Back in time ... an ancient Lycian tomb in the shallow waters off Kekova.Credit: Izzet Keribar/Lonely Planet
It is early morning and the village is stirring. In the waterfront taverns there is the scrape of wood on lino as tables are set. Out on the pontoons, fishermen tend their nets. In the harbour, a skiff put-puts between the yachts.
I have come to Ucagiz on Turkey's Mediterranean coast to explore the Sunken City (Batik Sehir). The ruins date back 2000 years to the Lycian period, although later civilisations also left their mark. I join a group waiting among the kayaks on the sand. Our guide for the day is Dave, a retired infantryman with a shock of white hair and a deep mahogany tan.
We don life jackets and gather for the briefing. Dave demonstrates the rudiments of paddling and outlines the route. "This is the distress signal," he explains, lifting his arms overhead, "so don't go waving your paddle in the air unless you want to be rescued!"
The beginners share double kayaks; the rest of us are assigned single craft. Mussa, a local fisherman, follows at a distance in the rescue boat. Although it is October, the sun is fierce and I'm glad of my hat. Dave sets a leisurely pace as we perfect our technique but it's not long before we establish a rhythm, the gentle dip-dip of the paddles punctuating the silence.
Beyond the harbour mouth lies open water. Dave gestures across the strait to our first stop: a long, low island. The sea swallowed the site of the city in the fifth century, when an earthquake caused the coastline to flood. The high points of the land survived as a chain of islands and today the city ruins can be seen at Kekova and the village of Kalekoy.
We paddle on. As the sun climbs, Kekova Island emerges from the haze, its slopes carpeted in dense scrub. Gulets – traditional wooden sailing boats – lie at anchor in its westernmost bay. "This is the only place near the sunken city where swimming is allowed," says Dave, "so it attracts a lot of tour groups." Disco beats drift from the deck of one vessel and, as we pass by, someone dive-bombs into the water.
We drag the kayaks ashore. In the centre of the beach, in the shade of a eucalyptus tree, stand the ruins of a Byzantine church. A single wall and tumbledown archway remain, terracotta striations visible in the stonework. A grain store behind the beach is better preserved, the thick stone walls intact.
Back on the water, we round the headland to see more ruins. Dwellings totter on the limestone cliffs, broken door frames stand stripped of their surrounding walls and staircases tumble into the sea.
"You have to use your imagination," urges Dave, pointing down into the water, "but those square footings belonged to a warehouse and archaeologists think the hole in the wall was a wine cooler. The houses with the pointed eaves are Roman; the ones with the horizontal lintels date from Lycian times. They were put together in polygonal style, like a puzzle. It made them very strong."
We follow the island east, harbour walls and long-abandoned homes shape-shifting beneath the crystal waters.
I pause to survey the underwater scene but a sudden splash and bright flash of turquoise catches my eye. A kingfisher alights on a thorn bush close by, a silver minnow still twitching in its beak.
"Time for an ice-cream," says Dave, as we quit the island and head back across the water. Ranged against the hillside opposite and crowned by a forbidding fortress is the village of Kalekoy. A huge Turkish flag flies from the battlements. Kalekoy – or Simena as it was once known – was an outpost of the Knights of the Order of St John, who built the fortifications to guard against pirate attack. Today, access is still tricky: visitors must arrive by boat or on foot across the mountains as there is no road.
We come ashore among the fishing boats. A delighted restaurant owner opens up to serve us drinks and snacks and we relax in the shade of his veranda. Then I buy a ticket from the man snoozing in the sentry box and climb the steps to the castle. The site is deserted. Beneath the rough-hewn crenellations, the castle is open to the elements and olive trees grow among the piles of stones. It is worth the climb: sea and sky shimmer through every arch.
"Now for the highlight of the tour," says Dave when I return to the boats. We weave through jetties, past cabins wreathed in bougainvillea to the edge of the village. A stone sarcophagus rests in the shallows, about a metre from the shore. Above the weathered base, a huge domed lid rises to a crested peak. "It would have been the burial place of a wealthy person, perhaps a military officer," Dave tells us as we circle the tomb, our paddles catching in the sand. Acroteria – ornamental panels – grace the front elevation and each corner, however, the carvings have been lost to erosion.
After one last circuit we leave, turning towards Ucagiz. At the east end of the harbour we see more tombs, stacked higgledy-piggledy on the headland but we do not linger: the afternoon sun is sinking and the mosque is calling the faithful to prayer.
TRIP NOTES
Both Thai Airlines and Cathay Pacific partner with Turkish Airlines, flying daily from Sydney to Istanbul, priced from $2739. See travel.com.au.
You'll save at least $200 if you wait until you arrive in Turkey to buy a domestic fare from Istanbul to Antalya. See www.thy.com/en-INT.
From Antalya, it's a three-hour car or mini-bus journey to the resort town of Kas, near Ucagiz, where accommodation is plentiful.
Sea Kayak Turkey runs daily tours from Ucagiz, from €30 ($51), includes transfers to and from Kas and Ucagiz. See seakayakturkey.com.
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