The flames
From the rock.
Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Aierturk — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Nevit Dilmen — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wusel007 — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Alexey Komarov — CC BY-SA 4.0
Yanartaş, the «burning rock», is a site on a mountainside near the village of Çıralı on the Lycian coast in Antalya Province, southern Turkey, about 57 km southwest of Antalya in a straight line. It was known in antiquity as Mount Chimaera. Natural gases, including methane and hydrogen, seep from cracks in the rock here and burn in flames that never go out. Some ancient writers thought these fires were the origin of the myth of the fire-breathing Chimera. Pliny the Elder described it as burning «with a flame that does not die by day or night», near the ancient Lycian city of Phaselis. Dozens of small yellow and orange flames dance from cracks in a grey rocky slope amid pine forest, with the rocks around them blackened by smoke. The scene is magical after sunset, when the fires light up the dark hillside. Visitors climb a short, steep stone path from the car park to the flames in about half an hour. Many come in the evening, so bring a torch for the way down; the visit pairs well with the nearby ruins of Olympos.
From the rock.
A lit hillside.
Around the site.
Near Çıralı, Kumluca, Antalya, Turkey
After sunset.
A torch and good shoes.