Lycian Way: Letoon, and Xanthos
Days 1 and 2 on the Lycian Way
We rode a comfortable, air conditioned van from the bustling city of Antalya, westward over the mountains. Through the windows, a mostly dry, dusty landscape dotted with short, hearty evergreens and the occasional white minaret visible in the distance. The radio played Turkish pop tunes at a pleasant volume for its half-dozen passengers.
Roughly four hours later, veering off paved highway and city streets onto a bumpy, pothole riddled road, the van pulled into a tiny station with a sleeping attendant. The driver announced that we had arrived in Kınık. As the van lumbered off and the dust settled, we sat down at a nearby picnic table to find lodging for the night. We called a few places but the language barrier was insurmountable. A Syrian man sitting nearby overheard our obvious communication issues and offered to help translate for us. He was a huge help and within a few minutes, we had several options to consider. As C rode off on the back of a scooter to check out a pension house, I chatted with the Syrian man about his work and family. It turns out that his friend works for the Korean car company KIA in Syria and travels frequently to KIA’s headquarters in South Korea. Small world - we always enjoy meeting people with a connection to my husband’s home country.
A driver from the local hotel we selected came by car to pick us up at the station. The hotel was immaculate, with shiny floors, spotless windows, and a courteous concierge almost comically eager to assist with our check-in. With the exception of one other couple, we seemed to be the only guests. We got settled into our room and then headed out to explore the area, choosing to follow the Lycian Way markings to Letoon, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, just a few miles down the road.
Letoon: Lycian Religious and Cultural Center
The road was deserted in late afternoon, with just an occasional passing scooter. We stopped at a roadside stand for tea, pressed pomegranate juice, and a freshly prepared gözleme, which is like a folded crepe with either a sweet or savory filling. As we waited for the gözleme, we snacked on black olives picked and cured on-site by the family running the snack stand. The shockingly sweet and flavorful pomegranate juice was like a much needed adrenaline shot! Refreshed and rehydrated, we headed over to Letoon with just a few hours left before site closing.
Ruins of an ancient Lycian theater in Letoon, Turkey
We zigzagged through the empty queue lane to a manned ticket counter, handed over €3 euro each, and entered Letoon, Lycia’s religious and cultural center. In the amphitheater, we sat in the “elite seats” (those with carved seat backs) and imagined a full audience of ancient spectators awaiting the opening act of a theatrical play, Hellenistic political debate, or — in later times — a thrilling Roman gladiator event. The curved arches of the grand entry, the “backstage” holding areas, statuary nooks, and even centuries-old graffiti - ancient, yet as familiar as any modern theater. The more things change, still they stay the same… that universal human desire to momentarily escape the monotony of everyday life by attending a soul-moving performance, a comedic satire, an engaging philosophical debate, or an exciting contest of strength and skill. Timeless.
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Also universal throughout time are places of worship. In Letoon, the remnants of temples to Leto, Apollo, and Artemis recount the following legend: Greek goddess Leto, after giving birth to Zeus’s children, Artemis and Apollo, was fleeing the wrath of Zeus’s wife, Hera. Seeking refuge on the Lycian coast, she arrived at a spring and attempted to wash her children, but the local people denied her a drink from the pond… so Leto turned them all into frogs! Thus, her sanctuary was built around this spring to honor the resilient mother; the spring feeds a pool that still fills with water after rain, but it was dry when we visited. In addition to Leto’s sanctuary, there were also temples to Artemis and Apollo. A 3-D model display was helpful in imagining how the temple complex may have looked in its full glory.
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A trilingual inscription written in Lycian, Greek and Aramaic, dating back to 337 BC, was also found in Letoon, helping to serve as a Rosetta Stone to decipher the Lycian language. It’s now stored and studied at the Fethiye Museum, so we didn’t get to see it here in Letoon. We spent about 2 hours at the complex and then walked back to the hotel, enjoying the orange glow of the setting sun.
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Xanthos: the Lycian Capital
After a nice breakfast at the hotel, we checked out and walked along the Lycian Way to Xanthos, another UNESCO World Heritage Site. With our backpacks, walking along a shadeless road in the heat, charged at by barking guard dogs multiple times (not the sweet cuties in the photos below), and the constant passing of trucks and motorcycles, the nearly two hour walk to Xanthos was not pleasant. By the time we climbed the hill to Xanthos, any lingering thought of hiking the full Lycian Way trail was gone.
Xanthos was the capital city of Lycia. This city on the hill would have been the crown jewel of Lycia back in the day, with a spectacular acropolis, places of worship, and a huge amphitheater. The ruins stand as a testament to an important city shaped by waves of empire, religion, and destruction. Over centuries, Xanthos transitioned from an independent Lycian city to a Romanized metropolis and later a Christian Byzantine outpost. Each era left its architectural imprint still visible, but in ruins today — massive Lycian sarcophagi, Greek and Roman temples, grand civic buildings, and later, early Christian churches.
Xanthos, Turkey, UNESCO World Heritage Site
The Greek and Roman temples were largely abandoned and dismantled during the Christianization of the Roman Empire and Byzantine eras. Some were destroyed by earthquakes, others were stripped of valuable materials, and a few may have been deliberately defaced during anti-pagan religious reforms.
The Christian churches, built atop and alongside earlier ruins, fared no better in the long term. By the 7th century, Arab raids, natural disasters, and the gradual decline of the city’s population led to their abandonment and decay.
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Today, the plundered funerary monuments, crumbling temples, broken columns, and collapsed churches remind us of the fleeting nature of power and grandeur - the layered collapse of multiple once-mighty civilizations over time. Haunting.
After a few hours spent whizzing through 4,000 years of history, we retrieved our backpacks and walked back down the dirt road, returning to the bus station in Kınık. Our “plan B” for the Lycian Way was in full-swing as we climbed aboard the local shuttle to Gelemiş, just a few kilometers further south…
