Whether you prefer idyllic fishing harbours, popular holiday villages or the remains of ancient civilizations attesting to more than 5, 000 years of history, culture and mythology, this region offers a holiday with something for everyone - nature lovers, sun worshippers, photographers, sports enthusiasts, sailors and archeologists -. Along the whole length of the coast, accommodation to suit every taste and price range can be found.

DIDYMA

Didyma is located near the village of Yenihisar (Yoran) in the province of Aydýn in the Aegean region. Here one finds an important sanctuary that housed one of the oracles of Apollo. In 300 B.C. the Milesians embarked on the construction of the largest temple in the Greek world. Although work continued until the middle of the 2nd century A.D. the temple was never finished. The Temple of Apollo (Didymaion) was the largest and wealthiest Ionic temple in Anatolia and was renowned for its holy relics, its treasury, its sacred spring and sacred laurel grove. Didyma was never a large city and its fame was closely connected with the existence of a sacred spring and the temple founded over it. The ancient Greeks merely took over the already existing sanctuary and reorganised it.

Didyma was connected to Miletus by the Sacred Way, the latter part of which was lined with sarcophagi and statues of lions and sphinxes. After traversing the entire length of the Sacred Way, all suppliants to the temple would assemble in front of the building and purify themselves with the water from the sacred well. They would pay to see whetheror not the god was willing to receive their request. The priests then entered the inner temple and communicated the question to the priestess of Apollo who had prepared herself by fasting for several days and purifying herself with water from the holy well. The priestess in the inner sanctuary would drink the water from the sacred well, chew bay leaves and inhale the gases rising from the well. She would then begin to utter apparently meaningless words and sounds, which would be interpreted by the priests. All the words uttered by the priestess were subsequently communicated to the suppliant by a priest or priests. Legend has it that it was in this way that Alexander the Great learned of his coming victory over the Persians.

The pronaos, or forecourt, to which access is given by thirteen steps, contains twelve columns. The ceiling decorations were of great magnificence, and the columns of quite exceptional height. It was here that the suppliants waited for the oracle of Apollo.

The word Didyma meant "twins" and was associated by some as being the meeting place of Zeus and Leto to have their twins Apollo and Artemis. Didyma was famed as a prophecy center dedicated to Apollo. It was not a city but a sanctuary linked to Miletus by a 19 km sacred road.