Kayaköy

Kayaköy, known in Greek as Levissi, lies about 8 km south of Fethiye on Turkey's southwestern coast. It was a prosperous Greek Orthodox village of stone houses, chapels, two large churches, a school and a customs building, its roots in the area reaching back to antiquity. Following the Greco-Turkish War, the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey removed its Orthodox inhabitants, and the village was never substantially resettled. Its several hundred roofless houses have stood empty ever since, cascading across the hillside.

Often called a "ghost village," Kayaköy owes the name to its emptiness rather than to hauntings, though the silent lanes and hollow doorways can feel eerie, and visitors sometimes describe a melancholy, haunted atmosphere. That mood reflects the human loss embedded in the place; it is presented as history and feeling, not as a claim of spirits.

Kayaköy is a poignant monument to the population exchange and to a vanished way of coexistence, now protected as an open-air heritage site. Its preserved architecture and cultural landscape make it one of the most evocative and historically instructive abandoned settlements in the eastern Mediterranean.

Kayaköy is protected as an open-air museum under Turkey's Ministry of Culture and Tourism and is open to visitors daily, with seasonal hours and a modest entrance fee; the Turkish Museum Pass is accepted. It is reached from Fethiye by minibus (dolmuş), taxi or a marked walking trail.

The site is an extensive hillside of ruined stone houses with rough, uneven paths and uphill sections, so sturdy footwear, water and sun protection are advised, and midday heat is best avoided. Visitors should treat the ruins with care and respect their fragile, historic fabric.