Kekova Sunken City & Simena

Ancient City

The walls and stairways of a city sunk by earthquake show through the clear sea — with Lycian-sarcophagus Kaleköy opposite.

Part of the Demre district of Antalya, Kekova is one of the places where history can be seen most strikingly. Great earthquakes in the 2nd century AD sank the coast, submerging part of the Lycian city of Dolichiste. Today, looking down from the gunwale of a boat, you can make out city walls, steps cut into the rock, door thresholds and amphora fragments beneath the clear water — as if the sea had frozen and kept a city just as it was. The area is protected: swimming and diving over the sunken city are forbidden, so visits are made by boat, glass-bottomed or open deck.

Opposite Kekova Island, Kaleköy (ancient Simena) is the emblem of the region: a medieval castle on its summit, houses on the slope and, right at the shore, Lycian sarcophagi half sunk in the water… The tiny theatre inside the castle is known as the smallest in Lycia, and from here a panorama of the Kekova islands opens out. There is no road to the village; it is reached only by boat or footpath — an isolation that makes the area a place where time has stopped. It is quite far from Bodrum, usually seen on multi-day trips toward Kaş–Kalkan or on blue-cruise routes.