Xanthos and the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus

Tower tomb at Xanthos

Man, yesterday was huge. I started off by getting up relatively early so I could see Xanthos, another one of the major Lycian cities in the area. It wasn't exactly on my way, but it wasn't too far out either, so I gave it a squizz. Now, the whole Indiana Jones thing was fun for a while, especially where you feel like you're in the middle of nowhere, but Xanthos is a Unesco heritage site and I just expected a little bit more. The theatre and a few of the main buildings were easily accessible, but the Necropolıs requires you to scramble through thick undergrowth. And it's not even wıld-seeming undergrowth, it's more like a garden that needs serıous weeding. And everywhere there was a serious lack of sıgnage. At very least they could have provided a little xeroxed pamphlet explaining some of the important ruins.

Mosaic floor at Xanthos where anybody can step on
and destroy them.

So then after Xanthos I took a pretty major detour. I added about 300 kılometres to my journey for the day, and all so that I could see what is left of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. The name might sound familiar to you, and that's because it was one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. The Mausoleum, unlike most of the ancient sites I've visited, lies right in the middle of Bodrum, a harbour town on the southwest coast of Turkey. Of course if all the sites were like this one, I wouldn't have had to visit any other city, but annoyingly the people of the ancient world had to build their interesting things all over the place. But more to the point, I had to drive through the centre of thıs annoying, chaotic city. This experience has made me decide to cancel my night in Izmir tomorrow in favour of staying an extra night ın Selçuk.
As I've alluded to, there is little left of the Mausoleum. The Pyramids of Giza are in fact the only wonders still standing. Now, the misleading thing about the Mausoleum is that its name might incline you to think that it was for some dude called Halicarnassus. In fact, that was the name of the city ın the 4th century BC, and ıt was buılt for the kıng Mausolus. So it's actually this tomb that the term Mausoleum comes from.
So I drove an extra 5 hours to spend 45 mınutes looking at a pile of rubble and get annoyed in Turkish traffic. But at least now I've been to the sites of 3 of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. Tomorrow I'm going to make that 4. (No, I'm not makıng a detour to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The 2000 kilometres would be too far out of my way even for me)
P.S. Halfway through uploadıng photos, this computer decided it didn't want to play anymore. I'll post the rest of the photos and what I did today tomorrow.