The Lycians were an important part of the Greek and Near Eastern worlds since they lived at the point where the two cultures intermingled at an important strategic juncture. The Lycians came under the twin influences of their neighbours. As a result they developed a very different style of art.
The Lycians were also one of the few non-Hellenistic nations of antiquity which could not be called ‘barbarians’. In fact, their image in antiquity was much like that of today's Swiss: a hard-working and wealthy people, neutral in world affairs but fierce in the defense of their freedom and conservative in their attachment to ancestral tradition. Lycia was the last region on the entire Mediterranean coast to be incorporated as a province in the Roman Empire and even then the Lycian Union continued to function independently. The Lycians spoke a language of their own, with their own unique alphabet, before adopting Greek around the 3rd century BC. Their many monuments, especially their beautiful tombs which embody their ancestor cult, still dot the entire landscape of the southwest coast of Turkey between the Gulf of Fethiye and Phaselis.
Lycian Way (Turkish: Likya Yolu) is a 540-km, way-marked hiking trail in southwestern Turkey, connecting Fethiye in the west with southwest of Antalya (the village and climbing centre of Geyikbayırı up on the mountains, to be more precisely) in the east along the Lycian coast.
The maintains and supports the route and sells the official guide The guide book's fourth edition was published in June 2014. Substantial changes were made to the trail in 2014, and are continuing, so check these sites for information. The CRS is developing an iPhone application for the trail, which will have the accommodate and transport on it as well as the best known map. It was expected to be available for the 2015 spring trekking season. are available for each route section and each community, showing accommodation, attractions, services, waypoints, and other useful locations in an online wiki for the Lycian Way. Trekopedia has developed an iPhone application designed to assist travelers on the Lycian Way. book from its web site. The Lycian Way is a great way to get a sense of true Mediterranean Turkey, away from crowded beaches, expensive resorts, and non-native palm trees.