Olympos is out of this world: A narrow valley winding towards the sea; an antique city covered with a pine forest and in slumber for many centuries; an harbor and the clear blue sea... The imposing valley is dotted with wooden houses built on posts and trees.

The antique city of Olympos was built in the second century BC. It was impoverished after the raids of pirate ships and fell into decline when power shifted to other centers in late antiquity. It was briefly rehabilitated in the medieval period only to be abandoned again in the 15th century.

The mythological Khimaira is a fabulous fire-breathing monster with a lion’s head, a goat’s body and a serpent’s tail. In Yanartaş on Mount Olympos, underground gases tend surface and burn like a bonfire; this is the place that was known as the inn of the chimera in antiquity.