We get picked up late at 1030, instead of the pre-arranged 1000, but don't mind as we're running a little behind ourselves.We go to Mohammed's office first and are pleasantly surprised when he tells us that he's providing us with a free guide; maybe he feels guilty about yesterday.Anyway, our driver/guide seems very pleasant and we head off to Aphrodisias feeling more confident about the day ahead.

Aphrodisias was a small city on the southwest coast of Asia Minor named after Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love.The first formal excavations were undertaken in 1904-5 with the most recent excavations were begun in 1962 and the findings reveal that the lavish building programme in the city's civic centre was initiated and largely funded by one Gaius Julius Zoilus

We were transferred to the site entrance from the car park via a tractor pulled trailer, which was a pretty uncomfortable ride and vaguely reminiscent of the park tour at Great Universal Studios in LA.Our guide took us around the deserted site starting at The Double Tetrapylon, or monumental gate which is 20% restored and quite impressive, especially since it would have been the made entrance by which the city was entered.

Just around the corner, and butting up to the city's northern wall, was the stadium.Truly massive and elliptical in shape, we have never seen a Roman or Hellenistic 'arena' like it before.It measured 262 by 59 m and was used for athletic events until the theatre was badly damaged by a 7th century earthquake, requiring part of the stadium to be converted for events previously staged in the theatre.It is alleged to have had a capacity of around 30,000 spectators and the available evidence suggests that it was constructed in the late second or early third century AD.

Then to the eagerly awaited Temple of Aphrodite, which to be honest is bit of a letdown.The trouble is that the whole area has been plagued by earth quakes and the marsh land on which the site sits means that much of the area is submerged in bog or covered in water loving vegetation.That said, the Temple of Aphrodite was a focal point of the town but the character of the building was altered when it became a Christian basilica. The Aphrodisian sculptors became renowned and benefited from a plentiful supply of marble that was mined from a nearby quarry visible on the hillside.The school of sculpture here was very productive and, as we saw in the museum later, produced a myriad of stunning full-size statuary depicting scenes from ancient myth and legend and numerous sarcophagi decorated with designs consisting of garlands and columns, people, birds and animals entwined in leaves.Save for a few columns and the remains of a restored shop at the end there really is little to see now so we move on.

The Bouleuterion (Council House) is centered on the north side of the North Agora, of which little remains.As it stands today, it consists of a semicircular auditorium fronted by a shallow stage structure about 46 m wide. The lower part of the auditorium survives intact, with nine rows of marble seats divided into five wedges by radial stairways. The seating of the upper part, amounting to an additional twelve rows, has collapsed together with its supporting vaults. The plan is an extremely open one, with numerous entrances at ground level and several stairways giving access to the upper rows of seats.The auditorium would have been lighted by a series of tall, arched windows in the curved outer wall and seating capacity is estimated to have been about 1750 people.The Bouleuterion remained in this form until the early fifth century, when a municipal official had it adapted as a palaestra which usually refers to a wrestling ground.In the fifth century, however, it could be used to describe a hall for lectures, performances, and various kinds of competitive displays, as suggested by a number of inscriptions carved on the seats.Sadly, the platform is now something of a murky pond!

A sebasteion is a religious sanctuary dedicated to the worship of Roman emperors or gods and the one at Aphrodisias was jointly dedicated 'To Aphrodite, the Divine Augusti and the People'.It was pretty interesting, although somewhat ruined again but gave further evidence to the huge esteem in which Aphrodite was held.We walked to the museum passing walls of allegoric friezes engraved in stone and a black cat and were extremely impressed with the open layout and presentation of the museum.There were so many incredibly ornate statues, and engraved scenes telling ancient tales that after seeing just a few you actually become pretty immune to them.They're just more and more of the same which is pretty tragic.I think you really need to see just a few at a time, study them and savour the story telling.Walking up and down the marbles floors just does not do them justice!

After the fascinating, but somewhat numbing, visit to Aphrodisias, we went back to Pamukkale as Maria wanted to dip her feet in the healing waters.We resented paying the 20TL each to go and walk on the white, cotton stuff but on our way there saw an open park at the bottom of the hill.'Mmmmmm', we thought, This has potential'.We walked around the park to where we could see the water running off the healing hill and found a manmade runoff directing the water from the springs at the top to the lake at the bottom.We stripped off, and waded in the cool water, Maria cheerful that she was getting a free spa.We thought we were going to get told off when the security guard walked up to us, but he just smiled, told us it was free and had a few minutes to practice his English.60 minutes later, and Maria healed, we headed back to the Melrose to wait for our transfer back to Dinizli then onto Istanbul.We were killing time when who should pitch up but Bob and Lynnea.What a fantastic surprise.Of all the places in all the world, who'd have thought we'd see them again.We hugged and shook hands like long lost friends then sat down for a couple of beers before exchanging emails and receiving sincere offers to go visit them when we're in the States. We love these guys, we are so lucky to have met them, truly inspirational!!We had to leave way too soon for the 10-hour (2200-0800) trip to Istanbul but will definitely drop in on our new friends next year.

The coach was everything we'd been led to believe it would be; free wifi; personal TV screen (great if you're into Turkish soap opera); plenty of leg room; pillow.No sooner had we departed then the fantastically efficient steward was doing the rounds with free water, drinks and snacks.Save for the constant stops where you have to pay 50-75 kuros for the privilege of having a pee the trip was a joy and Anadolu is definitely the best coach company we've tried (Metro, Ulusoy, Nevsehir, Anadolu).We even emailed the company en-route to compliment them on their Service.