|  Kalkan,
once the most important trading port in the Teke Peninsula
for the caravans of camels on the old Silk Road -
is a smallish town in the Antalya region. It used
to be the departure point for the Silk Road goods
that were to travel by ship to destination points
in the Ottoman Empire -- Eastern Mediterranean, Syria,
Lebanon, Egypt, Cyprus, Rhodes, etcetera. Now,
Kalkan is a tourist center for its waterways that
are nice for boating, after having been abandoned
by traders for more prosperous locales. Tourism
was helped largely during 1984 after the road between
Kalkan with Fethiye was asphalted. There is no specific
information on the founding of Kalkan - one of the
legends which is most widely accepted is that a woman
from the Island of Meis came with a boatload of goods
which she tried to sell to the villagers
around the Kalkan area. Her venture was successful
and other tradesmen from Meis followed her example
and actually moved to Kalkan about 150 to 200 years
ago, thus making Kalkan a small trading coastal post.
The original settlers were of both Greek and Turkish
origin and were subjects of the Ottoman Empire.
 Kas
is a small, photogenic town, first mentioned in Lycian
times as Antiphellos. Apart from overcrowded touristical
places it still has its typical scenery -- small white
houses with wooden balconies, the traditional market
on Fridays, boats that take you to different places
like Kekova or the Greek island of Kastellorizon,
from the lovely small harbour. An ancient retreat,
the scene of the oldest shipwreck known to mankind.
Welcome to bustling, friendly Kas with its palm-shaded
avenues and sidewalks and its picturesque peninsula
reaching out to the Greek islands – narrow cobble
stone lanes packed with shops spilling out their wares
of trinkets and carpets. |
