K A L A M A T A  C O V E

Ceramus, Araxa or Camalti Cove is a wonderful location for swimming. A nice half-hour hike will take you to Oren, an old village that co-exists with the strange and evocative ruins of ancient Ceramus.

Oren is tucked in a crack in the impenetrable mountain wall of the northern coast of the Gulf of Gokova. At one time there was no road to Oren and then for many years little more than a dirt track. There is a road now, but it remains an arduous journey and it is still more common for people to visit by boat from Bodrum. Araxa is to be found close by the village at the upper, northern end of the valley close under the mountains. Although it is mentioned in several ancient inscriptions, nothing was known about Araxa until George E. Bean found a long decree at Oren in 1946, relating part of its history. The discovery of the decree was not the result of painstaking excavation but: "The stone was then in use by the women of the village as a washing-board, for which the lines of writing provided an admirable surface."

Not much remains of the site but there are a number of ‘Gothic’ sarcophagus lids by the riverside and many interesting tombs cut into the base of a low hillock about a mile (1.5 km) to the west of the village.