Turkey Guide
The central and southern Aegean
Heracleia ad Latmos
Across Lake Bafa, most easily seen from the Ceri'nin Yeri pansiyon-restaurant, is a patch of irregular shoreline with a modern village, Kapıkırı, whose lights twinkle at the base of Mount Latmos by night. This is the site of Heracleia ad Latmos (Heraklia in Turkish) one of Turkey's most evocatively situated ancient cities.
A settlement of Carian origin had existed here long before the arrival of the Ionians, and Carian habits died hard, though Latmos – as it was then known – had far better geographical communication with Ionia than with the rest of Caria. Late in the Hellenistic period the city's location was moved a kilometre or so west, and the name changed to Heracleia, but despite adornment with numerous monuments and an enormous wall it was never a place of great importance. Miletus, at the head of the gulf, monopolized most trade and already the inlet was beginning to close up.
Heracleia owes its fame, and an enduring hold on the romantic imagination, to a legend associated not with the town itself but with Mount Latmos behind. Endymion was a handsome shepherd who, while asleep in a cave on the mountain, was noticed by Selene, the moon goddess. She made love with him as he slept and in time, so the story goes, bore Endymion fifty daughters without their sire ever waking once. Endymion was reluctant for all this to stop and begged Zeus, who was also fond of him, to be allowed to dream forever; his wish was granted and, as a character in Mary Lee Settle's Blood Ties flippantly observed, thus became the only known demigod of the wet dream. Later, Christian hermits who settled in the vicinity during mid-Byzantine times cleaned up Endymion's act, so to speak – in their version he was a mystic who after a lifetime of "communing" with the moon had learned the secret name of God. Once a year the anchorites, leaving their homes on the island cloisters, or in various caves on Latmos, converged upon an ancient tomb believed to be Endymion's. The sarcophagus lid would be opened and the bones inside would emit a strange humming noise, said to be the deceased saint's attempt to communicate the holy name.
The monastic communities, after producing a few minor saints, were dispersed for good early in the fourteenth century and little is now left of any of the Byzantine monuments. But when a full moon rises over the serrated peaks across the water, it is easy to suspend disbelief in all the legends pertaining to the place. Indeed Endymion's fate has exercised a fascination on many subsequent eras: Shakespeare declared "Peace, ho! The moon sleeps with Endymion/And would not be waked!", and four centuries later Keats added: "What is there in thee, Moon! that shouldst move my heart so potently? . . . Now I begin to feel thy orby power/Is coming fresh upon me."
Practicalities
The most common access to Heracleia is by boat from Ceri'nin Yeri. Tours generally depart between 9.30 and 10.30am, take twenty minutes to cross the lake, and allow just under two-and-a-half hours at the ruins – enough for a look around and a quick meal. Reckon on paying about 8–10YTL a head round-trip, assuming a group of at least ten people, plus site admission.
Alternatively, if you have your own vehicle, drive east to Çamiçi village (6km beyond Ceri'nin Yeri) and then turn left at the signpost ("Herakleia"). The ten-kilometre paved road leads through fields and finally a wilderness of Latmian boulders to the modern village of KAPİKİRI, built higgledy-piggledy among the ruins. Scattered in and around Kapıkırı are a few simple pansiyons and restaurants, and a campsite. The opening periods of most establishments are erratic to say the least, though most will open for the main May to September period. Selene's, near the waterfront ( 
0252/543 5221, 
www.bafalake.com ; Price: €14-24), is a good choice with basic rooms and a lakeside restaurant: it can also organize boat trips on the lake. Alternatively, the Agora Pansiyon ( 0252/543 5445, www.herakleia.com ; Price: €50-62) has basically furnished doubles and a restaurant arranged around a verdant garden, while the lakeside Zeybek Restaurant-Camping ( 0252/543 5158) has good views and serves moderately priced fish.