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Our guidebook told us that Phaselis was close to Tekirova but we didn't realise how close until we decided to go and check it out late one afternoon. We walked up the Tekirova main drag until we hit the highway and flagged down a dolmus that dropped us off on the same highway where the road leads down to Phaselis.

Folkart Exhibit

The entrance road is rather lovely, lined with big pine trees, in the late afternoon it was peaceful, quiet and dappled with sunshine. Eventually we found the gate into the site and decided to skip the visitor center in favor of the site itself and so carried on down the continuation of the entrance road. After another five minutes, we came into a clearing and off to our left saw water lapping around huge stones from some long de-constructed ancient monument.

From the small harbor, we walked on into the city and climbed up into the obligatory theater. It was one of our first so of course we were enchanted by it. We had seen Epidaurus many years earlier in our one trip to Greece, but its memory was much faded and here we had not only a theater, but a whole town to go with it. From the theater we walked down the main street sampling the remnants of buildings right and left until we emerged at the second harbor of Phaselis. Amazing, not just one harbor but two. No wonder it was a very successful city. 

Phaselis Theater

Little did we know then that some weeks later, on the Datça peninsula, we would visit the ruins of another city blessed with two harbors. In the latter case, one was commercial and one military. We didn't learn any such distinction about Phaselis.

In the summer, the place must swarm with people, but in April, tourists were still a relatively rare breed and though we didn't have the place to ourselves, the other visitors were quiet and respectful of others and so we felt very private in our enjoyment of this delightful gem.