Demre, Myra and the Sunken City of Kekova

The Lycian coast keeps three very different things within a short drive of one another: a cliff carved into house-shaped tombs, the church where Saint Nicholas served as bishop, and a stretch of sea with a drowned town lying beneath it. Seeing all three without rushing takes a full day, and that is exactly how this one is paced.

Ancient Myra was one of the leading cities of the Lycian League, and what survives most vividly is its necropolis. Dozens of tombs are cut straight into the rock in the shape of timber-framed Lycian houses, carved beams and pitched roofs included. The Lycians buried their dead high up, and from the ground the effect is a wall of stone doorways stacked one above another. Below them lies a Roman theatre where carved masks still sit among the fallen seating blocks.

Nicholas was a fourth-century bishop of Myra and the figure the world later reshaped into Father Christmas. The basilica in Demre that carries his name has been rebuilt and restored many times over; inside are Byzantine floor mosaics, faded wall painting and the broken sarcophagus long associated with him. It is a living pilgrimage site as much as a monument, and quiet enough for a guide to untangle the historical bishop from the legend.

Earthquakes in the second century AD dropped the shoreline of Dolichiste, on Kekova island, below sea level. From the deck of a boat you look straight down through very clear water at staircases that run on into the seabed, foundation courses and doorways. The whole bay is a protected zone, so swimming and diving over the ruins are not allowed and the boat stays your vantage point. Opposite, the village of Kaleköy climbs to a Byzantine castle, with Lycian sarcophagi standing knee-deep in the shallows below.

• Pickup and drop-off at your hotel door in air-conditioned Mercedes transport
• A professional guide for the whole route
• Entrance fees to the sites visited
• Lunch at a local restaurant and bottled water
• Insurance

Wear shoes you can walk uphill in — the ground at Myra and around Kaleköy is uneven stone — and bring something with sleeves if you plan to step inside the church.