Day 7: Perge and the Waterfall

today was another fun day! we got up early (again) and drove about half an hour to an old amphiteatre. it was only half of a circle, but still very impressive. we had fun climbing up and down the eroded steps and taking pictures all over. while were leaving, we spotted four little kittens underneath a gate! naturally, being girls, jenna and brooke and i picked them up and played with them. so cute :]

after leaving the amphitheatre, we went to the ancient city of perge. it was destroyed but earthquakes over thousands of years, but there are still walls and columns standing . we walked down the stone road just like people did many years before. we saw beautiful examples of all the types of columns. i couldn't believe the detail in the leaves on the ionic ones. we posed on pedestals that had lost their statues and climbed all of the rocks. apparently ephesus is much more amazing... i can't wait!

after this we went to the anatolia museum and saw the majority of the marble statues that were missing from perge. later on in class, john told us about part of the hercules statue we saw. he said that the leg that was missing was recently found in the collection in boston's museum. turkey and the u.s. are now negotiating the return of hercules' leg.

then we went to lunch on the coast. we had a beautiful view while we ate fish (whole with the head and bones!). very tricky.

the last stop was the best of the day. we drove to a waterfall and hiked down to it. it was absolutely breathtaking. we stayed for quite a while and took SO many pictures. we even convinced our tour guide sevim to get in one! we all like her a lot. there was a small stone bridge crossing the river so you could see it from all angles. there was even a little platform behind the water. jenna, brooke, and i got drenched taking pictures back there because we took so many!

we came back to the hotel, had class, and then jenna and i were going to go to the beach and then eat dinner. we went down to the restaurant to give her roommate the key, but got suckered into eating right away because they were serving watermelon. after dinner, we recr uited a few more girls to walk the few minutes to the beach. it turned out to be nothing but rocks, which was hard and slightly painful to walk on. there was a slope down right at the water's edge. naturally, i was the first one in the water, but it was cold so i tried to run back up the hill and up of the water. let me just say that big, loose rocks are impossible to climb. i was on my hands and knees trying to get out of the water. it attracted a lot of stares and laughs from the locals.

i came up to jenna's room and, after a while, we heard lots of cheering and honking. there were even fireworks in the distance. we were out on her balcony watching when a huge group of people flooded the street in front of the hotel and started setting off fireworks and sparklers. they were waving flags that looked israeli or something else and for a terrifying moment i thought they were burning them. they even started rocking a car back and forth on the street. we were videoing it because we really thought we were witnessing a riot. apparently people were just really excited about a soccer match though hahaha. it's been over and hour and the incessant honking and blinking hazard lights of cars driving by still has not stopped. guess they liked the outcome of the game.

tomorrow we drive to pamukkale. only a few more days left in turkey! greece has been my number one destination for so long, but i feel like i would give it up to stay here. goodnight!