Muzo, our bus driver, picked us up here at our Kusadasi hotel at 7 o'clock this morning. He drove us to Parmakkale, about 3.5 hours away. When we arrived, he dropped us off at a spot that was formerly a graveyard for Roman citizens--an area filed with empty sarcophagi. Also, we saw a tumulus reminiscent of grave mounds that I saw a few years ago when I visited South Korea. After a 1.5-hour hike, we came to the travertine flats and healing waters of Parmakkale, once the ancient Roman city of Hieropolis. I stepped into one of the upper pools, but wasn't as adventurous as some of our group members who waded through several tiers. In the healing waters tourists were swimming over ancient columns.
At 12:30 we boarded the bus and drove until 3 o'clock to reach Afrodisias. By that time, we were famished and tired. Turkey is European in eating habits. Lunch is never served before 2 o'clock, and it's taboo to eat dinner much before the sun goes down. We enjoyed a light lunch of fresh ekmek (bread), salata, and either chicken on skewers or a mushroom and cheese dish, with choice of yogurt and honey or watermelon for dessert.
Afrodisias, curently under excavation, was the capital of the Roman province of Caria by the end of the 3rd century AD with a popultion of 15,000 at its peak. We sat in the stadium, saw the remains of the gigntic Temple to Aphrodite, the bouleterion (council house), and the sebasteion (originally a temple to certain Roman emperors). We also saw wonderfully preservged freizes in the museum at Afrodisias. We were fascinated as we watched Turkish anthropologists with New York University graduate students and various laborers who were carefully working in two areas.
The weather is not as hot as it was a few days ago, thank goodness. We've had a breeze most of today, too. We've been on the go so much that we have not had an opportunity to even take photos of the lovely Aegean Sea.
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