Phaselis - Turkey

Blue Magic
Mark & Chris Dewey
Sun 9 Sep 2012 09:20

Position 36:31.35N 30:32.876E

 

A gentle sail all the way to Phaselis where we anchored in one of the three bays surrounding the peninsular.

 

This is the view of the beach behind us and of the peninsular beside us.

 

 

 

The view out of the bay shows the three islands at the entrance and on the other side of us we have the spectacular view of

Mount Tahtali, reaching 2650 metres above sea level.

 

 

 

There is a cable car that runs to the top of Mount Tahtali, you can see the station perched precariously on top of the mountain in the photo below.

Apparently there are times when you can ski down the mountain on snow and then swim in the mild Mediterranean waters below.

 

How good is that !

 

 

Now for some History since Phaselis is an ancient site.

 

Phaselis was a port town in Roman times and the three harbours were used for shipping rose oil and timber.

There are remains of the ancient Roman settlement, the main street has the ruins of Roman Baths either side and an impressive aqueduct which used to carry fresh water from mountain springs to the town.

The main attraction is the Roman Theatre perched on top of the peninsular.

 

The ancient City was founded in 690 BC by colonists from Rhodes who made the town famous for its fast, light sailing boats called Phaseli.

 

Now the site is a protected National Park and visitors pour in from land and also from the sea in the numerous visiting Gullets and day tourist boats.

 

We waited until it was a little cooler late in the afternoon when most of the tourists had departed before going to explore.

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

    

 

We were surprised to see that an orchestra were setting up in the theatre and we saw musicians carrying

their instruments up the steps that lead to the theatre.

 

 

 

After more investigation we discovered that there is a music festival starting tomorrow, so we are going to stay here an extra night in order to go along to the first concert tomorrow – how exciting !