Tuesday, June 28th
Weather - 89 degrees, sun
Plans - Atakoy Primary School, Ruins of Aphrodisias, Richmond Hotel
Sidenote - feeling so much better today. Still not 100%, but getting better. Thank the Good Lord.
Atakoy Primary School
I don't really have much to say about this school except look at how cute these kids are! For these rural youth to see American travelers is a big thing. They had a very nice school, and, as our tour guide Orhan explained, the rural kids receive a much, much better education than the typical urban kids in Istanbul, Izmir, etc. They were all very friendly and didn't speak much, probably partially because they knew little English and partially because they're kids under the age of 11. One of the ladies on the trip brought a bunch of gifts for these youngings, and they were delighted to see the frisbees, crayons, and candy. It was also funny to watch the kids do burpees with Mark - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_45YTyGcBI
Aphrodisias Ruins
Quite a find, this ancient ruins dedicated to the goddess of love was actually the site of a current town. A photographer from Istanbul took a ride into the countryside to take photos of camel wrestling, a previously popular sport in Turkey (yeah, seriously), but got lost and stumbled across a village that was built on top of this place. The locals used the old sarcophagi as water banks for their animals and even mashed their grapes in them to make wine. They took the seats from the old theater and used them to play backgammon, and the immense stadium, which you see a photo of here, was formerly a tobacco field. Absolutely crazy.
Our tour guide a special place in his heart for the man who dedicated his life to excavating this site, an NYU Turkish-American professor who spent 31 years here in Aphrodisias and even convinced the Ankara officials to pick up the entire town of 2,000 and move them a mile down the road to complete the excavations. Not as well dug as Ephesus, it has so much potential to be almost just as amazing.
Here you also see a photo of the entry gates, which I love the story. When this professor found the ruins, the Monumental Gates was the first thing he found. All that was there were the bottoms of the pillars, everything else he and his workers put together in jigsaw fashion until the nearly 40 foot tall structure sat very imposing on the fields of Aphrodisias. So did Mark doing burpees there in front of a crowd of Japanese tourists (LOL) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEW3Muq-dYA
Richmond Hotel
The only complaint I have here in Turkey is in each of the 5-star hotels we stay in, the Internet connection is awful. The views are gorgeous, the amenities plentiful (the Richmond was our second hotel we stayed at with hot springs), the food great, and the spoiling factor high. However, our Internet is akin to dial-up back in the 90s or worse. However, I'll be the first to admit - if that's my greatest complaint, I'm on one incredible journey; things could be much worse!
Speaking of the journey, tomorrow we have a very busy day. First we'll stop at the Pamukkale, and then we have a busy rest of the day.
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