Aphrodisias and Pamukkale

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So now we are in a town called Pamukkale. We are only here for a night and then we are heading for Cappadoccia early tomorrow morning. But yesterday we went to a few more ancient ruins... the ones Priene, Didyma, and Miletus. Those were all really cool, especially Didyma because there were huge pillars and they were all standing. It reminded me a lot of the Temple of Karnak in Egypt. We ate at a little local place along the way and had an ok buffet there. But they had strawberries, which were amazing, so that made the meal amazing! I ate so many strawberries! And then today we stopped by a local stand and they were selling strawberries for 3 lira (about $2.25) a kilo (2.2 pounds). So we all bought a lot of strawberries, and they also are amazing. They must be in season or something here because they are so good and they are everywhere. Today it was super hot out because the winds are coming in from the Sahara. It's not windy here because we are far inland, but they said it was about 32 celcius, which is over 90 farenheit. So it was really hot when we were looking at the sites today. It was still way worth it though. Especially because the ruins were a lot cooler today. We first went to the ruins at Aphrodisias. There were so many there! And there were two theaters. We performed our pieces from Roman comedies there. That was fun and I think it went pretty well. Ingrid and I did a scene from Terence's "Adelphi" (The Brother). The next site we went to, the one here in Pamukkale, was by far by favorite. There who side of the hill by the site was covered in what looks to be snow, but it's a calcium bicarbonate compound, so pretty much hard baking soda. And there were hot springs all over! And at the top of this hill there were ancient ruins. The ruins looked pretty much the same as all the others, but it was awesome to have this very diverse landscape there. It is really hard to describe, so just look at the pictures 😊 Now we are at a hotel which is really nice. There is a natural hot springs pool here, which is awesome. The water is like a hot tub, but since it's all natural from the springs, it's kinda gross. It smells like sulfur and different metals and the visibility is less than two feet, but it was still fun to go in. Tomorrow we are heading for Cappadocia and along the way we are stopping in Konya, which is only a couple hours from here. But I think tomorrow's going to be another long day on the bus because Cappadocia is a long way from here. But that's ok, we are getting to see so much and it's totally worth it!

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Photos

A picture of algae
This one's just for you, Dad ;)