Olympos
Though a very ancient city nearby Antalya, in the Mediterranean coast of Anatolia, the early history of Olympus is shrouded in mystery. We know it was an important Lycian city by the 2nd century B.C., and that the Olympians worshipped Hephaestos (Vulcan), the god of fire. No doubt this veneration sprang from reverence for the mysterious Chimeira, an eternal flame which still springs from the earth not far from the city. The town declined in the 1st century B.C. until the arrival of the Romans in the 2nd century A.D. In the 3rd century pirate attacks brought impoverishment. In the Middle Ages, Venetians, Genoese and Rhodians built fortresses along the coast, but, by the 15th century Olympus had been abandoned.

Today the site is fascinating, not just for its ruins that are fragmentary and widely scattered amidst the thick greenery of wild grapevines, flowering oleander, bay trees, wild figs and pines, but for its site, just inland from a beautiful beach along the course of a stream which runs through a rocky gorge.


Chimeira
The Chimarea take its name from the myth of Bellerophon. The Lycian King, Lobates, sent Bellerophon to kill the fire-breathing monster, part lion, goat and serpent. With the aid of the winged horse Pegasus, he succeeded, and returned, after completing other tasks set by Lobates, to Xanthus where he married the king's daughter and became heir of the Lycian throne. Carried away by his success, Bellerophon tried to ride Pegasus up to Mount Olympus; for his presumption, he earned a great thunderbolt from Zeus.

Phaselis
Although the Beldibi cave in the vicinity shows signs of pre-historic dwelling, we can trace the city of Phaselis no further back than the 7th century B.C. The city was colonized by Greeks from Rhodes, possessed three natural harbors, and was close to a richly forested region. However, as in other areas of the coast of Anatolia, there were settlements before the arrival of the Rhodeian colonists, and therefore it was probably founded first by force, or perhaps by gradual integration with the local peoples, after their initial acceptance of the colonists.

Phaselis fell into Persians hands after they took Anatolia, and later on to the hands of Alexander the Great after he defeated the Persians. Phaselis opened its doors to Alexander, admitting him as a guest. It was here that Alexander accepted many of the envoys from the cities of Pamphylia, then taking each of the coastal cities in turn, advanced to Gordion.

After the death of Alexander, the city remained in Egyptian hands from 209 B.C. to 197 B.C., under the dynasty of Ptolomaios, and with the conclusion of the Apamea treaty, was handed over to the Kingdom of Rhodes, together with the other cities of Lycia. From 190 B.C. to 160 B.C. it remained under Rhodeian hegemony, but after 160 B.C. it was absorbed into the Lycian confederacy under Roman rule. Phaselis, like Olympus, was under constant threat of pirates in the 1st century B.C., and the city was even taken over by the pirate Zekenites for a period until his defeat by the Romans. In 42 B.C. Brutus had the city linked to Rome. During the Byzantine period, the city became a bishopric, although in the 3rd century A.D., its convenient harbor had fallen under the threat of pirates once again. So it began to lose importance, suffering further losses at the hands of Arab ships, until totally impoverished in the 11th century A.D. When the Seljuks began to concentrate on Alanya and Antalya as ports, Phaselis ceased to be a port of any note.

Although the ruins are not extremely exciting, the setting is one of the more beautiful, incomparably romantic ones that can found on this part of the Mediterranean coast.

Phaselis is a city of natural harbors of which she had at least three. Near the car park is the northern
PHASELIS is an ancient city where only surface excavation has taken place. This is why it is still among pine trees and under green vegetation. The combination of ancient remains with a forest surrounded by sea on three sides makes it a beautiful national park.
History of Phaselis Located between the borders of Lycia and Pamphylia, Phaselis was legendarily founded by colonists from Rhodes in 690 BC. Because the land was not suitable for agriculture, Phaselitans excelled as great traders. They are supposed to have bought the land in exchange for dried fish which led the emergence of a proverb "Phaselitan sacrifice" to be used for cheap offerings.
Phaselis was overrun by the Persians in the 6C BC and freed in the 5C BC. They minted coins in the 5C BC which show the bow of a ship on one side and the stern on the other. Phaselis proved its independence from Lycia by siding with Mausolus, the satrap of Caria, in the 4C BC. When Alexander the Great came in 333 BC they offered him a golden crown. This attitude showed Phaselitans reaction to authority. Phaselis was known as the most prominent port city to the west of the Gulf of Antalya, until the city of Attaleia was founded.
The Site Three harbors of Phaselis, north, city and south, are arranged around a 400-meter-long (1,310 ft) peninsula. These harbors served the citys trade activities, particularly the export of local timber, rose and lily oil. Between the middle harbor and the monumental gate near the south harbor is the Main Street. On both sides of the 22-meter-wide (72 ft) main street are important Roman and Byzantine public buildings, baths complex, agora and suchlike. The Monumental Gate, built of gray-white marble blocks, was erected in the 2C AD in honor of Hadrians visit. The Roman Theater which probably had replaced an earlier Hellenistic theater, lies to the east of the main street on the hillside of the Acropolis.harbor, next to this the naval base, and to the south the southern harbor, popular today with swimmers and yachts. The two small islets on the northern harbor were joined to the mainland by a pier which extended from the walls around the promontory. It is still possible to see the remains of this pier and the walls.

In this once favored port of ancient times, the visitor can find many ancient ruins. The remains of the aqueduct are partially standing; beyond these one can see the naval harbor road, which is linked to the northern harbor. On the road facing the southern harbor is a portal leading to the harbor, built during the reign of Hadrian. On the sides of the roads are to be found the remains of a large number of shops. Across the tree-covered site to the south of this road can be seen the commercial agora, the Domitian Agora and the later agora. Returning along the same route you pass through the Gate of Hadrian along the main road and come to the theatre. The Acropolis was surrounded with walls and the theater was founded on the north-western slopes. The auditorium and skene are still identifiable, and date from Roman period.

After looking at the theater, you may continue to the harbor area and visit the inner harbor. The necropolis was situated stretching beyond the aqueduct over the steep slopes behind the harbor. There are still many graves to be seen there.

The three harbors are perfect for swimming since part of the ruins are now submerged, making swimming and snorkeling very entertaining and exciting.

Located about 1 mile outside Demre, the ruins of Myra include an amazing collection of tombs cut out of the cliffs above the city, all in the form of temple facades, arranged in an asymmetric jumble. Most of them are 4th century BC, and many contain funeral scenes in relief. One of these preserve a painted frieze showing the indoor and outdoor life of the man and his family with servants in attendance and it is one of the most remarkable rock-tombs in Lycia.
Although the date of the foundation is unknown there are some Lycian inscriptions found in the area that indicate that the settlement existed since the 5th century B.C.. Strabo counts it among the six notable cities of Lycia. It still remained important during Roman times and after.

The huge late-Roman theater is one of the main attractions of Myra. It still preserves its double-vaulted corridors and an inscription in a stall space that reads "place of the vendor Gelasius," where Gelasius would have sold whatever the show viewers munched on as they watched the representation.

In the 2nd century A.D. it became a diocese, and it was during that period that its theater was built. During the Byzantine period, Myra maintained its role as a religious center.