Phaselis

Phaselis is an ancient harbour city on Turkey's Lycian coast, founded by colonists from Rhodes around 690 BC. The ruins lie north of the modern village of Tekirova, roughly 16 kilometres south of Kemer on the Antalya–Kumluca highway, and the site is built around three natural harbours that once made it one of eastern Lycia's busiest trading ports, linking Greece, Egypt and Phoenicia.

Phaselis passed through several hands over the centuries. In 468 BC the Athenian commander Cimon brought the city into the Delian Confederacy, and by the first century BC it had become a refuge for pirates until Roman forces under Publius Servilius Vatia crushed them in 77–76 BC. A few decades later, in 42 BC, Brutus drew the city more firmly into Rome's orbit. Phaselis declined from the third century AD onward as Arab raids and renewed piracy disrupted its trade.

Today the pine-shaded ruins — baths, a theatre, aqueducts and a wide colonnaded main street — sit right above the water, so a swim is never far from a stroll through the ancient city. Thanks to its sheltered southern harbour and easy access from the coast, a popular stop for gulet charter guests exploring Turkey.