Lycian Way

This section of the coastline is stunning with wooded mountains rising steeply from the shore affording fantastic views and making for varied walking conditions. The route also goes past many of the more remote historic sites. The route is graded medium to hard; it is not level walking, but has many ascents and descents as it approaches and veers away from the sea. It is easier at the start near Fethiye and gets more difficult as it progresses. It is recommended that you walk the route in spring or autumn; February-May or September-November. Summer in Lycia is hot, although you could walk short, shady sections. The route is mainly over footpaths and mule trails; it is mostly over limestone and often hard and stony underfoot.

Highlights of the Lycian Way are:

• Spectacular walks on the slopes of Baba Dagi, beneath the flight path of the paragliders descending to Oludeniz
• Stunning descent to Faralya, above the cliffs of Butterfly Valley.
• The 12km long beach at Patara.
• Spectacular views over the coast from above Kas and Kalkan.
• The castle, harbour and sunken ruins at Ucagiz
• The church of the Angel Gabriel in the hills above Myra.
• A fabulous ridge top walk to Finike.
• Staying at the lighthouse at Cape Gelidonia.
• Climbing Mount Olympos – 2388m.
• Splashing in the canyon at Goynuk.

Chimaera

Yanartaş – The famous flames at the Chimaera in Cirali / Turkey by canmom

Ctesias (as cited by Pliny the Elder and quoted by Photius) identified the Chimaera with an area of permanent gas vents which can still be found today by hikers on the Lycian Way in southwest Turkey. Called in Turkish Yanar taş (flaming rock), it consists of some two dozen vents in the ground, grouped in two patches on the hillside above the Temple of Hephaistos about 3 km north of Cirali, near ancient Olympos, in Lycia. The vents emit burning methane thought to be of metamorphic origin, which in ancient times sailors could navigate by, and which today is used to brew tea. (Strabo held the Chimaera to be a ravine on a different mountain in Lycia.)

Strabo and Pliny are the only surviving ancient sources who would be expected to discuss a Lycian toponym, but the placename is also attested by Isidore of Seville and Servius, the commentator on the Aeneid. Isidore quotes writers on natural history (see below) that Mount Chimaera was on fire here, had lions and goats there, and was full of snakes over there. Servius goes so far as to arrange these with the lions on the peak of the mountain, pastures full of goats in the middle, and serpents all about the base, thus imitating Homer’s description of the monster exactly.

The site was identified by Sir Francis Beaufort in 1811, and described by T.A.B.Spratt in his Travels in Lycia, Milyas, and the Cibyratis, in company with the late Rev. E. T. Daniell. (1847)

Cirali

It is a very small rural village located just over an hours drive southwest from Antalya and boasts a beautiful 4 km secluded beach, the ruins of Olympos, the flames of the Chimaera / Yanartaş, as well as a protected area by the WWF for the nesting of the Caretta or also know as the Loggerhead sea turtles.

Also nearby to Cirali is the Ulupinar region, which is rich in rivers and creeks. Cirali  is one of the last unspoilt natural areas along the Antalya coastline.

For the intrepid trekkers highlights of the Lycian Way with hidden paths are also found in Cirali. One from Cirali to Tekirova ( 19kms ) and another travels from Cirali to Ulupınar and then back down to the flames of the Chimaera which is around 12 kms. All these trails and paths are clearly marked in Red and White.

Another wonderful section of the Lycian Way ( Likya Yolu ) near to Cirali is to the summit of Tahtalı Dag or as also know as Mt. Olympos . Located in the National Park of Olympos or Olimpos Bey Dağları Parkı .