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When Turkey country is heard by people or read by people, the
picture that registers or flashes on minds is, an exotic unique
world, a world living in solitude with own civilization, or
something antique, vintage or very old Muslim nation and culture.
Surprisingly, there are cities in Turkey like Fethiye; it is not
just a city but a modern city.
It is hard to believe but it’s true,
Fethiye is found in the province of Mugla. Mugla is a province in
Turkey that became known as conservative to tourists because many of
the places in that province retained their ancient fragments.
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Examples of those places
are the Iztuzu beach, Lycia, and
Dalyan. Fethiye is the
right destination for tourists who want modern lifestyle in Turkey.
Fethiye offers choices of accommodations like holiday villages,
luxury hotels, and apartments.
Although modern
city, some traces of antiquity are maintained to highlight the
contrasting effect of modern and antiquity to the emotion and
imagination of the visitors like in European countries such as
Greece, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, England and others. One
antique trace is an old town in Fethiye which is known for its
streets namely Hisaronu and Oludeniz. Another example of the marks
of antiquity is the remains of Hellenistic theater which is one of
the tourist attractions in Turkey especially during summer, because
Turkey gives special price during summer for those who want to view
this ruins. Ancient Greeks were fond of music and drama combination
of art that were performed in Hellenistic theaters.
When Europe entered to the age of renaissance from about mid 1300s-1500s, when
ancient Greek ideals were revived, this art of combining music and
drama evolved to operas. In 1920s, a new kind of art came from
operas, the Broadway musicals. There is a museum in fisheye city as
well, that is rich in ancient remains showing the succession of
civilizations that occupied the place, starting from classical
Lycia. The museum is called Fethiye Museum. Just in case, a traveler
passes in the ancient city of Telmessos which is also in Mugla,
Fethiye is inside it.
Telesis was the biggest city of Lycia. This
flourishing ancient city became known for its school of diviners.
Contemporaries know diviners as fortunetellers only. On the
contrary, in ancient era, they are treated as messenger of God or of
gods and goddesses. Those who want to be diviners were undergoing
initiations, studies, heavy disciplines and severe trainings. The
best diviners were hired as consultants or advisers of the monarchs
or kings. These diviners played a very important role before the
heads of Lycia declared war against Cyrus, the emperor of Persian
Empire and when Lycia was engaged in war with Alexander the great. A
diviner who became famous in the ancient world was the Greek Aristander whom Alexander the great regarded as the best diviner.
His fame started when he interpreted very accurately a dream of
someone that reveals the pregnancy of Olympias. Aristander himself
was a Telmessian. This ancient city also became part of the history
of the Roman Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church from the
11th century to 16th century.
When the Greeks occupied Fethiye, they
named it Makri, and became Fethiye when the Turks took over when
they defeated the Greeks in Greek and Turkish conflicts in the past
20th century. Another nice thing in Fethiye is, its strategic
location is also near the Turkish Riviera, where tourists can enjoy
beaches and more ancient left over’s plus good climate. The famous
ancient Roman conqueror Mark Anthony chose this Turkish Riviera as
wedding gift to his famous Egyptian fiancée, Cleopatra.
Another
historical trivia about this Turkish Riviera is, Saint Nicholas
spent some years of his life here. This saint was one of te saints
that Pope John Paul I decolonized in 1978, but this Turkish who was
once recognized as saint, is better known for giving gifts to
children every Christmas using slay as his vehicle pulled by
reindeers. His famous reindeer is Rudolf whose nose is red. His more
famous name is, Santa Claus. Buying and selling jewelries is another
activity in Fethiye that people enjoy.
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CITIES
