Drive to the end of the peninsula — and it is a proper drive, the last stretch slow and winding — and you reach Knidos, one of the most beautifully sited ancient cities anywhere in Turkey. It stands on the headland where the Aegean and the Mediterranean meet, with two harbours, tumbled marble, and a theatre looking out over water so blue it hardly seems real.
Knidos was a wealthy Greek city, a centre of trade, science and art. It was home to Eudoxus the astronomer and, most famously, to Praxiteles' statue of Aphrodite — the first great female nude of Greek sculpture, so celebrated that people sailed here simply to see it. The statue is long gone, but its round temple base remains, and standing there it is easy to feel why the city mattered. There's a good, readable history of Knidos worth skimming before you go, so the stones mean more when you reach them.
Come prepared, because there is almost no shade and few facilities. Good shoes, water, a hat and an early start or a late-afternoon visit make all the difference; the midday sun on the headland is fierce. Give yourself a couple of hours to wander the terraces, the theatres and the harbours properly rather than rushing.
The setting is the real exhibit. Unlike the great restored sites, Knidos is quiet and half-wild — goats among the columns, wildflowers in spring, and often barely another soul. That emptiness is a gift; you get one of the classical world's great cities more or less to yourself, with the sea on three sides.
Many people reach Knidos by boat from Datça harbour, which turns the visit into a full day on the water with swimming stops along the way. Driving is quicker and lets you linger, but the boat approach — arriving by sea, as the ancients did — is hard to beat for atmosphere. Either way, save it for a clear day.