In which there are more ruins

After leaving Patara, we decided to call in on some more ruins on our way home, and decided to go to Letoon, which apparently has a mosaic and some nice bits of temple.
It took as a little while to find it, as we were lulled into a false sense of security by the fact that there was a sign post on the main road, which led us to believe there would be signs at the next junction, too.
This turned out not to be the case, but fortunately there were not very many junctions. The area is an agricultural one, and there were lots of big greenhouses full of tomatoes (we suspect that the greenhouses are more about preserving humidity than heat) and little fields with goats, and the occasional old lady cutting hay with a scythe. We found ourselves back at the main road, did a u-turn under the bemused eyes of a elderly gentleman and his 7 goats, and shortly after that, as we went along the road we hadn't previously tried, we turned a corner and came upon an amphitheatre, so we deduced we had arrived.

Letoon Amphitheatre

The caretaker seemed somewhat surprised to have visitors, but he happily interrupted his game of backgammon to sell us entry tickets, and then we were free to wander around by ourselves. The place is named after it's temple to Leto (who, as I am sure you know, was the mother of Artemis and Apollo) It was primarily a religious, rather than residential area, and had temples to Leto, Artemis and Apollo. The temples to Apollo and Artemis have been destroyed, but the temple of Leto, remains, and several pillars have been re-erected.

There are olive trees among the ruins, sheep grazing in the amphitheatre, and frogs in the water. And tortoises, although they are not very friendly!

amphitheatre with sheep

There were no other visitors, and we enjoyed wandering around in our own time.

And then, because we were, after all, on holiday, we went home, and then out to a wonderful fish restaurant. We didn't bother with a menu, we just ordered meze, and they bring out delicious little dishes until you tell them to stop.

I can't remember all of them, but we started with samphire, and later there was calamari with spices, stuffed mushrooms, hunter rolls (like spring rolls, but stuffed with cheese and prawns) curried baby octopi... I seem to recall a bottle of wine, too.

It was a good day.