After a sleep in till 7am and a poolside breakfast we were off again in the coach to see 2 more historical sites.
The first site was Letoon. According to a legend, the nymph Leto was loved by Zeus and she gave birth to her twins fathered by him, Atemis and Apollo. Zeus' jealous wife Hera pursued Leto and chased her with the twins to Anatolia where she came to the place of Letoon. Here she tried to quench her thirst at a spring but local shepherds attempted to chase her from the water - until she turned them into frogs in retaliation.
The second was Xanthos which has a less pleasant history as it is remembered for the mass suicides that occurred there in the face of foreign invasion. In 545 BC the Xanthosian men set fire to their women, children, slaves and treasure upon the acropolis before making their final doomed attack upon the invading Persians. Xanthos was later repopulated but the same gruesome story repeated itself in 42 BC when Brutus attacked the city during the Roman civil wars in order to recruit troops and raise money. Brutus was shocked by the Lycians' suicide and offered his soldiers a reward for each Xanthosian saved. Only 150 citizens were rescued.
Our afternoon was free so I walked into the charming waterside town.
I have been watching ‘Turkey Has Talent’ with some amazingly weird acts…. like a woman with a performing monkey…. .a magic illusionist…playing the Pea and the Cup Game….. Number 61 is sucking a raw egg from it’s shell and giving animal impersonations…. Any singers?? now a juggler….. I cant stop watching.. I hope I can see it at the next hotel. It will be sad to leave this beautiful part of the world. Some folk say it is very similar to parts of the Italian and Greek coastline.
No comments:
Post a Comment