Intro:
New to this forum and found these holiday pics from 2 years ago which I thought people might be interested in. Lots of cool stuff here and I really should’ve got more photos of the interiors. Sorry if they’re not the best photos but hope to get better at this as I visit more places. I’ll also be revisiting this Ghost Town in July 2020, so will get better photos then.
History:
The Ghost Town Kayakoy village in Turkey stretches along the hillside not far from the ruins of Lycian city Karmylassos (or another Lycian settlement since according to some sources there is no proof that it was exactly Karmylassos) in 7 km from Fethiye. So what is Kayakoy Ghost Town history? In the XVIII century Greeks arrived here from Dodecanese Islands and founded a town here , it’s name was Levissi. In this quite a large town with about 3.500 homes the Greeks lived for centuries. In 1923 when the city had about 6,000 Greeks the "population exchange" was started between Greece and Turkey the Greeks were forced to leave the town. Kaykoy Ghost Town in Turkey was recognized as one of the World TOP 10 Ghost Towns according to National Geographic - a world leader in geography, cartography and exploration.
After the departure of the Greeks the Levissi city was renamed in a Kayakoy by name of a nearby valley - Kaya Cukuru (pothole from Turkish) and vacant houses were populated with Muslims that came from Macedonia. However the Macedonians did not like Kayakoy Turkey and they left the village - Kayakoy village became the largest abandoned Greek village of Asia Minor and it is called Kayakoy Ghost Town or Kayakoy Village.
Now Kayakoy Ghost Town in Turkey is open-air museum with 3.5 thousand preserved houses and three churches. The largest of them is the Basilica of Panayia Pyrgiotissa (has been built in 1888) is located on the right of the main street – it is really difficult to pass by this impressive building in the Gothic style. It takes your breath away when you come inside and see nobody but the bare walls.
https://www.traveltofethiye.co.uk/explore/attractions/kayakoy-ghost-town-turkey/
New to this forum and found these holiday pics from 2 years ago which I thought people might be interested in. Lots of cool stuff here and I really should’ve got more photos of the interiors. Sorry if they’re not the best photos but hope to get better at this as I visit more places. I’ll also be revisiting this Ghost Town in July 2020, so will get better photos then.
History:
The Ghost Town Kayakoy village in Turkey stretches along the hillside not far from the ruins of Lycian city Karmylassos (or another Lycian settlement since according to some sources there is no proof that it was exactly Karmylassos) in 7 km from Fethiye. So what is Kayakoy Ghost Town history? In the XVIII century Greeks arrived here from Dodecanese Islands and founded a town here , it’s name was Levissi. In this quite a large town with about 3.500 homes the Greeks lived for centuries. In 1923 when the city had about 6,000 Greeks the "population exchange" was started between Greece and Turkey the Greeks were forced to leave the town. Kaykoy Ghost Town in Turkey was recognized as one of the World TOP 10 Ghost Towns according to National Geographic - a world leader in geography, cartography and exploration.
After the departure of the Greeks the Levissi city was renamed in a Kayakoy by name of a nearby valley - Kaya Cukuru (pothole from Turkish) and vacant houses were populated with Muslims that came from Macedonia. However the Macedonians did not like Kayakoy Turkey and they left the village - Kayakoy village became the largest abandoned Greek village of Asia Minor and it is called Kayakoy Ghost Town or Kayakoy Village.
Now Kayakoy Ghost Town in Turkey is open-air museum with 3.5 thousand preserved houses and three churches. The largest of them is the Basilica of Panayia Pyrgiotissa (has been built in 1888) is located on the right of the main street – it is really difficult to pass by this impressive building in the Gothic style. It takes your breath away when you come inside and see nobody but the bare walls.
https://www.traveltofethiye.co.uk/explore/attractions/kayakoy-ghost-town-turkey/
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