Bilkent Labraunda Team

The one thing I got most often from the people I met in Labraunda was “Ah, so you’re the engineer.” While it certainly was unusual for me to be there given my background, I was lucky enough to fulfill my childhood dream of taking part in an excavation. My stay in Labraunda was quite an experience. The site itself is marvellous, anywhere you look you can see parts of history, any rock you step on has probably been in use for thousands of years. It has a fine balance with nature where you’re surrounded by forestation but it’s not the middle of nowhere, and you may encounter the occasional lizard or most likely a spider. I even saw a porcupine once. The sunrise and sunset are quite beautiful and the night sky is visibly clear with no shortage of stars after about nine pm, which is refreshing after the rather blank night skies of bigger cities. The mountain air and the freshness of the water has something about it that gives you strength no matter how tired you get, even for someone such ...

Having just graduated from the department of architecture of  Bilkent  University, I truly had the opportunity to start discovering architecture in a way that I couldn’t experience reading textbooks. And here at Labraunda, I believe that I got the chance to experience something truly nuanced. I have travelled to ancient cities before, but there is no possible way of comparing the experience I had as a tourist with that I acquired here being a part of the team. Here, I was not a mere observer; but was a member that stayed, learned, documented and lived on the site. Being on the site all the time, I had the privilege to have a glimpse of the lifestyle that the ancient people once had here. And being deprived of technology and internet most of the time I would say, only enhanced this impact.  I must admit before I came here, I had very little notion of what it was like to live in the countryside and being so much in contact with nature. I am sure that just after I lef...