Day 112 – Our favourite ruins yet?

Pamukkale – Venüs Hotel

We were picked up at 9:30am for our trip the ruins of Aphrodisias, about 90 minutes away from Pamukkale. When we arrived there were already tour buses there – was this going to be too crowded? On the advice of the Lonely Planet we headed along the path in the reverse order – which worked very well, as for most of the ruins there was almost noone to spoil the photos!

The first ruin we saw was the tetrapylon, or monumental gate, which although not intact, was still impressive standing on its own in the middle of a green lawn. After that was the stadium, which had a long oval shape, and was very big, with a capacity of about 30,000. The last building we saw, the Sebasteion, was still in the process of being restored, but would have been an amazing building, especially given the various reliefs exhibited in the nearby museum.

We'd almost say these ruins were our favourite so far. - the qualities of the marble used to build the city meant many of the buildings appeared well preserved, and as the site was quite compact we didn’t end up getting “ruined out”.

After we returned from Aphrodisias we had a relaxing afternoon and evening at the hotel – tomorrow we’re on the road again.