Although it is quite a long drive from Fethiye, approximately two and a half hours, Stratonikea is well worth visiting.

It is on the road to Bodrum, after Muğla follow signs for Bodrum and you will see the large sign for Stratonikea, on the right, a couple of miles after you pass through Yatağan and the power station.

In common with many other ancient sites in Turkey the remains of antique civilisations were, around 1500 years later, subsumed into an Ottoman Turkish village.

Since serious excavation started in the country it has been the custom to relocate villagers living in such sites, demolish the Ottoman houses and start digging with a ‘clean slate’.

At Stratonikea they are not only digging through Byzantine and Hellenistic layers, they are also restoring the stone Ottoman houses and there are still five families living in the village.
 
The photo shows the original entrance to the city of Stratonikea, which at its height had a population of 20,000. 

From here a marble way led right across the city to the theatre on the other side – archaeologists from Denizli University are digging the site.

Unfortunately we don’t have photos of the restored houses and mosque but it is well worth a visit, and should just keep better as more Ottoman buildings are restored and more antique remains uncovered.