Coastal resorts in Turkey

Datca, at the end of the peninsula of the same name, retains the air of a fishing village, the twisting road lined by dense pine forests, high cliffs and secluded coves that turn the twohour journey into a scenic adventure. Datca is only a short distance from Knidos (daily 8am 7pm; charge), a 7thcentury BC Dorian Greek settlement ma jestically poised on a windswept headland commanding the juncture of the Aegean and the Mediterranean seas.

This position on the major shipping lanes earned Knidos a prominent role in the ancient world. Aside from the rough hewn beauty of the city's ruined temples, agora, theatre and Byzan tine church, as well as some curiosities such as the sundial used by the astronomer Eudoxus, Knidos seems to be most noted for what's no longer here. The city's famed lion tomb is now in the British Museum, as is a statue of the goddess Demeter, both unearthed by archaeologists in the 1850s. Most famous in antiquity was the longlost, 4thcentury BC statue of Aphrodite by Praxiteles. Pliny praised the sculpted nude as the finest statue in the world, and travellers sailed to Knidos from all over the ancient world to see it. Both Datca and Knidos are accessible either by road or boat on a daytrip from Marmaris.

The relaxed town of Dalyan can be reached by boat from Marmaris, and it is 75km (46 miles) east along the coast road, Route 400, near the airport at Dalaman. The treeshaded lit tle town stretches along a slow-moving, reed-lined river, the Dalyan Cayi, beneath a cliff laced with 4thcentury BC Carian rock tombs. Pleasant as these environs are, a visitor will not be in town too long before boarding a boat and embark ing on some extraordinary excursions. A short way upstream the river opens into Lake Koycegiz, an inland sea lined with woods that shelter kingfishers, herons, storks and other birds. Boatmen usually ferry their passengers first to Koycegiz, a sleepy lakeside fishing village, then cross the lake to the Sul taniye thermal springs; the facilities are a bit worn, but a soak in the warm, mineral-rich waters is quite soothing. There are also mud baths.

About 1km (mile) downstream from Dalyan, boats pull ashore at the ruins of the city of Kaunos (daily 8.30am 5.30pm; charge), famous in antiquity for figs and malaria. Settled in the 9th century BC by the Carians, the city much later passed through Greek and Roman hands and was
closely allied with the Lycian civilisation farther east along the coast. This mixed her itage accounts for the presence of Roman baths, a Greekstyle theatre, and Lyciantype rock tombs, with elaborate facades suggesting palatial residences. Impressive remnants of the extensive 4thcentury BC walls emerge from the jungle-like undergrowth.

Downstream, the river emerges at istuzu Beach. Aside from some makeshift concessions, this unbroken stretch of sand, 5km (5 miles) long, is blessedly devoid of man-made in cursions, protected because of its status as a breeding ground of the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta). You are likely to see the creatures' tracks, but not the turtles themselves, as the beach is off-limits at night during the breeding season.

Fethiye This busy farming town, 90km (55 miles) east of Dalyan along Route 400, is more concerned with the here and now than with the ancient past. Founded in the 5th century BC as Telmessos, it was ruled by various civilisations over the centuries, changing its name several times, to Anastasiopolis and Megri under the Byzantines and finally to Fethiye in the 1930s, in honour of a local war hero.

Adrian Vultur writes for cheap airport car hire spain