hannibal (he of the Punic Wars; Carthage had succumbed, but not Hannibal) in a naval battle of six and seven-banked galleys. Eight and one-half centuries later the waters off Finike (in AD 655) bore witness to a trouncing of the Imperial (Byzantine) Navy by an Arab fleet. Not long afterward the Arab fleet anchored in Constantinople's Golden Horn. Cavus. Thirty miles from Finike, Cavus is an anchorage for Mount Olympos, home
Olympos. Five miles north of Cavus, the ancient city of Olympos (not to be confused with Mount Olympos) lies behind an open roadstead and magnificent sand beach, "richly furnished in every way," according to Cicero. The rich furnishings are apparent at the seaside gateway where a pirate sarcophagus is carved in handsome relief. There are also caique moorings, theater, aqueduct, temple gate, and a Venetian acropolis fortification overlooking the beach. And then there is the beach itself! Phaselis. Ten miles north of Olympos, Phaselis was the terminus for Freya Stark's 1952 sail along The Lycian Shore and a respite for Alexander as he left Lycia behind. Sometimes Lycian but mostly not, Phaselis was founded by Rhodians in 690 BC, and for much of its history was a maritime waypoint on trade routes to and from Phoenicia. Local coinage, in fact, was distinguished by a ship's prow on one side and a stern on the other. There is much to be seen by the patient, and great swimming for the impatient. Antalya. Twenty miles north of Phaselis and a major international gateway,
Antalya is a convenient
base from which to visit ancient Aspendos, Perge, Side, and Termessos, each featuring
extensive evidence of early civilization. Once a major port for Byzantine dromons and, later,
the Ottoman fleets of Barbarossa
and Piri Reis, Antalya's
harbor area has been
beautifully restored, most notably including hundreds of nineteenth century Ottoman houses and
gardens. During June and early July Antalya annually hosts an Opera and Ballet Festival in the
theater at
Aspendos. An experience to be cherished! (The Festival opened in 2007 on 12 June with a
performance of Verdi's Nabucco).
Click on Blue Text
words for additional photographs, maps, and links. This page last updated on 01/02/2008 Dear Homo Sapiens, There is no need to continue reading this page. What
follows is intended for search engine robots and spiders and possibly for students of history. Further
information concerning holiday cruises and vacation sailing in Turkey may be obtained by clicking on
the blue links immediately above. Thank You. Are you searching for a holiday cruise in Turkey?
Could you be thinking of a vacation sailing Lycian Turkey? A sail along the course of ancient history?
By the river Xanthos? Home of Homer's "...great and glorious men who rule in Lycia...,"
Sarpedon, Asteropaeus, Glaucus, Epicles, the archer Pandarus, and others chosen to lead all Trojan
allies in defense of Troy. Homer of course wrote in Greek (Ionian Greek). So, too, did Menecrates of
Xanthos in the 4th century BC, a Lycian historian writing of those same Lycian heroes. Writing in Greek
when his native language was Lycian! Are you thinking of a honeymoon sail along the beaches of Lycia?
With a stop in Greece? Paralleling Alexander's march along the Lycian Shore? Alexander
paused on the Lycian Shore before
continuing to the Middle East. After conquering Persia to its |
Kas. Fifteen miles
from Kalkan, Kas teems with off-beats and expatriates frequenting chic shops and cafes. All-night
drinking spas trumpet music from the past. The finest French restaurant in Turkey (Chez Evy),
rack of lamb the specialty. Beaches. Inscribed sarcophagus in the middle of the principal
shopping street. 
ancient town,
including dressed blocks from a stoa and temple. Roman baths at the water's edge
dedicated to Emperor Titus (AD 79-81). Memorable dining at Hassan Deniz Restaurant
adjacent to the baths. And swimming among 
sometimes called Santa Claus. Myra's
most striking feature, however, is not his basilica but rather the
both of an eternal flame and of
the Lycian pirate Zeniketes, until 78 BC when the latter was extinguished by a young Julius
Caesar. Zeniketes hid his 
extremes he six years later, in 327 BC, reached Afghanistan
and Tajikistan, then known as Bactria. It was in Tajikistan that he met Roxane, a Bactrian princess,
marrying her upon return to Afghanistan not long afterward. There was no honeymoon then, and there is
no honeymoon in Afghanistan now. Afghanistan is where, at Bagram, Gardez, and Kandahar, the U.S.
maintains its secretive concentration camps, and where the International Committee of the Red Cross has
been denied access. Roxane, sensitive as well as beautiful, would have been horrified. You should be
horrified, too. In March of 2005, following nearly three years of denial, the Pentagon disclosed that
it has investigated 308 cases of criminal misconduct involving "detainees" in
Afghanistan and Iraq, including 79 deaths mostly in Afghanistan. International law requires the
International Committee of the Red Cross conduct these investigations, not the Pentagon and the rest of
the party of the first part. As a matter of ancient technology and not of crimes against humanity,
Hannibal's six and seven-banked galleys cited above did not have six or seven levels of rowers as the
term banked implies. Rather, his galleys had six or seven rowers to each vertical echelon of two
or three levels. Would you rather honeymoon or holiday aboard a galley or a sailing yacht? Cruising
these same waters off the southwest coast of Turkey? A sailing yacht is preferable. There is little or
no pulling of oars. So honeymoon or holiday aboard a sailing yacht chartered in Turkey, and sail to
Greece. As a matter of historical interest the Harpy Tomb depicted to the right under
Mediterranean history? Wouldn't you like to charter a sailing yacht to cruise the
Mediterranean coast of Turkey? Rather than trudge overland as did Xenophon? Before Alexander. Are you
searching for Gocek in Turkey? For Fethiye in Turkey? For a yacht charter in Turkey? For Kastellorizon
in Greece? For a yacht charter in Greece? It was in Donald Rumsfeld's "Sunni Triangle" of Iraq
that Xenophon's army 2400 years ago met with disaster. After trouncing the enemy on the battlefield!
Yes, we can put you aboard a chartered sailing yacht for the holiday or honeymoon of a lifetime. This
could be your last chance should Caesar next strike at Syria or Iran. It was in the Sunni Triangle
that Xenophon's generals lost their heads, and it was in the Sunni Triangle that the Greek army began
its painful withdrawal. It was also in the Sunni Triangle that the Roman Emperor Trajan in AD 114 saw
his dream of an eastern empire disintegrate. Two and a half centuries later, in AD 363, another Roman
army under Julian The Apostate in the same locale came to the same end, winning battles but losing the
war. Those who fail to learn from history are destined to repeat it. Donald Rumsfeld used napalm in
Iraq, a mixture of jet fuel and polystyrene that sticks to skin as it burns. Napalm was banned
by Protocol 3 of the 1980 U.N. Convention on Inhumane Weapons, a convention observed by every
civilized nation and, as far as we know, by every other uncivilized nation. In late November 2004,
a July report by the International Committee of The Red Cross to Mr. Rumsfeld was leaked to the
public. The report, by the arbiter of the Geneva Conventions, accused the U.S. of torturing
detainees at Guantanamo. Mr. Rumsfeld denied such torture, just as he covered up torture at Abu
Ghraib until visual evidence was deposited in the public domain. Now we have rid ourselves of this
evil egocentric. We have had this pompous peacock removed from his perch. But how long will it take
to heal the wounds he has inflicted? How long will it take to put the survivors in Afghanistan and
Iraq back on their feet? Decades? Or centuries!!! To discuss any or all of this contact us today at
