Turkey Day 11 - Afrodisias Roman ruins & drive to Bodrum

Robin and Grandma at the amazing Afrodisias Stadium.

Another road trip day, with everything all packed and us all ready just after 9am.

Today on the road trip we are going to stop at the Roman ruins of Afrodisias, which not surprisingly is named after the Greek goddess of love & beauty – Aphrodite. It was sort of on our way but still adds about an extra hour to our trip but was worth it as there was an amazing very complete huge stadium.

It was a bit strange to get into, as I needed to park outside the ruins of Afrodisias and pay for parking and then jump in carriages towed by tractors 500 meters to the entrance.

The site of Afrodisias is not that large and luckily was flat so was easy to get round with a pram and for a Grandma who was not keen on the steepness of some of the sites.

I have seen a well stadium persevered in Delphi in Greece, but the stadium in Afrodisias was even more impressive – there was original seating all around and it was one of the largest classical stadiums of the day at over 200 meters long.

Standing in one place with two photos taken in different directions to show the size of the stadium at Afrodisias.

Luke heading on down.

and then Luke running down the stadium.

Three Weller males running down the inside of the Afrodisias stadium.

Looking down into the stadium from one end, which had a gladiator circus built into it during later times.

Grandma looking into the stadium.

There was also this large monumental gateway called a Tetrapylon which impressed me – it has been reconstructed using the original blocks. As always in Turkey you can clamber all around and over these historical places which is fun.

Standing with the boys underneath the Tetrapylon.

Literally standing under the Tetrapylon.

Afrodisias also had this amazing council chamber called a Bouleuterion which laid mostly undamaged by being buried by mud 1000 years ago.

Robin and I sitting in the Afrodisias Bouleuterion.  

Afrodisias Bouleuterion

Robin was outstanding as always as he did all the pushing of Luke in the pram, it makes it so much easier for Julianne and me.

As you can see there were a number of impressive old buildings which made the trip to Afrodisias worth it.

Grandma at Roman ruins.

An impressive row of mass Roman heads.

The final place of visit was the museum which held lots of artefacts especially statues which all came from the area. A museum always seems more real when you are experiencing it in the location which the objects came from and you can relate where they were discovered and how they fitted into the Roman world.

Grandma and the Roman Governor.

Artwork showing Claudius defeating Britannia.

We didn’t get away until around 2-30 which was a lot later then I was hoping for but the car inbuilt GPS choose another route than planned which was shorter which was great news and we arrived in Bodrum just before 6pm. The Moonshine Hotel was tricky to find as the GPS only used one corner of the street regardless of the street number entered and it took a bit of tiki-touring to find it, but finally find it we did.

We unpacked and headed straight out to a really cheap Doner Kebab shop found in the Lonely Planet Guide. On the way we had to walk down this crazy street, which is so narrow with only about a foot of space for pedestrians and only a painted yellow line – quite scary especially with the pram. 

Walking down the crazy narrow street. 

We were so hungry we ended up getting several Doner kebabs and chips but we were all full for around 55 Lira which is a damn good price and makes up for the previous expensive meals.

Back to the room for showers and unpack for tomorrow’s adventures.