The Ruins in Patara, what a site this was! Again we had set off to see more ruins not expecting too much. But what we found was an ancient city that has been excavated by the University of Anatalya continuously since 1988. The road had been diverted a bit because the team was excavating right at the main entrance. What a thrill to get to watch them actually working at the site. The original name for the city from the 13th century B.C. was Patar, a Hittite name according to inscriptions found. This city was the only city which had access to the sea, so it was very important for trade. For six months of the year it became the home for the oracle of Apollo. Saint Paul also boarded a ship at Patara for a journey to Rome. It is recorded that Emperor Hadrian and his wife traveled through Patara in the 2nd century A.D. As you go toward the beach, there is a very long white sandy beach. The longest in Turkey. On this beach the Mediterranean sea turtles, Caretta Caretta,lay their eggs, so part of the year the beach is closed during the evening hours as the turtles come to shore to dig their nests and lay their eggs.The locals try very hard to protect the turtles and to prevent poachers from killing the turtles. They grow very large. When we finally left the beach we had to drive back past the ruins again. As we neared the entrance gate we were in for a surprise. The team of archeologists had brought in a local fire ladder truck and one lady from the team was up on the ladder (extended up in the air, like a cherry picker) above the excavation site taking pictures down toward where they were working. We had a very good day. The one thing that really impressed me about this site was the amount of rubble ruins that the team had catalogued and stacked in the fields for placement back on the site in the future. The fields were huge. If you look at the album of my photos you will see these rubble piles.The Ruins in Patara, what a site this was!
To see more: go to http://picasaweb.gogle.com/lowdividroad/patararuins 
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