We woke up at 6:30 this morning and left at 7:30. Cyndi, Kelly, Kristin, and Alicia all had food poisoning from the chicken at dinner the night before, so we has to stop once before continuing our travels to Knidos. We stopped off at a store for the WC (which was a little gross due to the flies and feces in the toilet), and Cameron and I got our ice creams. We then traveled a few kilometers to the Tuna Restaurant, where I had a chicken kebob and 2 appetizers (the almond and squash one was great; the potato one was not to my liking). 6 cats stalked our table and meowed for scarps, which were given generously. Only 1 fight broke out between the tomcat, a yellow cat, and a grey cat long after the food had been eaten.

Our final destination in that area was the ancient site of Knidos. Amanda presented more on the Temple of Aphrodite than on the site, but it was a 4^th Century BCE site with 2 harbors, military and commerce, and had massive fortifications that were put in place after the second move from the first sight a few kilometers away with more fertile land. This site was a good example of Doric architecture, and its columns were mostly Doric in all of its temples and other buildings. The Odeon could hold 5,000 people, and there may have been another theatre as well nearby. Excavations started in 1812 and continue today with the British Museum and Conya University, with the focus more on context for artifacts rather than on the buildings present at the site. We checked out the site of the Temple to Apollo and its propylaion, which had “columns in antis” or columns put up in between 2 projecting walls. Our next stop was the agora section, which like many other Greek sites had a stoa or colonnaded walkway next to the shops, some of whose entrances were closed up. Our final climb lead us to the “Round Temple Terrace” or the Temple of Aphrodite discovered by Iris Love on the day of the moon landing. She was an heiress who became intrigued with the site and wanted to find the temple that held one of the most beautiful statues in the world. The Kneida Aphrodite was created from Carion marble by Praxitiles in 361 BCE with a clothed twin, and its nude form brought fans from around the known world to see it. One fan even slept with the statue, putting a stain on a form that was supposed to be pure, so the podium was continuously built higher to ward off other deviants. She has the face of one mistress and the body of another as well as male legs and lower back, which was considered the best body type. The Temple itself is a round structure built either around 360 BCE or in the 2^nd Century AD, depending on which archaeologist you talk to, with 18 columns of the Doric order. The East side had the altar, and there were two entrances to the east and west.

An almost 2 hour drive got us to Marmaris, where our gullet (Turkish sailing ship) awaited us. There is a dining area, a huge deck with mattresses all over, and rooms underneath the deck with 1 working outlet in each room which only work if we are docked. We were served salads, spaghetti, and sea brim fish for dinner, and will sleep on the decks in the evening while we are docked.There must have been something wrong with the fish, because I was up on and off all night with a horrible stomach ache.  At least the sunset was gorgeous….

Location: Marmaris, Turkey