Twelve thousand years underfoot
Glass beads and stone tools that pushed the story of Marmaris back to the Palaeolithic, long before Herodotus.
Snow in July — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Erdalturkoglu — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Erdalturkoglu — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Snow in July — CC BY-SA 3.0
Thousands of years before anyone built anything in Marmaris, people sat in this cave drilling coloured glass beads. That is not tourist-board hyperbole: the excavations that Marmaris Museum and the municipality began in 2007 pulled around five hundred glass beads, stone and bone tools, small clay figurines and coins out of the floor, and pushed the region's human record back to roughly twelve thousand years, far earlier than anyone had assumed. In Roman times the cave served as a sanctuary; two sandstone female statues found inside it in 1998 led to its listing as a first-degree archaeological zone the following year. The cave itself is small and does not go far into the hill. There is no lighting beyond the daylight falling through the entrance, so patches of sun pick out the stalactites, stalagmites and shallow pools while the far corners stay dark. You may, sadly, notice graffiti left by earlier visitors; the site is usually unattended. The real point is the journey rather than the interior. From Marmaris you drive the Adaköy road across the Yalancı Boğaz causeway for about half an hour to what everyone calls Paradise Island, in fact a peninsula joined to the mainland inside Marmaris National Park, then walk some four hundred metres uphill through pine forest on a rough, rocky path, with the whole of Marmaris bay opening up behind you, before a stone stair drops you into the cave mouth. In practice entry is usually free: there is no proper ticket booth, though some sources mention a token fee of around twenty lira, so carry a little cash in case someone is collecting. The hours usually quoted are nine to six in summer and nine to five in winter, but daylight is the real constraint. Go in full daylight; late afternoon, when the sun sits lower and slants into the chamber, is the prettiest time, as long as you stay inside the posted hours. There are no facilities at all at the cave, so carry water and wear closed shoes. The path is no place for a pushchair, and it suits children from about seven or eight who enjoy a scramble. Is it worth the trip? Not if you are picturing a show cave with coloured lights. But folded into half a day on the quiet beaches of Paradise Island, it gives you the one prehistoric site around Marmaris you can reach in your own car without a boat, plus a lovely forest walk in spring and autumn. In August start early; the climb under the midday sun is hard work, even if the cave itself stays cool all year.
Glass beads and stone tools that pushed the story of Marmaris back to the Palaeolithic, long before Herodotus.
Four hundred rocky uphill metres with the whole of Marmaris bay unfolding behind you.
No electricity inside; in the late afternoon the lower sun picks out the stalactites and shallow pools.
Cennet Adası (Paradise Island), Adaköy, Marmaris
With children under seven or a pushchair, stick to the boat trip: the path is rocky and uphill, the stair is stone and the cave's edges are dark. With older children who like a scramble, pair the cave with an hour on a Paradise Island beach and you have a rewarding half day away from the town crowds.
At the cave there is no proper booth and entry is usually free, although some sources mention around 20 TL, so carry a little cash just in case. The Adaköy road to Paradise Island is open to cars; you may find a barrier across the last stretch, in which case park and continue on foot as other visitors do. Marmaris National Park charges, where they apply, are collected at other entrances to the park, not normally at the cave.
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