We relaxed for the morning, but went out for a couple of hours walk in the afternoon. The small ruins site of Claros is walking distance from where we are parked, so we headed that way.
We weren't actually planning on visiting the ruins site because I had read that it's not great and that the statues on display are all copies, with the originals in a museum in Izmir. However, the ruins site is free.
Max, parked on the right.
There is a little river beside us.
The river empties into the sea here.
I liked this house surrounded by an orange orchard.
Out for a walk.
In the very center of this picture is a small black dot.
It's a cave of some kind!
Zoomed in.
We decided to hike up to the cave. Only problem was that our road ended about one km further on at a gated private property and we couldn't find another way up there. Too bad... we were disappointed!
So we turned around and ended up at the Claros ruins site. We were pretty much walking right by it, and after all, it was free.
The site has had several excavations.
It always amazes us how far they have to dig down in most of these situations.
It's all Greek to me!
A sundial.
This is also a copy.
What the temple would have looked like.
What remains of the temple.
These statues would have been huge.
This is what is under the temple.
These arches are held in place by the weight of the perfectly cut rocks themselves.
No mortar.
We left the site and headed back to the main road via a farmers track that went by several fields. But on the other side of the track were rocks and small hills with lots of evidence of previous civilizations. This was all outside the ruins site.
There is lots of excavation that could still be done.
But this excavation stuff is very time consuming and therefore very costly. And it's not like there is any profit in it, so it has to be subsidized through government grants and universities.
Unless you do it yourself (as someone has done here), in the hopes of finding some gold coins!
Ancient tombs.
A perfectly round hole in the rock.
Strange.
It's hard to make it out, but I am standing on some stairs carved into the rock many centuries ago.
Back at camp, we found Yves and Katja relaxing outside in the sun. It was a really nice afternoon, despite the temperature not being really all that warm.
We are headed a little further south today to the ruins site of Miletus. We are back in familiar territory now as we had driven by Miletus in our rental car in November of 2020.
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And in Canada...
Those arches are amazing! You are scratching my travel itch, but maybe I'm getting too old to do all that alone, and the best I can do is follow you along the way. Thank you so much for taking us along with you! It's my rest reprieve from going out and shoveling some more Alaska snow this morning. (Getting too old for that too!)
ReplyDeleteIf you think those arches were amazing wait until you see the Miletos ruins!
DeleteYou can still be old and travel, you might just have to adjust the way you do things but if you are physically able to move around, and are able to think with a clear head then you can still travel. Perhaps doing an organized tour would be better suited for you, if you don't want to travel alone.
Brr...we are thinking of you up in cold Alaska right now and having to shovel makes it even worse! We hope that you can manage to get away and look after that travel itch of yours. :-)
Thanks, Ruth... actually I prefer traveling alone and the only organized tour I've taken (from Istanbul around Turkey with a friend in a bus with an annoying guide and a bunch of old biddies) burned me out on the idea. (After finishing my post-retirement job with the Peace Corps.) I've heard the ones from the U.K. are better, but at 75 years, I'm probably not quite old enough yet. Good that I can still shovel snow, as long as I take breaks. You guys together are the model of what I should have done decades ago.
DeleteSounds to me that you would have no problems still traveling at age 75. Maybe just go with a friend. We definitely getcha on the organized tour thing. We definitely don't like that option either, not even for day trips.
DeleteYou can still stay fit, just go out everyday and do some walking and try to do yoga or some strength training. If you can shovel snow you can do that and it will keep you fit and healthy, the trick is not too stop. :-)