A crewed gulet charter voyage
Türkiye — the Lycian Coast & Kekova Roads charter itinerary
Göcek to Kekova & Back — 8 Nights of Lycian Ruins
Eight nights out of Göcek, east to the Kekova roads and back, for a client who is here for the archaeology. The Byzantine churches of Gemiler, Xanthos and Letoon in the valley behind Kalkan, the theatre of Antiphellos at Kaş, the drowned harbour of Aperlae and the sunken city along Kekova Island, Simena under its Crusader castle, the tombs of Teimiussa, Myra and the basilica of St Nicholas at Demre, the rock tombs of Telmessos above Fethiye, and a Roman bath house to swim into on the last night. Around 150 miles over the eight nights, and only one of them a real passage — six days are two hours or less under way, which is what leaves the mornings for the sites.
The voyage at a glance
Day 1
Göcek & Gemiler Adası — St Nicholas
Day 2
Kalkan
Day 3
Xanthos & Letoon, then Kaş
Day 4
Aperlae, Kekova & the Sunken City
Day 5
Teimiussa, Myra & St Nicholas
Day 6
West to Yeşilköy Limanı
Day 7
Ölüdeniz
Day 8
Telmessos & Kleopatra Hamamı
Day 9
Göcek — disembarkation
Day 1
Göcek & Gemiler Adası — St Nicholas
Board at Göcek after lunch and clear the gulf on an easy afternoon run south — two hours, and the first site is waiting at the end of it. Gemiler is the island the Byzantines held to be the burial place of St Nicholas of Myra, and one of the most complete early Christian sites on this coast: five churches climbing the ridge, linked by a covered processional way nearly half a kilometre long, with mosaic floors and painted plaster still in place in the shade. Walk it at first light — the ridge has no shade by nine.
Ashore nearbyGöcek · Municipality of Gocek Marina · Nena Lounge Göcek · Latife Meyhane Göcek
Day 2
Kalkan
The one properly open stretch of the outward leg, south-east along a shore where the mountains fall straight into deep water and there is nothing to stop for in between. Kalkan climbs its hillside above a small harbour in whitewash and bougainvillea, and it is the doorway to the Xanthos valley — which is where the morning goes.
Ashore nearbyTaş Ocağı Koyu · Kalkan Seyir Terası · Pello Kalkan Cafe & Breakfast · BLUE TERRACE RESTAURANT COCTAIL CAFE BAR & LOUNGE.
Day 3
Xanthos & Letoon, then Kaş
The morning inland to the two UNESCO sites at the heart of Lycia. Xanthos was the capital, twice destroyed by its own people rather than surrendered, its pillar tombs and inscribed obelisk still standing; Letoon, a few kilometres on, was the federal sanctuary of the Lycian League — three temples side by side above a spring. Patara, with its harbour and the council chamber where the League met, if the day runs long. Ninety minutes under way in the afternoon brings you to Kaş, where Lycian sarcophagi stand at street corners and the theatre of Antiphellos looks west over the water.
Ashore nearbyKas photo spot · Kaş Old town · Olive Garden Kaş Kahvaltı · Etna Fish House
Day 4
Aperlae, Kekova & the Sunken City
The day the whole trip is built around, and a short one on the water — two hours of sailing carrying three sites. Aperlae first, a Lycian city whose harbour quarter slid into the sea: swim over walls, steps and doorways lying in three metres of water. Then along the north shore of Kekova Island, where the earthquake-drowned town runs for half a mile below the surface — staircases cut into the rock, house foundations, a slipway, all of it closed to swimmers and best read slowly from the deck. The night at Kaleköy, ancient Simena, under a Crusader castle with the smallest theatre in Lycia cut into the rock inside its walls, and sarcophagi standing in the shallows below the village.
Ashore nearbySimena Örenyeri · Ucagiz Kekova Castle · Gezgin Cafe Restaurant · Simena Restaurant
Day 5
Teimiussa, Myra & St Nicholas
The shortest day of the week on the water and the fullest ashore. Minutes to Üçağız, built into the tombs of Teimiussa — rock-cut chambers and sarcophagi standing among the houses and running down into the shallows. Then east to Andriake, Myra's ancient harbour, where Hadrian's granary still stands, and inland to Myra itself: a Roman theatre in fine condition under a cliff face packed with house-type rock tombs, with the basilica of St Nicholas — the historical Santa Claus, bishop here in the fourth century — a few minutes further on. A quiet night at Gökkaya afterwards.
Ashore nearbySimena Örenyeri · Ucagiz Kekova Castle · Simena Restaurant · Smugglers Inn
Day 6
West to Yeşilköy Limanı
An unhurried turn for home along the Kekova roads and out past Kaş, with the mountains of the Teke peninsula alongside the whole way. Yeşilköy is a deep, quiet inlet with room to swing and nothing at all ashore — put here on purpose, after three days of walking sites.
Ashore nearbyAkçagerme plajı · Gökseki Pidecisi Restaurant · Hills Kitchen
Day 7
Ölüdeniz
The one real passage of the week, north-west up the coast past Kalkan and Kaputaş — half a day under way, and the only time the trip asks for it. Anchor off Belcekız with Babadağ above and paragliders coming off the summit all evening. The lagoon itself is a national park, so the night is spent on the seaward side.
Day 8
Telmessos & Kleopatra Hamamı
Into Fethiye for the morning, built over Telmessos, where the dead are still the most striking thing in the town: the Tomb of Amyntas cut into the cliff as an Ionic temple front around 350 BC, smaller tombs and sarcophagi at street corners below it, and the museum holding the trilingual stele that helped crack the Lycian language. On in the afternoon to the last night in Skopea Limanı, moored over the half-submerged walls of a Roman bath house you can swim down into and stand inside.
Ashore nearbyManzara Noktası · Sarsala Bay · Yörükoğlu Gözleme · KÖYLÜM TUĞBA GÖZLEME EVİ
Day 9
Göcek — disembarkation
Half an hour back to Club Marina. Breakfast on board, then the plane trees and coffee houses of Göcek before the transfer.
Ashore nearbyGöcek · Municipality of Gocek Marina · Nena Lounge Göcek · Latife Meyhane Göcek
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