The ruins with a beach.

STILL DAY FIVE of the Beaches & Ruins Road Trip: PATARA.

Our next stop of the day was Patara...this site combines ancient ruins with a beach all in one convenient location. The price at entry was only 2YTL ... a deal! As yet another bonus, some the ruins could be viewed from the car. It was really hot out so this was appreciated.

As we drove into the town area and then down the dirt road through the ruins, we could see that a recent fire had decimated the surrounding forest. Some of the stone ruins had been burned too. It looked terrible. It appeared that they had successfully saved the homes though... we could see houses standing perfectly intact, surrounded by black and orange scorched trees.

We parked the car at the end of the dirt road and walked down a long boardwalk to the long white sand beach. There were a good number of people there but it was by no means crowded (it's a huge beach). At first I was worried about the turtle eggs... it is a nesting beach. But then I saw a wire frame on the beach that marked (and protected) the location of a turtle nest. There must be people who watch for turtles to lay eggs, and then mark and date the spot. So that is good... no children will inadvertently dig up eggs as they build their sandcastles.

It was so hot and still, so we didn't spend much time there at the beach. We drove back to the picturesque theatre ruins. In order to view them properly we actually had to get out of the car and sweat a little. We explored the theater and a street with columns ... very nice. This was a good visit.

Back to the car and off to our next and final destination: Kas.