THE TRAIL CLIMBED STEEPLY THROUGH BARE TREES past crumbling walls of the lower city — three kilometers of treacherous ice and the snowy remains of winter. Cold wind mixed with sweat from our exertions while snow flakes drifted through the air. That was February, 2007.
Steeper than I remembered
The trail was still long today, possibly even steeper than it was in 2007. But summer sunlight filtered through the leaves while a chaffinch sang us a melody. Shorts and T-shirts replaced gloves and down. And once again we had Termossos to ourselves.
Theater
The theater, perched above the valley, was as wonderful as we remembered, the view just as spectacular. We were able to climb higher along the trail into the necropolis where hundreds of sarcophagi tumbled willy-nilly as if tossed by an angry god.
Necropolis
Alexander the Great, so the story goes, bypassed Termossos, allowing the city to swear loyalty rather than face defeat. If he only knew what he was missing he would have climbed the hill.
