Sidyma is one of our favorite ancient cities, of the innumerable numbers of ancient remains in Turkey. The city itself is nestled among st the picturesque hamlet of Hisar, a sub village of Dodurga, Western Lycia. The situation of Sidyma is a very defensive spot nestled above steep cliffs, not visible from below or from the sea. Many of the very old settlements of Lycia are in places like this, but were frequently abandoned during the Roman period, when defense was much less

Christmas Eve! While many get ready for a day of feasting and scoffing, we at Amber Travel have a day of trekking in the rain! It as not always sunny here, even in the land of light! Just this year, the Culture Routes Society decided to modify and extend the Lycian way trekking path to include Istlada, Hoyran and Trysa, 3 interesting and beautiful sites which were missed out in the original route. We walked from Hoyran, which is a quaint village of about 20 families living

While the magnificent remains of Patara, Xanthos, Tlos, Patara, Myra, Phaselis etc. are well know and documented, the mysterious remains of the first settlers in Lycia are to be found in the hidden fastness of the inhospitable looking mountains of central Lycia, between modern Kaş and Kalkan. The dissolute and overgrown archaic period buildings around Islamlar, Bezirgan, Sarıbelen and Gökçeoren are in few archeological texts and the names of the settlement are generally unrec

The telephone alarm wakes me at 07:00, pitch darkness, driving rain battering our terracotta roof tiles. The close rumble of thunder. Lets get out of bed and go trekking! If just to prove that trekking in Lycia is a year round activity, up I get, ready the water proof trousers and gaiters. We had planned to go to the highlands but the forecast showed 2 degrees and drizzle. Safest recourse was the old stormy day fallback, the Patara Aqueduct trek. For some reason, whene

Rocky is just a word, Treking in Lycia is a song of stone. While almost all of the Lycian coast is limestone formed, the area between Kalkan and Kekova has the hardest, therefore sharpest rocks available anywhere. Ken Harvey, our local trekking Geologist explained the formation of the hard, sharp rocks that almost look volcanic, with holes and stacks to be found. The passing of water through the limestone, dissolving some of the minerals, leaves the red clay earth which ma