greetings from Ruins Central!

Priene, Miletus & Didyma, Turkey
October 25, 2005

Yesterday was the big Ruins Day for Frank and me. Actually, we had a wonderful time despite the fact that we spent the day on a dreaded "tour". Really, it was the only way to see everything we wanted to in one day--and they said "no shopping stops, promise!" (there was one tiny exception to this rule, but we did manage to wriggle out of it...)

Our first stop was the ancient Hellenic city of Priene, built at the base of a giant stony mountain. Picture 1 is of the Athena Temple at Priene. I think this is one of my favorite pictures because the pieces of fallen columns all around remind me of the giant cogs in some ancient (and humongous) factory.

Picture 2 is a remarkably well preserved theater--this one seating only 6,000 people, but the seats still have some lovely stone work.

More on Priene: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priene

Next we travelled to Miletus, another of the famous cities of this era (400BC to about 400 AD). The Roman Baths (partially pictured in Pic 3) are the largest in this province in Turkey--can you see the lovely stone lion? (Foryou lovers of "The Narnia Series", the word "aslan" in Turkish means" lion".) This city was not as well preserved as some of the others, but still worth the wander around. More on Miletus: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miletus

Finally, on to the Apollo Temple at Didima, site of great pilgrimages to the Oracle who lived there. This place was spectacular! Picture 4 shows an overview of this enormous place.

Picture 5 shows Frank kindly giving some scale to the enormous columns, most of which only remain only partially intact.

Finally, my favorite picture, which is also from Apollo's Temple. Behind the temple lies this fallen column, a giant of a thing, which reminded me for ALL the world of a giant, giant sausage, cut in thick slices on a cuttingboard. More on Didyma: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didyma

Today was our day for the Greek Island of Samos, a fairly forgettable experience, and perhaps the subject of another e-mail...but I doubt it.

We are off in the morning for another adventure in another part of the country. Stay tuned.