Aperlai, with its sarcophagi, sunken city, and spectacular Mediterranean landscape, is a must stop on a ‘blue cruise’.

The Lycian region, or ‘Land of Light’, between Dalaman and Antalya is a virtual open-air museum. Stubborn survivor of time’s depredations, a fragment of a sarcophagus, building or ancient city will suddenly appear before you when you are least expecting it. A tiny cove you enter as you sail the Bay of Inönü will greet you with a view to vie with the famous landscape of Simena with its sunken sarcophagus. This time it’s a single, smaller sarcophagus, patiently resisting time and the waves. Here, at the tip of Teke Peninsula, lies the ancient city of Aperlai on another peninsula, called Sicak, which projects into the Mediterranean like a mushroom, or an upside-down ‘T’.

LYCIA’S NATURAL HARBOR
We know of the existence of Aperlai, whose name according to Bilge Umar signifies ‘flowing strait’, from the A.D. 5th century silver coins that were minted in its name.