Istlada Ancient City

Istlada was a Lycian town in the hills between Kas and Demre, in what is now Antalya province. Its remains are not gathered into one fenced site: they are scattered across three neighbourhoods, Kapakli, Hoyran and Hayitli, and no systematic excavation has ever been carried out there. What survives is what was always above ground - tombs, sarcophagi, cisterns and the walls of a fortified hilltop.

The Name and the Dating

The name itself is not secure. It is known only from inscriptions, and the end of the key inscription has been lost, which is why some publications hedge on the spelling. The settlement goes back to the early fourth century BC and was occupied through the Lycian, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods. Beyond that the chronology is inference, because nobody has dug.

The Hoyran Monument

The best-known ruin stands in Kapakli, opposite the primary school. The Hoyran monument tomb is a house-type tomb carved out of the living rock, dated to the fourth century BC by its Lycian inscription. Three standing figures occupy the pediment. Below them runs a wide frieze: a male figure reclining on a couch at the centre, a table set in front of him, and four armed men - read as the tomb's owner with his family and his soldiers.

The Guvercinli Tomb

Behind the sarcophagi, among the rock-cut Lycian house tombs, is the one called Guvercinli, the pigeon tomb, also known as Horozlu, the rooster tomb. Both names come from the birds carved on it; a sphinx appears alongside them. It dates to the early fourth century BC and is one of the oldest tombs at the site.

The Rest of the Site

East and north of the acropolis the ground is covered with rock tombs, sarcophagi of the standard Lycian type and stele-shaped grave markers, spanning the site's Classical to Byzantine occupation. The settlement itself was walled and reads as a small fortress from a distance. Cisterns and wells are cut into the rock throughout, which is the practical answer to a hillside with no spring and a five-month dry season.

The View, and the Harbour Below

The ruins look down on Gokkaya Bay, generally taken to have been Istlada's harbour. Ucagiz and Kekova Island are visible from the same points. The relationship between the hill town and the water is the clearest thing at the site: the tombs face the bay, and the bay is the only reason a settlement of this size stood up here at all.

What the UNESCO Status Actually Is

Istlada is frequently described as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is not one. In February 2009 Turkey submitted a group nomination called Ancient Cities of Lycian Civilisation to UNESCO's Tentative List, and Istlada is among the sites named in it. A tentative listing is a declaration that a country intends to nominate a site; it carries no inscription and no UNESCO protection. Whether the group is ever inscribed is still open.

Visiting

Istlada is roughly 145 kilometres from Antalya on the coastal D400, turning off towards Kas. There is no ticket office, no marked route and nothing to buy. The ground is uneven and the tombs are spread over some distance, so footwear matters more than a guidebook. Without a car, the approach is a bus to Demre and then a minibus or taxi up to Kapakli.

Most people fold the site into a wider day. Myra and the church of St Nicholas at Demre are close by, and the bay Istlada overlooks lies on the standard Kekova route, so chartering a gulet from Kas is the way to see the harbour side of a town that has only ever been looked at from the land.