Patara Antic City in Turkey

As the huge glowing ball of the setting sun sinks slowly into the sea, it's possible to gaze through the eucalyptus trees and out across the sand dunes and imagine that you are in some remote corner of northern Australia. But then you turn and start to walk back to your pension, and suddenly you are wandering amid the massive marble remains of an ancient city, and this could only be Turkey after all, and Patara, on the south coast between Fethiye and Kalkan, more specifically.

Patara is well known for having one of the finest beaches in all of Turkey, 20 kilometers of soft white sand that stretches out some three kilometers south of the village of Gelemiş with no ugly high-rise hotels to spoil the vista. What is less well known is that some of the beach is still truly wild, a place where you can come and find yourself with only the waves for company, a place where you can walk for hours and rarely encounter another soul. To find that more isolated part of the beach, you have to divert away from the road that links Gelemiş to the main stretch of sand, and when you do that you will find yourself lost amid some of Turkey's finest ancient ruins as well.
Patara started life as a Lycian settlement, and there is plenty of evidence of Lycian presence left here in the form of massive sarcophagi scattered around the fields, each of them with a gaping hole where treasure-hunters have forced their way inside in search of gold. Later, the town became famous for its oracle, which was supposedly sacred to Apollo. However, archeologists have not so far found any trace of it. The town had the usual complicated history up until 42 B.C. when the Roman senator Brutus heard rumor of its wealth and forced the locals to surrender to Rome. Regardless, it seems to have remained an important place where St. Paul and St. Luke changed ship on their way from Miletus to Jerusalem. It was around 300 that Patara's most famous son was born -- St. Nicholas, who was slowly transformed over the centuries from a mere provincial bishop into Santa Claus, aka Father Christmas. But as at Ephesus (Efes), so at Patara. Slowly the harbor that had been the source of its wealth silted up until eventually ships could no longer use it. After that the town fell into decline until by the early 19th century British explorers could report that there was no longer anyone left in Patara.
Today as you walk down to the beach, you will quickly arrive at the remains of a triumphal arch that was erected in 100 for the local governor, Mettius Modestus. Then a little to the south you pass the remains of a large bathhouse and then of a basilica where it is perhaps a little too fanciful to imagine St. Nicholas having preached. From here you can either head on south to the sand or cut inland towards the remains of a stretch of wall. Near here, archeologists have uncovered a long stretch of marble pavement lined with shops with a colonnade running along each side of it, the İstiklal Caddesi, perhaps, of its day. It's a short walk north from here to explore what is left of a temple to Apollo which seems to have folded in on itself, its huge entrance cracked at the top and trees growing inside what must once have been the sanctuary of the god.
But however amazing all this is, it's mere window dressing compared with the real gem of Patara, which is a wonderful, virtually undamaged theater that dates back to the first century. This owes its fantastic state of preservation to the sand, which, over the centuries, flowed across its 30 rows of marble seats, thus protecting them. The sand has since been cleared away, leaving behind an incredibly evocative place to sit and ponder the fall of empires.
Near the theater the bouleterion (council chamber) also survives in reasonable shape, although access is barred to it for no very obvious reason. No matter -- you can still scramble up the hill behind the theater, which seems to have been the city's acropolis and where there is still an impressive cistern. From here a path winds round a stagnant stretch of water, all that remains of the once vital harbor. On its far shore stand the remains of a huge granary paid for by the Emperor Hadrian in the second century, and looking as it must have been built from the same blueprint used for the one at Andriake, near Demre/Kale. It's from the path to the granary that you can head west across the sand dunes and come eventually to the more isolated part of the beach.
The sand. The ruins. What else is there to Patara? Well, like İztuzu Beach, near Dalyan, this is an area still popular with Caretta caretta (loggerhead) turtles who come up onto the sand to lay their eggs from May to October. It is at least in part due to the efforts of turtle fans that development at the beach has been prevented, so we should all stick gratefully to the rules drawn up to protect the eggs and the baby turtles.
As for Gelemiş, this is not somewhere to get too excited about but rather a ramshackle collection of pensions and restaurants with the odd slightly larger hotel looking as if it has somehow strayed from nearby Kalkan. Most of these places are perfectly comfortable, and it's wonderful that they have been kept so far from the beach. It's just that there is nothing especially memorable about any of them, except, perhaps, their owners.
In the summer, there is the odd minibus straight down into Gelemiş. Out of season, however, you will need your pension owner's help to get back up to the main road where there is regular transport east to Kalkan and west to Fethiye. With time on your hands you can easily make an excursion west to two more ancient sites which together make up one of Turkey's UNESCO-recognized World Heritage sites: Xanthos and the Letoon.
Xanthos is just a short walk uphill from the main road at Kınık. Forgotten as it is now, this was once a hugely important town, the capital of Lycia, with fine monumental buildings to show for it. Here you will find another remarkably preserved theater, as well as the plinths on which once stood statues carted off to England via the port at Patara by the Englishman Charles Fellows. They now reside in the British Museum. It's easy to think that's all there is to see at the site, but if you keep walking uphill you will come eventually to the Lycian necropolis, a vast rockface pitted with picturesque tombs.
A little further along the main road is the turnoff to the Letoon, a vast triple temple dedicated to the brother and sister gods Apollo and Artemis, and their mother Leto, which retains some original mosaics, although the site is often partially under water.

WHERE TO STAY
Flower Pension: 0 (242) 843 5164
Golden Pension: 0 (242) 843 5162
Patara View Point Hotel: 0 (242) 843 5184
HOW TO GET THERE
Regular buses ply the coast road from Antalya to Fethiye, passing the turnoff to Patara. Out of season, you may need to walk or hitch a ride for the last four kilometers down to Gelemiş.