Olympos
Atmospheric shoreside ruins
Visitors to sub-tropical and luxuriant Olympos, with its deep-shaded tangle of vines, figs and laurels, may be forgiven for expecting Mayan pyramids and winged serpents or even Great Zimbabwe. Certainly it is the river-mouth setting which contributes most to this Lycian city, by no means the most prominent of the many settlements bearing this illustrious name. It is best reached from along the beach at adjacent Çıralı; head west to round the headland, wade the river where it backs up in the summer behind a sandbank and walk up past the ancient harbour where the ticket office is located. Recently raised signs lead into the forest where streams run through the spring, following 19th-century channels cut when a mill was built on the site; there are some magnificent sarcophagae, not least the one at the beach entrance with its beautiful image of a boat, the mosaic floors of vanished villas and a spectacular overgrown theatre. Recent work has been concentrated on the extensive Bishop’s Palace, incorporating the massive portal of the Roman temple.
Olympos is unlike many Turkish sites – in that it does not excite the excavating impulse. Rather than wish to know more of the city’s secret archaeology, the visitor exults that an encroaching nature – the lush vegetation, the turtles and the abundant bird life – has made this place so special.
Use the right-hand corner zoom: + to reveal concealed pins and – (minus) for outlying ones