The highlight of our historical tour of the area for me was Cnidos, or Knidos, I’ve seen both spellings everywhere. This ruin of an ancient city is situated at the end of a peninsula about 18 miles from the seaside town of Datca.
It was a Dorian city of Greek Asia Minor and at it’s height was renowned the most beautiful city in ancient Greece. It was first founded in 4th century as a centre for art, but rebuilt in 360 bc as a port specialising mostly in the export of wine. Due to it’s position at the end of the peninsula it has 2 ports one on the Aegean and one on the Mediterranean. In the city there is a circular temple dedicated to Aphrodite the goddess of love where there was once a naked statue of the goddess watching over the 2 harbours. The city was so large and important that it had 2 amphitheatres, although we didn’t walk far enough to see the smaller one because the site was just so vast.
When we first got there we balked at the entrance fee of 8 lira each, but once we got in there we could see that it was worth every kurus! The site was well sign posted with information boards in Turkish and English. But sturdy walking shoes are needed as there is a heck of a lot of ground to cover to see it all. As with many ancient sites a certain amount of imagination is also needed, apart from the large amphitheatre, which is very well preserved, there was not a lot of structures left except the foundations and a few steps, partial walls and columns.
It was well worth the long drive from Marmaris and I would definitely go back again because we didn’t see it all.
Carole Gardiner
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