28 April 2025 Visit
to Kayakoy
After breakfast
we were transported to the shore by a dingy where a van awaited to take us to
the ghost town of Kayakoy, once a thriving town inhabited by Anatolian Greeks. Before the Turkish War of Independence in the
early 20th century, both the Turks and Greeks lived side by side in
harmony. However, in 1922 (after the
Ottoman defeat in WWI), part of the Turkish War of Independence included the
Greco-Turkish War where Greece tried to take back land in Western Anatolia that
had been part of Ancient Greece and the Byzantine Empire before the Turks
conquered them in 12th–15th centuries.
After Greece was defeated, their government accepted Turkey’s demand to
return to its pre-war borders. Turkey
then stated it was in favor of a compulsory exchange of populations between the
Greeks in Turkey and the Muslims in Greece.
The Allies of WWI abandoned their first treaty attempt with Turkey and
negotiated a new treaty which recognized Turkey’s independence and its
sovereignty over the disputed land with Greece.
This new treaty, the Treaty of Lausanne (the last WWI treaty) also had
the exchange of population provisions, so with its signing in 1924, the entire
Christian Greek population in Turkey was forced to return to Greece, while the
Muslims in Greece were returned to Turkey.
This town was abandoned and as the returning Turks did not want to live
there, it became a ghost town. Now a
UNESCO World Heritage Site, you get an
eerie feeling as you walk among the 600 abandoned homes and reflect on how
politics can affect human lives. If you
have read “Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernieres, this was the town that
inspired him to write about the waning years of the Ottoman Empire. While the
diplomates of the many countries who signed the Lausanne Treaty thought that
these people would be happy to return to their homeland, this was not the
case. Many, if not most, had lived all
their lives in either Greece or Turkey, and did not know the language or
customs of their new land. And their
neighbors and friends were not happy to see them deported. It was a sad story, but unfortunately, it
seems to be replaying in today’s world.
There is a very rocky trail that takes you up the hillside where the homes were built. Most of our group walked up this trail, but Bill and I took another easier trail and still saw about 6-7 of these abandoned homes. Today all that is left are the stone walls of the homes, and most of them including the insides of the homes have been overgrown with plants and trees.
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| Ruins of Kayakoy on Hillside |
Looking Down at Feithiye Harbor 
Ruins of Kayakoy Church 
Rocky Path up the Hillside 
Ruins of Abandoned Homes 
Abandoned Homes 
Abandoned Homes 
Abandoned Homes 
Abandoned Homes 
Abandoned Homes 
Field of Wildflowers Leaving Kayakoy
After returning to the ship, we had lunch and
just relaxed on the ship. In the
afternoon our gullet cruised to our first cove, where we spent 2 nights
as the captain was afraid that the weather was turning bad again and he did not
want to be caught in high seas. During
the sail we saw many sailboats that were in a sailing regatta. After anchoring in our new cove, several people
went kayaking. It was another quiet and peaceful
evening and even the weather cooperated by not raining.
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| Sailing Into Our First Cove |
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| Sailing Into Our First Cove |
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| Luminous Fish in the Cove |
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