Kaya Koy

Before taking the night bus to Goreme on Saturday, we needed something other than wandering around aimlessly to keep us busy.  Our hotel recommended that we pop up to Kaya Koy, just a 40 minute dolmus ride from Fethiye, to see the 'stone village' (Kaya Koy actually means 'stone village').

Although the trip was worth it just to witness the tourist hell that Chad detailed in another post, Kaya Koy was a nice little detour.  The views are stunning and its story quite interesting.  For many centuries this village was populated by Christian Greeks, who had settled a couple kilometres inland to avoid pirates and other pests of that nature.  They built a lovely village for their 5,000 inhabitants; in all there were about 2,500 buildings including churches, stores, etc.  The town was planned so that no one's view would be obstructed by their neighbour.

Then 1923 and the Greek-Turkish population exchange came along.  The Christian Greeks were sent to Greece, but the Turks who were coming back had been in Macedonia and wanted farm land, not a little village (the tales also say that they were worried the Greeks had poisoned the wells).  So the village fell abandoned.  Materials from the lumber and straw rooftops decayed or were stolen or given away over the years, but the Turkish government has now made it a protected site so it's there for all to wander through if they want to cough up the 5 lira.

Enough history lesson, here's a few shots:

Inside the high church (of the two, it's the highest elevation.  Clever).  You may be able to see the mosaic flooring.

The high church is in the foreground of this shot.

This one still has some blue and white paint left on the walls.

This is the second place we've been where the population exchange has had a huge impact (the first was the island of Bozcaada).  I'm definitely interested to learn more about it, but I won't torture you with the information unless you ask!

[Post by Sarah, no matter what Blogger has to say about it.]