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KAYAKOYU - MOSAICS
OF CULTURES
 Beyond the Fethiye fortress going south,
if you follow the road climbing up to the slope some 7 km. you can come to a
magnificent lowland where Anatolian Greeks had lived until 1922. Greeks called
the town Levissi in the past. Kaya Koyu in the year 1922 during the exchange of
Turks in Thrace with Anatolian Greeks was evacuated and the new residents did
not take up the existing houses. Kaya become a “Ghost Town” as an abandoned town
after 1923.
 2 churches, chapels, numerous houses, schools, library, hospital, work—shops and
the other structures will be renovated soon according to a project which is made
by The Association of Turkish Travel Agencies and The Chamber Of Turkish
Architects. After the renovation, Kaya Koyu will serve as the place of “ Piece &
Friendship Village” and be protected forever.
From Hisaronu, following the road
leading to the west among the forests of pine trees, we reach Kayakoyu, about 3
kms. from Hisaronü. There is also a direct shortcut in the south of Fethiye.
In the years of 1900, Kayakoyu was an
important settlement center with a population of 20.000. It was vacated in line
with an exchange agreement signed between Turkey and Greece in 1924. Today
Kayakoy looks like a "Ghost Town" where two churches and a school are in the
process of restoration with the aim of establishing a village of peace in the
region. On the slopes, there are stone houses built in typical Mediterranean
style, not overshadowing one another, schools, churches, chapels, workshops and
other buildings, as well as intercrossing narrow streets, all of which ore
reminiscent of an architectural laboratory. Kayakoyu is under protection as a
prominent sample of the Anatolian cultural mosaic and will become a village of
friendship, peace, science and arts in the near future, when the restoration and
planning efforts are completed.
A few kilometers
 from Fethiye, climbing
past the ancient fortress and rock tomb of King Amyntas, the pine trees give way
to the bucolic landscape of the Kaya Village. Here a dwindling number of local
families till the land and tend their animals. Some of ld Greek stone houses
have been carefully restored to provide atmospheric and peaceful holiday homes.
Visitors can walk, cycle or even horse-ride around the pathways and lanes of the
valley pausing at the simple teahouses, restaurants and general stores or
continuing the few kilometers down to the Gemiler Beach. Perhaps everyone's most
vivid memory of Kaya Valley is the haunting choreography of the houses, shops
and churches of the once thriving Greek town of Levissii.
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