Laertes is a picturesque village located twenty kilometres from Alanya and one hundred and twenty kilometres from Antalya airport. This historical town, which is said to have been founded by Claudius, is located at the foot of one of the highest peaks in the vicinity of the Jebel Ires mountain at an altitude of 900 metres and is surrounded by a chasm to the west, east and south.
The name of this town means "Great Ruins" or "Big Church". The ruins, also referred to as the "Ruins of Ancient Larta", were once home to churches, baths, wells, a small stadium theatre, columned streets, temples, baths, cisterns, and various housing and sacred buildings. On the south side of the stadium are the remains of a church with an apse and nave, with traces of light blue and red coloured frescoes in the interior. There are also a large number of inscriptions and mouldings depicting the head of an ox and the claws of an eagle. All these remains of ancient civilisations involuntarily take you deep into history. According to the remaining inscriptions, the state located in this area was in its heyday somewhere between the first and third centuries. Among the temples built here, those belonging to Caesar, Zeus and Apollo have survived to the present day.
The ruins of Laertes are a large number of monuments from the Byzantine and Roman periods, which attract the attention of a large number of tourists who are not indifferent to history and want to touch the ancient world. The road that leads to this town passes through banana gardens, which gives the town a special zest. Once here, many people are surprised by how harmoniously modern buildings and ancient ruins are intertwined.
