Aperlai

Aperlai is located on the Sicak peninsula, near the Sicak jetty. A Lycian city, Aperlai`s history is known from silver coins bearing its name from the 4th or 5th centuries BC. Aperlai was the head of the Lycian Confederation, of which Isinda, Simena and Apollonia were also members. It is very difficult to get to the arcaeological site from the land, at about 23 kilometers (14 miles) trekking from Kas. We therefore recomment you to take a boat ride from Demre ports.

The city walls begin at the seashore and are fortified with towers at intervals. These walls, with their rectangular and polygonal construction date from Roman times. Other remains at Aperlai are all from the Byzantine and later periods. Inside the city walls there are ruins of a Christian church and chapel, as well as a cistern. The western reaches of the wall are in a rectangular shape. There are three gates in this wall, two of which are plain and the third one having an archway. The southern reaches of the walls are polygonal and in a bad state of repair. This side is reinforced with two towers and it is here that the main gate was located. Outside the walls there are typical Lycian sarcophagi with round lids all over the place, and a monumental tomb carved into the rocks. Some of the sarcophagi are in the water, suggesting us that the land was stilted towards the sea because of the many earthquakes it endured over the centuries.