Moving day, and the ancient city of Kyaneai

Tuesday was a travel day, so the blog post was a little late. If you missed it, you can read it here...

https://www.travelwithkevinandruth.com/2020/12/more-beautiful-turkish-scenery.html

We were only going from Kaş to Finike, a distance of about 75 kms (47 miles). Slow going on some curvy roads though, so we figured maybe an hour and a half drive.

But we had to be out of our apartment before 11:00am, and couldn't get into our new one until after 2:00pm, so I looked for something to keep us busy along the way.

Doing some research, I came across the ancient city of Kyaneai. Some of the reviews weren't great, but some people gave it 1 star because they couldn't find it, or because the roads to get there weren't great. But those who actually found it thought it was a 5 star experience. Others mentioned that you would be the only ones there and it really gave you a chance to play Indiana Jones!

Sounds like our kind of place.

We woke up to a rainbow!

And it turned out to be an overall nice day. We set off at about 10:45am.

Snow in the mountains up ahead.

We came to the turnoff and the sign said that Kyaneai was another 4 kms (2.5 miles). But there were no more signs, and several turn offs. Even the various mapping systems weren't much help. For future travelers, the actual location is 36.245555, 29.815409 but it's really not easy to drive to although a 4 wheel drive could make it no problem. In actual fact, a two wheel drive probably could as well, but it's a little rough going.

We chose to park when the road started getting rough, and walk the extra 1.5 kms.

Hiking up to Kyaneai.

Kyaneai is a natural, unexcavated ruins site. There are no signs, no barricades, no services. And the reviews were correct, we were the only ones there for the entire two hours. You need to exercise caution though, because you really are on your own. There are deep wells that are not roped off, and crumbling walls and ceilings that could fall at any time. 

The theater.

Apparently there are over two hundred of these sarcophagi.

The wall supporting the theater.

Of course there is nothing left inside any of the tombs. They were broken in to hundreds of years ago. In fact, they maybe been been broken into ten years after they were built! At a different site, we had read that some of the tombs that had writing on them said that if you broke into the tomb you would be cursed with years of bad luck. So they knew even when they built them that they would probably get broken into.

Eventually, we made our way to the rock face where tombs had been cut into the cliffside. I tell you, those people who lived here back 2,000 or more years ago were experts in cutting and carving rock and stone. Some of the stuff we saw at this site we haven't seen anywhere else. Huge underground caves (we are assuming they were cisterns) that were cut out of the rock. 

There's an odd hole.

I reached in with my camera and put the flash on.

The stuff I've shown you so far was fairly easy to access. But there is a lot of the interesting stuff that is at the top of the hill and covered by sharp thorny vegetation. I didn't let the fact that I was wearing shorts stop me, but jeans would have been better! The scratches and marks on our legs will heal in a few days!

Goats!

I climbed up to that tomb, and took a video for you. 

Unfortunately, we do not have WiFi at our new apartment and are using cellular.

Looking back at the theater.

I wonder what is under here?

Indiana Ruth.

We finally made it to the top, but it was pretty rough going.

Me!

There is all kinds of this sort of thing.

We both enjoy imagining what this would have looked like 2,000 years ago.

Look at how accurately the roof is made!

And the walls of huge stone blocks.

Back at the theater.

Ruth, waiting for the show to begin.

Can you see Ruth?

He clothes make her blend in.

We hiked back down to the car and hit the road again.

Looking up at where we had been.

The rest of the drive mostly followed the coast.

We arrived at our apartment in Finike at about 3pm. That's enough photos for today, so we will show you our apartment in tomorrow's blog post.

Yesterday's drive about 78 kms (48.4 miles).

We hiked 5.5 kms (3.4 miles) yesterday.

We have now walked 349.2 kms (216.5 miles) since we arrived in Turkey October 13th.

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