messiestobjects: Discovering Occam's Razor In Ancient Aegean Snake Oil Tourist Traps

So I spent four days in that hotel on the Aegean Sea, which was in some seaside town whose name I still can't remember... another problem with tour packages is that they really don't encourage you to find stuff out on your own. As I said, never again. But also, again, the tours I went on were very interesting and on my own I may or may not have gotten to all of them, so there you go. On day one we did what is called the P.M.D. tour. Priene, a ruined Hellenistic (Greek) city where Alexander the Great spent more time than anywhere else on his world tour, Miletos, the city that stopped Alexander the Great and basically forced him to cool his heels at Priene until he could come up with a better attack plan, which he did eventually of course, and lastly Didyma, which wasn't so much a city as the almost 8th wonder of the old world. It was a Temple to Apollo which was never finished because it was too huge and I guess they ran out of time or money or whatever and fell just short of being a world-class wonder.
On day two I got to go to Ephesus... very neat place actually. It's the city where the Christians lived whom Paul wrote letters to, which subsequently formed the book of Ephesians in the New Testament. They got this huge Library facade there which was way cool, (The Library of Celsus in case you were curious) the prison where they chucked 'ol St. Paul into for a few years way off on a hilltop, and a very important social center for Romans, the Public toilets. They all used to hang out there, literally, do their business side by side in unwalled stalls, and talk turkey. Here's a pleasant demonstration for you:

We also went to see the House of the Virgin Mary nearby, where they say they've got proof that she lived there the last days of her life, all endorsed by the Pope and everything, and we should silently agree because we all know how infallible that office is.
Next day we hit Pergamon and the nearby Roman therapy center of Asclepion, which was nice, but not worth the three hour drive each way. On the last day we hit Hieropolis and Pamukkale, which are side by side. Hieropolis is another run-o-the-mill dead Roman city, but Pamukkale was pretty unique; It's this hot spring whose source is called Cleopatra's pool, because I guess she used to get all nekkid and swim there, and the water continues on down to this cool rock formation which I will describe by quoting wikipedia:

Pamukkale, meaning "cotton castle" in Turkish, is a natural site and attraction in south-western Turkey in the Denizli Provence. The tectonic movements that took place in the fault depression of the Menderes river basin did not only cause frequent earthquakes, but also gave rise to the emergence of a number of very hot springs, and it is the water from one of these springs, with its large mineral content — chalk in particular —that created Pamukkale. Apart from some radioactive material, the water contains large amounts of hydrogen carbonate and calcium, which leads to the precipitation of calcium carbonate. The effect of this natural phenomenon leaves thick white layers of limestone and travertine cascading down the mountain slope, making the area look like a fortress of cotton or a frozen waterfall.

All of the places I went to, except Didyma, which only had that really big Temple, had Greek or Roman colliseums. I have seen way too many of those at this point, and unless the Grand High Hypertrekking Counsil decides to begin awarding points for ruined colliseums, I really don't need to ever see another one.
Also, I woke up on the morning of the second day with a sore throat. Later that day, at the House of the Virgin Mary, I drank from the spring that comes out from under her house and which they say is Holy Water and cures many ills. The next day, I woke up with a really sore throat, sniffles, and a slight fever ache, and was quite miserable on the three hour drive to Pergamon, but of course I had to go as I likely will never be in the market for touring Pergamon again. At the Asclepion, the ancient ruined therapy villiage where the idea of antidotes was apparently discovered and where the medical profession first began using the snake as a part of their symbol, they also had a spring with an unusual mineral compound in the water and also is famous for possible healing properties, and so I drank that too. The next day I woke up with a full blown cold, the works. Really bad coughing, lots of flem, lots of achy breaky junk. So the three hour drive to Hieropolis and Pamukkale was not only absolute torture for me, but for my fellow touristers also. (I think I just made that word up.)
Pamukkale is also a famous theraputic area; Hot springs and minerals and all that. When walking about the area that is man-made, which they divert a portion of the spring water to so that tourists may walk about in the water and minerals in bare feet without stinking up the more delicate natural areas as has been done in the past, I slipped and cut open my foot and sprained my thumb.
So my conclusion from all of this is that either water which is Holy, strange, or theraputic as having healing properties is total bunkum, or I am the Antichrist and all mystical energies are aligned wholly against me. Honestly, I'm not sure which way Occam's Razor would cut on that one. I'm a pretty skeptical individual, so the first possibility appeals to me quite naturally, but on the other hand being the Antichrist would get me all the good seats at rock concerts, and would solve all of my moral dilemmas quite nicely, and that's a fairly simple answer, right?
Well I'm back in Istanbul now; Took the night train from Denizli near Pammukale. I love night trains, especially the sleeper cars. It's like you're not even travelling. You go into your cabin, plug in your laptop and play for a while, maybe hit the dining car for a tipple or two and some bad soup, pull out the bed and sleep, wake up and voila! You're in Istanbul. Much better than bus travel, hands down. Always take the night train whenever possible.
Anyway, the place where I'm staying at this time around has really great internet, so I've finally uploaded my Istanbul pictures to my smugmug page here, and will add more if I take any good ones in the next few days. I'll also be uploading my Cappadocia and Ruined Aegean Civilizations pix soon.