The cliff tombs
Fourth-century-BC facades carved like timber houses, viewed from below only.
Ingo Mehling — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Rab Lawrence — CC BY 2.0 · ingostrutz — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Rab Lawrence — CC BY 2.0
An entire cliff face carved into houses for the dead: that is what you see at Myra before anything else. Dozens of 4th-century-BC Lycian tombs are cut into the rock with facades that imitate the timber houses of the living, complete with beams, doorways and little porches, some with relief carvings of the people buried inside, all of them hanging above you at a height that makes you wonder how the masons got up there. Climbing is forbidden now and you view them from below, which is honestly the best angle anyway. Directly beneath sits one of the largest and best-preserved Roman theatres in Lycia, rebuilt after the earthquake of AD 141, its stage blocks still carved with theatrical masks and its seats still lettered with the names of their owners. Climb to the top rows and you get theatre, cliff and tombs in a single frame, which is the photograph everyone came for. The site itself is small: an hour to ninety minutes covers it, and the scraps of Roman baths and a Byzantine chapel deserve no more than a glance. A second cluster, the river necropolis, lies about 1.5 km east outside the fence with no ticket, and includes the so-called Painted Tomb with its figured reliefs; almost nobody goes. Myra was one of the six leading cities of the Lycian League and later famous for its bishop Nicholas, the man who eventually became the West's Santa Claus. His church in the centre of Demre is a separate site on a separate ticket (17 EUR), and the Museum of Lycian Civilisations at the old harbour of Andriake is 5 km away, so the three make a full day if you want one. If you do not, Myra alone is enough. From Kaş it is roughly 45 km east along the coastal D400, about an hour by car; the ruins sit 2 km north of Demre centre among the tomato greenhouses that cover the whole plain. Dolmuş minibuses from Kaş to Demre run frequently, then it is a short taxi or a 25-minute walk. The ground is mostly level and fine for pushchairs, but there is almost no shade: in August come at opening or after 4 pm with water and a hat. Coach groups from Antalya and Kemer pack the place between 10 am and 1 pm, so avoid those hours.
Fourth-century-BC facades carved like timber houses, viewed from below only.
Among Lycia's biggest, with carved masks and seat-owners' names still legible.
Theatre, cliff and tombs in one frame, the picture you came for.
Alakent Mah., Dağ Dibi Mevkii, Demre, Antalya
The handful of tombs in Kaş are no match for Myra's whole cliff with a theatre beneath it, so yes, it earns the drive, especially combined with St Nicholas Church or lunch in Demre. Just do not expect more than ninety minutes on site, and if Lycian tombs are your main interest, Xanthos and Pınara west of Kaş are quieter, though a similar distance or further.
Largely yes: the paths from the gate to the theatre are level and paved, and children enjoy scrambling up the theatre steps. What spoils a visit is heat rather than distance, so go at opening in summer and count on almost no shade.
Sign in to write your review of this place.
No reviews yet — be the first.