Turkish breakfasts are an interesting approach: they always feature fresh tomatoes and cucumbers and olives and cheese, almost always hard boiled eggs, and then fairly often a varying assortment of bread and jam, salami, fruit, cereal and yogurt, and of course tea (cay) and coffee (often instant… this is a tea country).  We have yet to get comfortable with the tomatoes, but the rest of it is usually pretty hearty and partly accounts for the junk lunches we’ve been having, still being rather full and feeling healthy from breakfast.  This B&B served the traditional version minus cereal and yogurt, so we were well fortified as we left on the hour’s drive to Sagalossos.

Sagalossos is another one of those uncrowded gems, perhaps (like Troy) because the last several miles of the road to it are narrow and winding and perched on rather precipitous hillsides.  Not tour bus habitat for sure, but well worth the effort to get there.  This was one of the highlights among all the ruins we saw on this trip, and that’s saying a lot because we visited so many.  The city dates from 1200 B.C. and, like most, shows the influence of early Greek and Roman culture.  Its most striking structure is in the upper agora and called the Antonine nymphaeum.  There archaeologists have restored the water pipes that originally kept this large and complex fountain full of water from a cascading stream, so that you can experience the setting in the same way the ancients would have.  This was also one of the sunniest days we’ve had, which heightened the beauty without adding to the crowds.  Next to the nymphaeum was the well-preserved bouleuterion (where civic meetings were held; you can still see some rows of seats) and a heroon (hero’s monument) to Alexander the Great.  It was so well engineered that you can still see the drainage channels and drain covers in the plazas.

Like many of the other sites we’ve visited, the final chapter for Sagalossos was written by a massive earthquake in the 7^th century A.D.  The sagging rows of seats in the amphitheater give poignant evidence of the earth movement.  But because the site is so isolated and was never conquered by outsiders (who tend to either burn and raze a place or pilfer all its building materials to construct their new structures), these stones are all lying exactly where they fell those many centuries ago, covered by dirt and vegetation but still an archaeologist’s paradise.  Returning to our B&B in Egidir, we once more opted for dinner cooked by our hosts, again fresh fish from the lake.  After collecting our dry laundry from the clothesline, we are ready to move on again tomorrow.