Video The ghost town that has been deserted for more than a century. How it became a fascinating place for tourists

Narrow streets lined with houses rising on both sides of a steep valley, an old well in the middle of the town and a few churches. All these are the ruins of a city abandoned for 100 years. Now, it is a fascinating place for visitors.

Kayaköy, in the Muğla province of southwestern Turkey, is a true ghost town. Abandoned by its occupants and haunted by the past. It is a monument, frozen in time – a physical reminder of Turkey’s dark times, writes CNN.

With hillsides dotted with countless dilapidated buildings that are slowly being swallowed by greenery and endless views of vanished lives, it is also a fascinating and extremely beautiful place to visit.

Just over a century ago, Kayaköy, or Levissi as it was known, was a bustling town of at least 10,000 Greek Orthodox Christians, many of whom were artisans living peacefully alongside the region’s Muslim Turkish farmers. But during the turmoil surrounding the emergence of Turkey as an independent republic, their simple life was destroyed.

Tensions with neighboring Greece after the end of the Greco-Turkish War in 1922 led both countries to expel people with ties to the other, the cited publication reports.

For Kayaköy, this meant a forced population exchange with the Muslim Turks who lived in Kavala, in what is now the Greek region of Macedonia and Thrace.

But the newly arrived Muslims are said to have been none too pleased with their new home, quickly leaving and leaving Kayaköy to fall into ruin

Among the very few who remained were the grandparents of Aysun Ekiz, whose family today runs a small restaurant near the main entrance to Kayaköy that serves refreshments to tourists who come to visit the town. The stories of those difficult years have been passed down from generation to generation.

“The Greek people were crying because they didn’t want to leave, my grandparents told me. Some even left their children behind to be cared for by Turkish friends because they believed they would return. But they never did”says Ekiz, who now sells handmade jewelry to visitors.

Ekiz says her grandparents’ family were shepherds and easily adapted to life on the outskirts of the city.

Slivers of that blue color can still be seen on the surviving walls of the approximately 2,500 houses that make up Kayaköy, although few decorative elements remain after decades of exposure to the elements.

Jane Akatay, co-author of “A Guide to Kayaköy”says that one reason the city was abandoned was probably “the palpable sadness that lingers over the place following the tragic events of the 1920s“.

“There were earthquakes, there were storms. The climate, the weather, the storms… everything had an impact on this interesting place”she says.

Tourists are fascinated by the ghost town

Today’s visitors pay a three-euro (just over $3) fee at a small kiosk on the main road before entering Kayaköy. From there, they can walk through its sometimes steep and uneven streets and alleys. Signs at the entrance point to the school, churches and water fountain.

Most of the houses, which were built in the century before the abandonment, have now lost their roofs and overgrown with crumbling walls. Some houses have pits in the basement, once used for tanning hides for leather (shoemaking was a common profession in the town). Many still have intact cisterns, which were essential for storing water in a city without plumbing.

“Drinking water was brought by donkeys”says Ekiz. She also sadly recalls how, in the absence of proper sanitary conditions, “Residents were using old cut-up clothes instead of toilet paper“. These rags were then burned as fuel or spread in gardens as fertilizer.

Ekiz says Kayaköy was a prosperous town and was once the main commercial center of the area, surpassing the nearby port of Fethiye, which is now a thriving urban center and popular tourist destination.

One of the most prominent buildings in town is the Upper Church, a large structure with faded pink stucco walls and barrel-vaulted ceilings. Unfortunately, the building is closed due to its state of disrepair.

Tourist: The city, a dark mirror of our past

On the highest point inside the city, the ruins of Kayaköy’s old school offer a view of the main church and the caselo. A Turkish flag flies on a pole above the building.

Looking at the scene from here, Yiğit Ulaş Öztimur, on vacation from the Turkish capital Ankara, describes Kayaköy as “a dark mirror of our past”. “This was once a Christian village, now what we see is a bitter reflection of what happened. And because most of the buildings are intact, you can feel what life was like here“, says the tourist.

There are marked hiking trails that pass through Kayaköy from nearby towns, but it’s easy to get lost in the streets. Some alleys turn into dead ends. Open doors and staircases beckon you everywhere (although due to the dilapidated state of many of the buildings, visitors are asked not to enter).

On the other side of the valley, on the winding streets, you can climb up to the small church. It’s a steep climb through rocks and pines for the last few meters, then opens up to the top of the hill.

Reflecting the culture of those who lived here, the church resembles the small classical structures often found overlooking villages on the Greek islands. It is a tiny, unassuming building with a domed roof and small glassless windows. The interior is completely empty.

Another Turkish flag flies here, bright red against the deep blue sky. And below, over a densely forested hill, lie the sparkling waters of the Adriatic Sea.