26/08/25

We spent the morning at our lake pitch, doing jobs in readiness for our Dublin trip tomorrow. We’ve packed for Corrie for her 5 night stay in a Pet Hotel and two rucksacks for us.

After lunch we visited Gordion. This goes back to Hittites and was the capital of Phrygia. They both traded together until the Phrygians took over Hattusa, the Hittite capital. We didn’t visit the ruined fortress C9 BC, but the museum and Midas Tomb.

The museum flowed well and had English info boards. The pottery pieces are C6. There had been a fire at the fortress 800 BC and metres of clay were piled on top to make foundations for the new building, thus preserving artefacts often intact.

There are approximately 100 funeral mounds. Most were raided. The biggest, the Midas Tomb took 1000 men 2 years to construct. It is the 3rd largest in the world at 300m diameter and 55m tall.

The Midas Tomb is now believed to be Midas’ father, Gordion, thanks to carbon dating of the bones. So c.740BC. It was one of the few to have not been robbed so even the funeral meal dishes were still there. Inside is the world’s oldest wooden building inside a mound. In fact, the world’s oldest standing wooden building. It is constructed from juniper and pine. The timbers have been standing over 2700 years. Turkish miners carefully constructed a tunnel for visitors. It was a bit of a wow moment.

We came back to our spot by the lake.