On a recent trip to Turkey I was astounded to find amazing Greek ruins in the Pamukkale area. That area is famous for its lime-deposited white hills and travertines, but what I found even more interesting were the Greek ruins beyond the hills and the spring-heads.
We sometimes forget how vast the Greek empire was at one time and there are so many remnants of those ancient times outside of Greece. I immensely enjoyed walking among the ruins and getting up close to the architecture and the detailed stone work. At times I was the only person walking in sections of the ruins, just imagining what the place must have looked like in those ancient times.