Cruising Western Lycia

This cultural tour and gulet cruise in Turkey explores a quite beautiful stretch of coastline behind which an extraordinary culture and a fiercely independent people developed.

Once a day we visit one of the antique cities that adorn this timeless coast. We step back in time, to see how these cities evolved from Greek, Roman and Byzantine times to the present day. Their location, history, and state of preservation make for some of the most fascinating archaeological sites in the world. From mighty theatres to churches floored with mosaics, each site is an archaeological adventure, part of a historical puzzle that reveals a remarkable story of human civilisation.

Travelling aboard a beautiful Turkish gulet every day there are plenty of opportunities to swim in the crystal waters of the Turquoise coast, to windsurf, or to kayak. Mooring in secluded bays we set out on foot for a hike along ancient roads lined with wild herbs, or stroll through olive groves strewn with rock cut tombs.

Highlights include Xanthus, the great capital of ancient Lycia, whose magnificent treasures caused an extraordinary stir when they were brought to the British Museum and Gemiler Island, a small town that shone only in Byzantine times, resplendent with an avenue of churches. We also have the opportunity to see Patara: a massive and monumental site, birthplace of St Nicholas (Santa Claus), besieged by Brutus (the murderer of Julius Caesar) and visited by St. Paul. Archaeologists at Patara are uncovering an amazingly well preserved site, complete with paved colonnaded streets, a vast granary built by Hadrian, a beautiful lighthouse and the celebrated council house of the Lycian League, a political federation which influenced the drafting of the US constitution.