Laodikeia - Denizli

We are back from our short trip where we visited couple antique cities in Denizli and Burdur. As you can easily guess archeological digs requires lots of time, patience, and a lot of long term financing. Turkey has so many Greek and Roman sites as well as stone age settlements but very few of them rather lucky in terms of financing .For the last couple years Laodikeia antique city in Denizli is one of the lucky ones thanks to the financial support of Denizli municipality. While there was nothing substantial to see few years earlier, it is now one of the hot zones in archeology world.

Laodikia established around third century BC and dedicated to Laodike, the wife of the founder of the city,Seleukos King Antiokhos Its commercial activities and especially its wool and textile industries made it one of the wealtiest cities of its time. It was also home to one of the oldest Christian communities and ranked among the Seven Churches of Asia. One of the well known visitors of the city was Cicero. Its been known that famous statesman and preacher came to this city in 50 BC and dealt with some legal problems of the city.

Floor of the temple covered with glass so it is possible to see below which was the sacred room of the temple and it was used as the archive of the nearby church during the Christianity era. It was rather scary to walk on it..However hubby and his identical twin brother were mischievous as always...

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Autumn in Mediterranean..

Autumn in Mediterranean is all about

• new tastes along with the old ones
• bright new colors along with the paler ones
• empty beaches
• cooler mornings and nights but definitely much cozier
• seeing much missed sand lilies at the beach, but still enjoying the summer flowers
• much better sleep in cooler nights, much better swim in autumn sea..
• its not saying good bye to summer but enjoying the best of summer and autumn in a single day

Akdeniz'de sonbahar;

• eski tatların yanına yeni tatların eklenmesi
• canlı renklerle soluk renklerin bir arada olması
• bomboş sahiller
• serin sabahlar ve akşamlar
• özlenen kum zambaklarının tüm yaz çiçeklerinin yanındaki yerini alması
• serin gecelerde daha iyi uykular, en güzel sıcaklığındaki denize daha güzel dalmalar
• yaza elvada demek yerine, bir günün içinde hem yazı hem de sonbaharı yaşamak demektir..

September in Datca

I spent the weekend in İstanbul to attend the wedding of a dear cousin of mine.As its been almost 6 months since my last visit, it was pretty difficult to adjust the big city life; like waiting in the traffic for 2 hours to pass the bridge, to walk in crowded streets surrounded with impatient and sullen faced people, fast pace of life etc.Once again I feel that we are so lucky to be able to make the decision to live in this small Mediterranean town.

September in Datca is just beautiful. No more very hot days..Weather and the sea tempreture at its best with rather empty beaches to enjoy. These photos taken last evening by hubby, while Hera and I walking at the beach to collect some driftwood..

Geçtiğimiz hafta sonunu çok sevdiğim bir kuzenimin düğününe katılmak için İstanbul'da geçirdim. Son kez İstanbul'a gitmemin üzerinden neredeyse 6 ay geçmiş, ve her seferinde olduğu gibi büyük şehirdeki hayat beni yine şaşırttı..Karşı tarafa geçmek için trafikte 2 saat araba içinde beklemek, sabırsız ve asık suratlı insanlarla dolu kalabalık sokaklar, hayatın hızlı akıp gidişi....Yine her seferinde olduğu gibi, Datça'da yaşamaya karar verebilecek kadar şanslı olduğumuz için şükrettim..

Datça'da Eylül ayı ise tek kelime ile muhteşem. Artık o yakıcı sıcaklar kalmadı. Havanın da, deniz suyunun da sıcaklığı tam kıvamına geldi, üstelik bir de yaz kalabalığı her geçen gün biraz daha azalmaya başladı..Bu fotoğrafları ise sevgili, dün akşamüzeri Hera ile beraber sahilde dolaşırken çekti...