If you visit Fethiye, Olu Deniz or any of the neighbouring towns in southwest Turkey, you must not miss the “ghost town” of Kayaköy, an ancient city formerly known as Lebessos and Lebessus and then Livissi, and part of Lycia, indeed it lies at the southern coastal end of the Lycian trail. The village was a culturally, religiously, and ethnically diverse mix of all the peoples of Anatolia, who lived there until the end of the Greco-Turkish war of 1919-1922 that led to the ultimate demise of the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of the modern Turkish republic as well the depatriation of the ancient city’s “Greek” inhabitants. Their story is told elegantly in Louis de Bernières’ 2004 novel of the end of the Ottoman Empire, “Birds without Wings”.
LdB did not advertise the fact that his book is about Kayaköy, but in an interview in The Graun he as much confesses:
I went to south-west Turkey and there’s a ghost town there. It used to be a mixed community, as described in the book more or less, and they obviously had a wonderful way of life, quite sophisticated. An earthquake finally destroyed the town in the Fifties, but it really started to die when the Christian population was deported. It was walking around that very special place that gave me the idea .The town, called Eskibahce in the book, will be recognizable to those who know Turkey, ‘but I’m not going to go round telling people.
The Flickr version of this gallery with EXIF data etc is available here.
I also wrote some music inspired by our visit