Şövalye Adası lies at the very mouth of the gulf of Fethiye, and local people also call it Fethiye island or Megri island. It is the only island in the area with a settlement on it, and its long narrow shape closes the entrance to the gulf like a door, which is what makes the harbour as sheltered as it is.
The name comes from the Knights of Rhodes, who lived in this region and used the island as a base; the remains of the castle they built are on it. The island has been important in defensive terms to a succession of powers — Lycians, Romans, Byzantines, the crusader knights and the Ottomans. The Knights of Rhodes held it for a long period through the castle they built in the fifteenth century, and the walls of that castle, which had been used in the Roman period as well, can still be seen, along with the remains of houses and cisterns.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Muğla as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 10.8 °C in January to 27.6 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in April, May, June, September, October and November; rainfall is heaviest in December (207 mm) and lightest in August (4 mm). Long-term means for 2001-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
