Very Big Columns!

Didim - ancient Didyma

Log | Esper | Spring 2008 | All Alone In Aphrodisias

Liz:

Didyma - needs to be seen to be believed

The next day was another early start and after a big Turkish breakfast served in the garden under fruit trees we set off for Didyma. We found our way there quite quickly and once again arrived before the official opening time and before anyone else. What can I say about Didyma? The site dates back to 8th century BC, but the ruined temple seen now is of 4th century BC origin. The scale of the temple is colossal and the whole structure is breathtaking. We scrambled and walked around it on our own for about an hour, unable to speak for most of the time other than to utter the occasional exclamations of wonder. All I can say is, see it.

"Our drive from Sirince to Didyma took us through a tiny little village called Akkoy. It's a weird dog-leg of a road that, in the blink of an eye, takes you through a village that looks like it's been lifted from rural France. What a shame we didn't stop off for a coffee. In fact it was as we drove through this village that I vowed to come back here again very soon, feeling guilty that we were sight-hunting and not taking in some of the lesser-known beauties of this fantastic Turkish countryside."

Jamie

We made our way home after Didyma, via Mugla (where we saw Sam, ate pide, and bought straw hats) and via the outlet shop (where we bought cotton tops for practically nothing). Arriving back in the marina we felt happy and refreshed.

4th Century BC columns

What a perfect weekend.

Lion of Didyma

Log | Esper | Spring 2008 | All Alone In Aphrodisias

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Didyma:
Didyma was an ancient Ionian sanctuary, the modern Didim, Turkey. The sanctuary containing a temple and oracle of Apollo, the Didymaion. In Greek didyma means "twin", but the Greeks who sought a "twin" at Didyma ignored the Carian origin of the name. Next to Delphi, Didyma was the most renowned oracle of the Hellenic world, first mentioned among the Greeks in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, but an establishment preceding literacy and even the colonization of Ionia. Mythic genealogies of the origins of the Branchidae line of priests, designed to capture the origins of Didyma as a Hellenic tradition, date to the Hellenistic period.

Source: Wikipedia