{"id":1270,"date":"2010-10-15T08:57:51","date_gmt":"2010-10-15T07:57:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vintageholidays.co.uk\/?p=1270"},"modified":"2015-03-04T09:28:50","modified_gmt":"2015-03-04T09:28:50","slug":"lycian-rock-tombs-turkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vintagetravel.co.uk\/blog\/lycian-rock-tombs-turkey\/","title":{"rendered":"Lycian Rock Tombs, Turkey"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It may sound quite morbid and slightly creepy, going on holiday to visit funerary architecture, but in Lycia, on the southern coast of Turkey, witnessing the tombs of this culturally distinct land full of inscrutable people still gripping to an ancient past, really can be considered as being one a \u2018far-out\u2019 travel experience.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1271\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1271\" style=\"width: 350px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vintagetravel.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Famous-Lycian-Tombs.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1271\" title=\"Famous Lycian Tombs\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vintagetravel.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Famous-Lycian-Tombs.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"262\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1271\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The infamous Lycian Tombs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The most noticeable difference about the tombs of Lycia compared to ancient sepulchres in other countries and even other areas of Turkey, is that Lycian tombs are often integrated in the middle of cites, built on the coastline and on the top of cliffs. Compared to the usual more discreet locations of burial architecture on the outskirts of towns and cities, tombs in Lycia play centre-stage in the urban landscape, evidence of the Lycian people\u2019s pious devotion to the belief of afterlife, ancestor worship, and demonstrating their ties with eastern traditions.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The people of Lycia developed carving tombstones from the limestone in the region into an art form. A recent count revealed there are 1085 undamaged and totally unique tombs scattered across Lycia. Their intricate detail, distinctiveness, sheer antiquity and dominant position generate fascination and explain why Lycian tombs have remained popular tourist attractions for many, many years.<\/p>\n<p>Elaborate funeral chambers carved into the rock known as rock-cut tombs are the most common type of sepulchre in Lycia. It is believed that these crypts were constructed in the 5<sup>th<\/sup> century BC and their elaborate detail, carved beams and, in some cases Gothic arches, means these rock-cut tombs resemble the fa\u00e7ade of a timber Lycian house and are captivating to visit.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1272\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1272\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vintagetravel.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Lycian-masks-of-the-gods.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1272 size-medium\" title=\"Lycian masks of the gods\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vintagetravel.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Lycian-masks-of-the-gods-300x201.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"201\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1272\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The faces of the Gods look over the Lycian Tombs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Lycia is a beautiful and enchanting place and its ancient architecture and art is amongst the most spectacular in Europe, let alone Turkey. But it is Lycia\u2019s prehistoric funerary architecture that is just that bit \u2018extra special\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Cevat Sakir, the famous Turkish author once wrote:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cTake a blind man to Lycia, and he\u2019ll immediately know from the smell of the air exactly where he is. The acrid perfume of lavender, the pungent fragrance of wild mint and thyme, will tell him.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>There are many beautiful places to see in Turkey, but Lycia with its stunning landscapes, flagrant smells and spellbinding mausoleums could be considered as unsurpassable.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1273\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1273\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vintagetravel.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Lycian-Tombs-Ampitheatre.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1273 size-medium\" title=\"Lycian Tombs Ampitheatre\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vintagetravel.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Lycian-Tombs-Ampitheatre-300x201.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"201\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1273\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">You&#8217;ll also discover an ancient ampitheatre in close proximity to the Lycian Tombs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h5>Looking for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vintagetravel.co.uk\/villa_list.cfm?area_id=23&amp;offer=Villas in Turkey\" target=\"_blank\">luxury\u00a0accommodation in Turkey<\/a>?<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It may sound quite morbid and slightly creepy, going on holiday to visit funerary architecture, but in Lycia, on the southern coast of Turkey, witnessing the tombs of this culturally distinct land full of inscrutable people still gripping to an ancient past, really can be considered as being one a \u2018far-out\u2019 travel experience. The most<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,20,65],"tags":[95,96,211,582,666],"class_list":["post-1270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holiday-tips","category-holiday-tips-and-advice","category-things-to-do-in-turkey","tag-ancient-sites-in-turkey","tag-ancient-tombs-in-turkey","tag-exploring-lycia","tag-things-to-see-in-turkey","tag-visit-lycian-tombs"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lycian Rock Tombs, Turkey - Vintage Travel - Blog Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It may sound quite morbid and slightly creepy, going on holiday to visit funerary architecture, but in Lycia, on the southern coast of Turkey, witnessing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vintagetravel.co.uk\/blog\/lycian-rock-tombs-turkey\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lycian Rock Tombs, Turkey - 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