K E K O V A

Kekova island stretches out from here and it is because of this island that the whole area is called Kekova. At Kekova, history and nature have merged and become inseparable. Such ancient cities are Aperlai, Kekova, Simena, and Theimussa are to be found in the vicinity. Along your route you will see these sunken ruins ascend from the sea. You will be able to snorkel at a few designated areas, just let the Captain know. 

APERLAI is a Lycian city. Aperlai's history is known from coins bearing its name that have been discovered and goes back to the 4th or 5th centuries BC when it was the head of the Lycian Confederacy, of which Simena and Apollonia were also members. The city walls begin at the seashore and are fortified with towers at intervals. These walls, with their rectangular and polygonal construction, are from Roman times: Other remains at Aperlai are all from the Byzantine and later periods. The western reaches of the wall are of rectangular construction. There are three gates in this wall, two of which have a plain and the third a blind archway. Outside the walls are typical Lycian sarcophagi from Roman times.

From inscriptions that have been found, we know that the history of the ancient city of SIMENA goes back to the 4th century BC If we go ashore via the jetty next to the sarcophagus on the seashore and climb the hill behind the houses, we reach the castle of Simena, used during the Middle Ages. In the medieval walls of the inner keep are a few blocks of all that remains of an ancient temple. Inside the castle is a small natural theater carved into the rock - the smallest of the theaters among the cities of Lycia. West of the theater are rock tombs. Above the rock tombs is a Roman wall built of dressed stone and located on the wall are late period embrasures thus giving one a glimpse of three eras simultaneously. On the shore are the ruins of public baths whose inscription is still legible and reads "A gift to the emperor Titus made by the people and council of Aperlai as well as by the other cities of the confederation."

Very little is known about the history of the ancient city of THEIMUSSA. One inscription indicates that its history goes back to the 4'th century BC One sees mostly the ruins of a necropolis here and no city walls or other major structures have been encountered. The oldest sarcophagus is from the 4th century BC and is shaped like a house. Over it is the nude portrait of a young man. The inscription tells us that it belongs to "KIuwanimiye". The work is Roman and a later addition to the sarcophagus.