Fethiye

Fethiye

Fethiye is located on the site of the ancient city of Telmessos; ruins that can be seen in the city. Telmessos was the most important city of Lycia, with a recorded history starting in the 5th century BC.

''The legend about the city is that the god Apollo fell in love with the youngest daughter of king Agenor. He first showed himself to theprincess in the form of a small dog and thus gains the love of the shy princess. After he reappears as a handsome man. They had a son who they named Telmessos – the land of lights - , and the city was named after him.''

In years 334-333 BC the city was invaded by Alexsander the Great.
By the 10th century, the name was forgoten and became known as Makre or Makri, (''long one'').

In the late 12th or early 13th century the area fell to the Turks. It became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1424 by the name Beskaza.

In 1934 the city was renamed 'Fethiye' in honor of Fethi Bey, one of the first pilots of the Ottoman Air Force, who was sadly killed on an early mission.

The city itself is very beautiful. The town people were nice to us even if some of them didn't know good english. I was taken away at how beautiful it is there. They have a lot of historical places that are very interesting, like ancient city of Telmessos, Lycian tombs cut in the hill above the town, or the exibit in the Fethiye museum.

The most interesting things to me were the Lycian tombs that are cut in the hill above the town, theatre and the ancient cityof Telmessos. They are nicely built and somehow good preserved. I think they could at least build a fence around it so that not every person can go in, or put the sign no smoking in the area of the tombs, the theatre and the city. I know they are exposed to the weather and there nothing could be done. It would be hard to build a whole ''house'' around it and it would have no meaning. They could at least clean the surroundings.

                                           
I was impressed by all the things they have in the Fethiye museum. It is small but they have a lot of interesting things. They have a lot of statues, old money, some mosaics, and other stuf. The inside is nicely organized and presented. You have everything from A-Z. But the outside is badly presented for my opinion. Yeah, it has all the data you need but out where there is rain, sun, wind and all that? All the things are gonna dissapear if we don't do something. They could build a roof so that the rain dosn't ''melt'' the stone so it stay the way it is for much more years.

My opinion is that the natural harbor is the most preserved place. I don't have any comments about it.

As a conclusion I'll say that  it was very interesting. I learned new things, and some new word. Like hello; merhaba or goodbye; görüşürüz. I was suprised by the towns people that were very kind to us turists. On the site where we were staying was nice to. I didn't mention all the things we saw in Fethiye but non the less. It was fun meeting new people from other countries and other continent. The food was great, the things we saw were interesting.

I think that they do really care for their town and they cherish what they have.

Nina Agapito, 1. E