Ghost Town

Kayaköy, Turkey, Oct 2005: This was my second visit to Kayaköy, the ghost town near Fetiye in South Western Turkey. Kayaköy is built on the ancient Greek village of Carmylessus and existed up until the population exchanges of 1922/3. Anatolian Greeks had lived here since antiquity…

After the invading Greek’s defeat to Turkey in the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922), Greece had no choice but to sign the demands of the victorious Turks in Lausanne, Switzerland.

More than 1.5 million Asia Minor Greeks were forced out of Turkey, and at least half a million Turkish muslims from Greece…

When I’d visited the region before in April 2003, the USA and allies had started invading Iraq, for a 2nd time… I stayed at Ferah Pension then too, in Fethiye, Monica & co remembered me two and a half years later…

I searched through the visitors book looking for a guide for the supposed Kayakoy to Ölüdeniz track. I couldn’t find one. So I decided to make one…

I gave up trying to map the streets of Kayakoy, so climbed up over the hill and headed towards Oludoniz. I drew up the way as I went. After half an hour or so I lost the track while on a steep-sided hill. I scrambled up and down it searching for a marker. At last I found one, at last because I couldn’t find another…

I was starting to panic a bit as the heat came down. I also started thinking about accidentally stepping on snakes, for some reason. After a long time scrambling around I luckily I spotted someone was on the track below me . I shouted down to them to help me get an idea of the best route south…