To the west of Antalya, Kekova Island makes an ideal day trip for travelers looking for a combination of sunshine, swimming and exploring fascinating historical monuments. Before the Ottomans, Byzantines or Romans, this remote corner of Turkey was home to the world's first democratic union, and its remnants now sit beneath the waves. , where the Lycian civilization was a peaceful union of states, dating back to about 2000 BC, and it included the maritime trading city “Simina”, which was subjected in the second century AD to a series of violent earthquakes that sank it under the waves, and it is still possible today to see the effects of the city clearly. A few meters deep in the clear waters of the Mediterranean, in 1990 the Turkish government declared Kekova Island and the surrounding area a specially protected area, and charter boats are allowed to cruise over it at a slow pace.