Herakleia under Latmus

Herakleia sits at the foot of Beşparmak - ancient Latmus - a mountain of colossal weathered granite boulders piled on one another, and the ruins are threaded among them: a Hellenistic city wall running kilometres over the ridges, a temple of Athena on a rock above the water, an agora, a theatre, a sanctuary of Endymion built against a boulder, and necropolis tombs cut into the stone along the shore. The modern village of Kapıkırı occupies the site, so houses, olive trees and goats are mixed in with the walls, and the local families run pensions and boats. Out on the lake are islets with Byzantine monastery ruins, reached by rowing boat. Lake Bafa itself was once the gulf that served Miletus, cut off by the silting Meander and now brackish. The mountain behind holds prehistoric rock paintings, several thousand years old, visited with a guide from the village.

What you actually see

• The boulder landscape - granite piled across the mountainside.
• The Athena temple - the small temple on a rock above the lake.
• The city walls - Hellenistic fortification over the ridges.
• The lake islets - Byzantine monastery ruins offshore.

When to go

April to June and September to November. Spring for wildflowers and water level; the site is exposed and very hot in summer.

Honest expectations

The access track is rough and a car is needed. Ruins are scattered over rough ground with no paths or signage - a village guide is worth taking, especially for the rock paintings. Facilities are village pensions only.

Nearby

Euromos and Labraunda are south toward Milas; Miletus and Priene are north-west.