Virgin Islands in the Gulf of Fethiye, Turkey
Selahattin Guzel, Skylife Magazine, Photos by Faruk Akbas - Every tone of blue and green can be seen in the Gulf of Fethiye, where the encircling mainland seems to draw the sea into the embrace of its vegetation. The trees grow right down to the water's edge, their branches and leaves reaching out as if unaware of the Mediterranean's salinity. The tiny islands scattered over the gulf which in antiquity was known as the Gulf of Glaukos after the famous Lycian general who fought in the Trojan wars, resemble pearls strung around the neck of a young bride. So we invite you to join us on a tour of this beautiful place.

We boarded a boat in Fethiye harbour and headed out of the bay, across whose mouth lies Sovalye Island, leaving only two channels at the east and west extremities.

The narrow eastern channel is too shallow for large boats and ships, which have to use the western channel. In many cases the same advantages which attracted the people of antiquity to a particular spot are still valid today, which is why contemporary towns and cities in Turkey are so often built on or near ancient cities. This is the case with Sovalye Island, whose many summer villas share the island with the ruins of late Roman walls, cisterns and churches.

The name Sovalye, meaning cavalier or knight, derives from the fact that in the Middle knights turned pirate made their base here at various times. Some early writers also referred to the island as Megri Island, after the ancient name for Fethiye. The island behind we headed out into the gulf to Kizil Ada or Red Island, with its shores. There is no trace of an ancient settlement on this island, where the only inhabitants today are the lighthouse keeper and his family. The group of rocky islets to the north are collectively known as Tavsan Adasi or Rabbit Island. We now sailed north to Katranci Adasi which lies close to the shore opposite the mouth of the Kargi river. Ancient geographers refer to this island as Telandria and it is thought that there was a port of the same name on the mainland.

Tour boats take visitors to the bay known as Cleopatra's Bath on the Kapidag Peninsula, where history and natural beauty are inseparably intertwined.

Subsidence of the land over the centuries has resulted in buildings that were originally on the shore being submerged, and it is these 6th century AD ruins which have been given the romantic name of Cleopatra's Bath.

At the north extremity of the gulf facing the village of Gocek, is the eponymous island of Gocek, a group of islands known as Yassicalar Islands and Haci Halil Island.

Apart from a handful of summer houses and a few stalls selling food to people touring the gulf by yacht these are all uninhabited. Some Byzantine ruins can be seen on Gocek and Haci Halil islands, and in Sansu Bay on the east side of the former are the ruins of a 7th century church. The remains of numerous Byzantine churches on the islands and shores of the gulf, and along coast to the east mark the places where pilgrims to the Holy Land halted on their voyage through the Mediterranean in medieval times.

The largest island in the gulf is Tersane Adasi, where on the shores of the northwest are ruins a watch tower, and a mausoleum in a better state of preservation. To the south is Domuz Adasi or Pig Island which from a distance appears to be to the Kapidag Peninsula at the south-west extremity of the gulf but is in fact divided from the mainland by a narrow channel.

This spectacularly lovely gulf with its fascinating traces of ancient and medieval history is a favorite yachting destination, and can equally be enjoyed as a day trip when staying in this area.