Don Curry becomes a theater critic

In the past few days, Don Curry visited countless ruins dating back to the Greek, Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods. One thing stood out to him. The best-preserved buildings were not private houses or palaces, nor fortresses or temples, but rather the theaters of the ancient cities. Some of them have been restored to be used in modern times, but even the ones that are no longer usable vividly evoke long-gone times when there was no cinema, television, or internet, and a visit to the theater was almost the only form of entertainment available to people.

After enjoying the usual good breakfast at the Hotel Belinda, today's program included several more ruins, and Don Curry would see more theaters. He started with the highlight, partly because the temperatures were not too high yet, and partly because the tour groups were still having breakfast. So Don Curry enjoyed the UNESCO World Heritage Site Xanthos almost all by himself. The theater of this Lycian city awaited him at the beginning, in very good condition. Only the upper rows of seats had been removed in Byzantine times to use the back wall of the theater as a city wall. Right next to the theater, Xanthos presented its most extraordinary feature: two pillar tombs towering about 5 meters in front of Don Curry. One of them, called the Harpy Tomb, was once completely covered with precious marble reliefs, depicting, among other things, harpies as soul carriers. While the originals are housed in the British Museum in London, copies could at least convey some of the former splendor. While the city site was quite manageable, Don Curry was drawn to the necropolis, which a recently marked path with white-painted stones led to in the wilderness beyond the ruins. Along the way, Don Curry discovered decorated sarcophagi or adorned rock tombs, even another pillar tomb rose in the middle of the landscape and demanded admiration. After completing the circuit, Don Curry saw the theater already filled with many people, the first tour buses started arriving.

So he quickly set off for the Letoon, the former spiritual center of the Lycian League, where there were the remains of 3 temples, a nymphaeum, and of course, a theater to admire. Don Curry also found the ancient olive trees on the grounds worth seeing. The ticket inspector offered him an extensive illustrated book about Lycia if he gave him a 10 € note. Don Curry gladly accepted the offer, and the man was visibly pleased with the valuable foreign currency.

Of course, the port city of Fethiye also has an ancient theater from the Hellenistic period, but Don Curry had his sights set on a very special monument on a rock on the outskirts of the city: the mighty rock tomb of Amyntas, carved into the rock high above the city. Don Curry first drove his car through the winding and steep streets to the foot of the rock, then he serpentine-climbed up to the tomb. Unfortunately, the destination did not quite live up to his high expectations: the tomb was heavily defaced with colorful graffiti on the inside and outside. The view over the city and the nearby islands was much more spectacular than the tomb itself.

By now, the heat was noticeably increasing again, and Don Curry longed for a shady place for a light lunch. In the restaurant right by the rock tombs, he was told that the chef would not arrive for another hour or two. Instead, Don Curry decided to drive towards his next destination, hoping to find an open restaurant with a chef on the roadside. A few kilometers past Fethiye, a sign pointed to lamb skewers. Decisively, Don Curry parked in the improvised parking lot and sat at one of the few tables under shady trees. When he asked for the menu, the young man named three dishes in good English: lamb skewers, köfte, or grilled fish - that was the entire selection. Don Curry had no desire for a whole fish or lamb skewers, but köfte is always a good choice. He did not expect much from this generally very improvised-looking place; he ordered a Coke Zero. Shortly afterward, the young waiter's father came to his table and spoke to him in Turkish, with Don Curry only understanding the word 'ayran' multiple times. When he revealed himself as a foreigner, the man still energetically but friendly insisted on ayran until Don Curry finally nodded in agreement. Then, water and cutlery were brought to him, followed by a basket of 5 self-baked extremely airy flatbreads (lavash), homemade butter, and a crumbly cheese. Then, a large plate of tomato-arugula salad arrived, followed by a sizzling pan with 6 köfte, grilled tomatoes, onions, and peppers. And to finish it off, the father proudly brought a large overflowing glass of apparently homemade ayran. Not only the ayran, but everything that was offered convinced Don Curry so much that he left only 3 breads and the crumbly cheese, even though he only wanted a light meal. Actually, a good concept: very few dishes, but really good and lovingly homemade. In the end, after having a tea, Don Curry paid 5 € (including tip) for the opulent meal. And once again, he learned that first impressions can often be deceiving. Only later did he discover that this 'Meşhur Ortaklar Çöp Şiş Fethiye' restaurant had extremely good reviews on Google Maps...

As he left the inconspicuous inn, a huge storm swept through the streets. Father and son rushed outside to better secure the sign for the lamb skewers. During the further drive, the wind repeatedly stirred up clouds of dust and dirt that swept across the road, obstructing the view. The sky had already darkened completely, with only a few spots still letting in the sun. Don Curry's next destination was also highlighted by the sun, making it easily visible from a distance. The ancient city of Tlos was built by the Lycians on a towering rock that allowed control over the entire surrounding area. Anyone approaching, whether friend or foe, could be seen from kilometers away. Today, a Byzantine-Turkish fortress crowns the highest part of the rock, and numerous Lycian rock tombs pierce the rock walls below. At the foot of the rock, the remains of a stadium, numerous other buildings, and of course, a well-preserved theater can be seen. Just as Don Curry left his car, a few raindrops fell on him. But this first shower ended as quickly as it had begun. Don Curry calmly climbed the rock plateau. Just as he stood directly in front of the ruins of the fortress, the sun suddenly broke through, creating an extremely dramatic atmosphere with the brightly illuminated fortress against the menacingly dark sky. Once again, Don Curry was in the right place at the right time! Only a few minutes later, the short burst of sunshine was over, and the dark clouds dominated the scene. After a leisurely descent and inspection of the various tombs, Don Curry wanted to visit the theater, which, however, is located outside the actual site and along the road. As soon as he started driving again, a torrential rain began - Don Curry's first real rain during his trip. When the rainfall temporarily subsided, he quickly took some photos of the theater and stepped on the gas to reach his final destination: the Saklikent Gorge.

However, the persistent rain changed his plans. Although he still drove to the parking lot at the gorge, he did not consider it wise to start a gorge hike along a mountain stream in pouring rain. So he decided to return to Kaş instead and there, under cloudy skies, witnessed the most spectacular sunset. Almost every balcony of the hotel was occupied by people in awe, taking pictures and being amazed...

It was not until around 7:30 pm that Don Curry set off again to organize a small dinner for himself. However, the rain also arrived in Kaş, resulting in the number of available restaurant seats suddenly being reduced to one-third. Almost everywhere, the chairs were already taken under canopies or inside. Finally, Don Curry found a place at a pide restaurant that had just become available. He quickly ordered a tuna pide and a Gara Guzu beer, one of the first Turkish craft beers ever and rare to find. When paying the bill, the 0.33l bottle cost as much as the whole pide, which was accompanied by generous portions of tzatziki and 'hot sauce'.

Satiated and satisfied, Don Curry once again looked back on a wonderful day. Once again, the common thread was 'theater'. Once again, he had seen three of them, in different states of preservation or reconstruction. Which one was the most beautiful so far? Priene, Ephesus, Pergamon, Myra, Xanthos, ... Don Curry had not made a hasty choice yet. The coming days would provide more theater buildings for him to inspect and appreciate. After all, he was now a theater critic...