Kayakoy

Kayaköy, in the hills about eight kilometres south of Fethiye, was known in antiquity as Karmylessos before its name shifted over the centuries to Lebessos and then Leivissi under its Greek-speaking, Greek Orthodox population. For centuries those residents lived alongside Ottoman Muslim rule, and by the early twentieth century the village held more than 6,000 people in stone houses stacked up the hillside so that no roof blocked the neighbour's view.

From Karmylessos to Leivissi

The site is old, but the village you walk through today is not. Most of it dates from the 18th century onwards, when families are said to have moved inland from the exposed coast and the islets off Fethiye to escape pirate raiding. Two later disasters pushed it further: an earthquake that wrecked nearby Fethiye — then called Makri — in 1856, and a fire in 1885, both of which sent people up to Leivissi and triggered a wave of rebuilding. At its height the village supported more than 20 churches and chapels along with schools, chemists and workshops, and its people made their living from trade and craft rather than from the thin farmland around them.

How the Village Emptied

The end came in stages rather than all at once. During the First World War the Orthodox population was targeted for deportation: in 1916 many families were marched inland to Denizli, some 220 kilometres away, with further waves of exile in 1917 and 1918 that killed a great many of the old and the very young. After the Greco-Turkish war ended in 1922 the survivors left for good, and the compulsory exchange of populations agreed under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne made the departure permanent. Refugees from here helped found Nea Makri near Athens, naming it after the town they had lost. Muslim families arriving from Greece were settled in the district but never took to the terraced, stony ground, and the houses were left standing empty.

The Ruins Today

Roughly 500 houses survive as roofless shells climbing the slope, along with the two main churches: Taxiarchis, the upper church, and Panagia Pyrgiotissa below it, both retaining fragments of painted decoration and floors of black-and-white pebble mosaic. Cisterns, ovens and small chapels are scattered between them, and the narrow stepped lanes still run more or less where they always did. The 1957 Fethiye earthquake did further damage to buildings that were already abandoned. The site is now protected by the Turkish state and presented as a museum village, and it is worth noting that the frequently repeated claim that UNESCO declared it a "world friendship and peace village" is not officially true; a 2014 plan to lease around a third of the village for hotel development on a 49-year term drew heavy criticism and remains contentious.

Visiting Kayaköy

Set back from the sea and reached by road or on foot from Ölüdeniz, Kayaköy's abandoned streets and hilltop churches are a striking contrast to the coastline below. A marked section of the Lycian Way climbs over the ridge from Fethiye in eight or nine kilometres, and a shorter, steeper path drops from the village down to Ölüdeniz, which is how most walkers combine the two. There is an entrance fee for the ruined quarter, mornings are far cooler than afternoons in summer, and sturdy shoes matter more than they sound like they should on the loose stone lanes. A modern village of under a thousand people — 975 at the 2022 count — sits at the foot of the hill with a handful of taverns and pensions, and as a half-day excursion from the water, many gulet cruises from Fethiye call in here so guests can walk the ruins before returning to the boat.