From a Turkish hillside

Many years ago we stood on a hillside in Turkey, looking at the remains of an ancient Temple (Apollo at Didyma, I think).  We could see across plains towards the distant sea, where a river snaked lazily back and forth, back and forth. 

In fact it snaked back and forth a lot.  Far too much, we thought.  So we looked it up.

The River Maeander - or now Büyük Menderes River - originally Μαίανδρος (Maíandros) - is where the word meander comes from.  And even the ancient Greeks, apparently, used the river's name for a twisting, convoluted thing.

And it certainly showed.