Kameriye Island

Kameriye Adasi, which turns up on some charts and boat-tour boards as Kamelya Adasi, is a small uninhabited island off the north-western shore of the Bozburun peninsula, roughly 4 km from both Selimiye and Bozburun and a couple of kilometres east of the much larger Koca Ada. What brings boats out here is the ruined Orthodox church standing in a walled courtyard a short walk up from the landing.

Getting there and going ashore

Day boats run out from Selimiye and Bozburun through the season and the crossing takes about twenty minutes; outside the season local fishermen will make the trip. There is no protected bay on the island. It is open to wind and swell, and boats anchor off the southern side for a swim and a walk ashore, which works in settled weather and not otherwise. For that reason the island is best reached during a Marmaris gulet cruise, slotted in between the Hisaronu anchorages on a calm morning, rather than planned as a trip of its own.

The church and the wishing tree

What stands on Kameriye is a Byzantine church with the remains of a monastery around it. The roof went long ago, which is why it is known locally as the Ruined Church, but the courtyard keeps its pebble-mosaic floor and traces of frescoes survive on the walls, including the painted figure of Christ that most visitors come to see. People still light candles inside. The church is often advertised as 1,800 years old; the fabric that survives is Byzantine work, so the round number is better treated as publicity than as a date.

An olive tree said to be older than the church stands in the courtyard, and visitors tie strips of cloth and ribbon to its branches to make a wish. A project to restore the building and open it for weddings was approved in 2013, with a budget passed to the Bozburun municipality to put the work out to tender; it was never carried out, and the ruin is much as it was.

The water and the ground

The sea around the island is clear over rock and sand and shallow enough to snorkel straight off the boat, with fish visible from the surface. Ashore, the ground is gravel and loose stone under wild pine: the path up to the church is easy walking, the rest of the island is not, and sea shoes or trainers save you the sharp edges. From the high ground you look west to Koca Ada and out over the islands at the mouth of Selimiye bay.

When to go

June to September is the season, with August highs around 35 C (95 F) and calm water most mornings. Those are also the months when the tour boats arrive one after another, and on a busy summer day the island can take a thousand visitors. Early morning, late afternoon, or a trip in May or October will give you the courtyard to yourself.