SEE IT, SHOOT IT, PRINT IT

I went to South Turkey in late August and took a couple of trips to a deserted village by dolmus. Kayakoy (Greek: Levissi) is a village 8 km south of Fethiye in south western Turkey where Anatolian Greeks lived until approximately 1923. The ghost town, now preserved as a museum village, consists of hundreds of rundown but still mostly intact Greek-style houses and churches which cover a small mountainside and serve as a stopping place for tourists visiting Fethiye and nearby Oludeniz.

It was built on the site of the ancient city of Carmylessus in the 1700s. It experienced a renewal after nearby Fethiye (known as Makri) was devastated by an earthquake in 1856 and a major fire in 1885. After the Greco-Turkish War, Kayaköy was largely abandoned after a population exchange agreement was signed by the Turkish and Greek governments in 1923.

Its population in 1900 was about 2,000, almost all Greek Christians; however, it is now empty except for tour groups and roadside vendors selling handmade goods and items scavenged from the former village.

Kayaköy is presumed to be the inspiration behind "Eskisehir", the imaginary village chosen by Louis de Bernières as the setting of his 2004 novel Birds Without Wings (novel).