Aphrodisias : the isolated ruined city of Aphrodite lies some two and a half hours' drive inland from Selçuk, on flat, fertile ground surrounded by distand mountains. It owes its outstanding reputation today to Professor Kenan Erim, a Turkish national attached to New York University, who in 1961 began excavations on the site, and devoted the remaining 30 years of his life to the site. He is now buried here. The path leads first out toward the perfectly preserved theatre, originally made, then converted by the Romans for gladiatorial entertainment.

Nearby is the Agora and the theatre baths. Beyond the man-made hill into which the theatre is set lies the impressive Baths of Hadrian, with a handsome exercise ground in black and white marble. From here the path leads to the little odeon with nine rows of perfectly preserved seats, the most charming remains at Aphrodisias. Next to it is the so-called Bishop's Palace, with its delightful blue marble columns from local quarries. Beyond looms the gigantic Temple of Aphrodite itself, with 14 columns reerected from the rubble left by the earthquakes and by the building's conversion into a basilica (law court) in the 5th century.