Above the harbour at Fethiye the cliff has been carved into a Greek temple front. The tomb that Lycian craftsmen cut for a man called Amyntas in the fourth century BC stares out over the bay from about halfway up the rock, and once you have seen it you start spotting smaller tombs in the hillside all around the town. Fethiye sits on the site of ancient Telmessos, at the western end of the Lycian coast, where the pine-covered Taurus mountains drop into a wide bay full of islets. An earthquake in 1957 flattened much of the town, so the centre is modern, but the setting is lovely: a long waterfront with boats going out to the islands, and restaurants where you can pick your fish from the ice.
For a rider, Fethiye is the place where the coast road begins to show its character. The D400 heads east toward Kaş, Demre and Antalya, and once you pass the last tourist suburbs it settles into a rhythm of long climbs through pine forest and drops to sheltered bays, with views across the Mediterranean that make you want to stop at every layby. Surface quality is generally good, bends are broad and medium-fast, and traffic is lighter outside the summer peak. Be cautious in July and August, when minibuses and tourist cars clog the road and heat hammers the tarmac.
Ölüdeniz, about seven kilometres south, has the famous turquoise lagoon and the paragliders who jump from Babadağ, a mountain that rises nearly two thousand metres above the sea. Butterfly Valley and the ghost village of Kayaköy, an abandoned Greek town left empty after the population exchange of the 1920s, lie nearby, and the contrast between the empty stone houses and the busy beach is hard to forget.
Fethiye has about sixty thousand people, which means fuel, workshops and hotels in every price range. Breakfast at a local place can include honey, olives, cheese and fresh tomatoes, and the fish market near the harbour is a short walk from anywhere. The best months are May, June, September and October, when the sea is warm and the roads are less crowded.