THE LANDSCAPE OF TURKEY IS LIKE A MICROCOSM of the US, from sea to shining sea and all that lies between. And it seemed like we saw it all today on our marathon 600 kilometer drive from Konya to Ankara to Isparta. Rolling hills, pancake flat wheat fields, steep mountains, azure lakes, sleepy villages and two sprawling cities. Our Visa card covers rental car insurance for only 30 days so we had to change cars — and rental companies as it turns out. The Europcar website is truly rubbish so we changed to Hertz. But now we are set for the rest of our time in Turkey.
Mountain lake in Turkey
Murat from the Tiara Hotel way back in Bursa had told us about Sagalossos, a wonderful ruins high in the mountains near Isparta. It isn’t World Heritage — but neither is it mentioned in our guidebooks which really appealed to us — so we just had to search it out.
Saglossos then ... and now
Sagalossos dates from the 3rd Century BC. Alexander helenized the region but what we see today is mostly Roman. We wandered through the hillside site covered in wildflowers, peeking here and there among the ruins, always with an eye out for the new bird. At more than a mile above sea level, it was cold and windy with gathering clouds but we had the place completely to ourselves. Despite being ruined by earthquakes, everything you would expect to see in a Roman town was present — colonnaded street, theater, dwellings, columns — and the most perfect nymhaeum we have seen yet. Finally the rumbling thunder and the goosebumpling wind sent us scurrying back to the car for the wet ride back to Isparta.
