Interesting places in Turkey

Not much is known about the city. However, finds prove that the settlement site was already inhabited in the Bronze Age.
It could be identical with the place Tlawa or Dalawa mentioned in Hittite sources.

Tlos was one of the initial six largest cities in the Lycian Confederation along with Olympos, Myra, Xanthos, Patara and Pinara, and like them had three votes.
The rock tombs on the acropolis mountain of the city bear witness to a long Lycian settlement.
The Lycian Confederation was an ancient federation of cities in the Lycian region of Asia Minor (today Turkey). While older research assumed that the federation had already existed since the 6th century B.C., today almost all ancient historians assume that it was formed in the 3rd century at the earliest. It was only in 167 BC that Lycia was declared independent by the Roman Senate.

During the Roman Empire, several representative buildings were built in Tlos, such as the theatre, a palaestra, the stadium and a large thermal complex with an attached gymnasium, from where one had a magnificent view over the Xanthos valley.

The Roman Theatre of Tlos, standing freely on a plain, was built according to a found inscription at the turn of time, probably under the Roman Emperor Augustus (31 BC - 14 AD).
As recently discovered during the excavation of the Limyra Theatre, the cavea of the Tlos Theatre was also built on a vaulted structure with a vaulted walkway running around the outside, similar to that of the theatre at Side. The stage house is completely destroyed, but has been excavated in recent years and expertly partially restored.

The theatre, like the entire city and several other cities of the Lycian League, was destroyed after a devastating earthquake in 141 AD. The Euerget Opramoas of Rhodiapolis also donated a not inconsiderable sum for the reconstruction of the theatre of Tlos.

In Byzantine times, a large, three-aisled basilica with a length of 160 metres and another church were built in Tlos. Although the town was a bishop's see, its importance declined.
Tlos is still today a titular bishopric of the Roman Catholic Church. The diocese belonged to the church province of Myra.

The last and inglorious highlight of the city was in the 19th century when the city regained regional importance when the feudal lord Kanlı Ali Ağa (kanlı = bloody) built a fortress on the Acropolis in order to exercise a brief but impressive reign of terror in the area.

You can reach Tlos from Antalya/Kalkan coming on the national road D400. Approx. 11 km after the village Eşen a road with brown signs branches off to the right within a small settlement. To Tlos there are still about 12 km to go from here.
Coming from Fethiye you drive first on the national road D400, direction Antalya. At the village Oğurlu you change to the D350, direction Korkuteli / Antalya. After about 1 km a road to Girmeler / Kadiköy branches off to the right. From here the road (still about 12 km) to Tlos is signposted with brown signs.