Phaselis

🏛️ Phaselis: the city of merchants between pine trees and turquoise waters

📍 Location

• Located approximately 57 km southwest of Antalya, near the seaside resort of Kemer, Phaselis is based on a wooded isthmus bordered by three natural harbors.
• Enclosed between the Mediterranean Sea and the Bey Mountains, it offers a spectacular setting combining ancient ruins, wild beaches, and pine forest.

🧬 Origins and history

• Founded around 690 BC by settlers from Rhodes, Phaselis quickly becomes a strategic maritime crossroads between Greece, Egypt and Syria.
• In particular, it exported Taurus Mountains woods and the fragrant roses, which made it a prosperous city.
• She passed successively under Persian domination, Greek, Lagid, Seleucid, Then Roman.
• Alexander the Great stayed there in 333 BC, welcomed as a liberator.
• In Roman times, it experienced a new boom, before declining in the Middle Ages in favor of Antalya and Alanya.

🏯 Remarkable remains

• Main street : paved road lined with columns, of thermal baths, of stores, and of public buildings.
• Hadrian's Gate : monumental arch erected in honor of the emperor's visit in 129 AD.
• Ancient theater : small but well preserved, built against the hill, with a view of the sea.
• Agoras : three commercial and civic squares, witnesses to urban life.
• Roman aqueduct : impressive structure that brought water from the mountains.
• Byzantine Basilica : vestige of the Christian era, with visible mosaics and foundations.

🌿 Nature and atmosphere

• The site is wrapped in pine forests, of quiet beaches, and of coves with crystal clear waters.
• We can swim near the ruins, walk barefoot on the sand, or explore ancient ports by kayak.
• The atmosphere is peaceful and meditative, ideal for a contemplative visit away from the crowds.

✨ Why Phaselis is unforgettable

It is a place where history blends into the landscape, where each stone breathes salt and sun, and where the past still seems to float on the waves. Phaselis is poetic, discreet and deeply sensory — a forgotten city that still whispers its legends to attentive travelers.