Day 12 – Wednesday 20 May

I am not missing food poisoning, however I do miss the super large and comfortable bed of the Yacht Classic Hotel and the stunning marina location. The Kayla Thermal Spa sounds very upmarket, however in this part of the inland country things are a little, um kitch? There is a cheapness to it, like it is trying to be something, but doesn’t get there. Being kitch, its kind of quirky and appealing in it’s own way though, and we have had a lot worse rooms. I think I adapt to comfort too well.

Good news is my digestion felt a lot better this morning, albeit I proceeded very lightly and cautiously at breakfast. It was a reasonable spread, and they offered a lot of dressed salads and 5 different types of olives. However, something in me is hesitant of the salad at the moment, preferring to have cooked foods or bread. Of course I am not a big bread eater, but think my digestion needs it to settle.

They even had an Anatolian soup for breakfast which I think was a revamped version of the tomato last night with the addition of some chopped pasta? Regardless it was tasty and I am a big soup fan, no matter what time of day it is. They also had some very nice sweet yeast buns with a Tahini paste on it – similar to the almond paste you get on a croissant. They were very good.

Whilst we were packing Vern called me hurriedly over to the window and to my delight there was a big stork wandering around the pool. I love these! Later in the day we saw a gorgeous little red toy poodle like our Bella with her mum and dad on a scooter enjoying the ride! No turtles today though…

Our attentive host Turgai came along and checked on us, ensuring our every desire was met, and once packed he was there offering to help with bags, more coffee and anything else for our journey. I think he stopped short of hugging us (or me) and giving us a kiss when we left… I certainly had two hand holds to Verns one hand shake. Turkish men are very good for the ego…

We put the link from our booking confirmation email for our hotel in Kusadasi into Apple Maps and set off via a toll way towards the coast. It was a fabulous wide and modern road and the drive was very easy at 120km speed limit. It scheduled a bit more than two hours which was an hour less than what we had researched it to be. Excellent. We were also considering doing Ephesus today and having a free day tomorrow if we felt like it.

As we had taken an lazy start, and a light breakfast we decided to stop at about 1pm at a roadside little shop area for a comfort stop and light lunch. There was no one at the place we chose but my antenna said it was clean and there were some delicious grill smells coming from a visible bbq/grill area at the front. It was very much an authentic local place to eat with virtually no English spoken.

We chose a mini shish type dish for 750tky, and yoghurt and turnip drinks. The bathroom was absolutely spotless and a pleasure to use. The meal was one of the best in terms of cooking and very enjoyable. The lamb cubes were tender, juicy and flavoursome. The little skewers were served on a hot platter on a stand, along with perfectly cooked onions and slices of flat bread warming on top. There were also a couple of jalapeño grilled, and a side salad.

With settled tummies we were very happy campers indeed. At the bill time instead of one to share we got charged for two – but it was really a big portion – too much for 1 serve, so I think the order got lost in translation. We didn’t mind at all as it was so good, and we managed to devour it all.

We really enjoy these impromptu experiences as they bind the holiday together and add to the memory of the key sites or experiences. That is both the good and the not so good. Fast forward as we arrived at our hotel according to the navigation, we could not get a visual and the location did not seem as seaside as we had booked. I hopped out and had a look down the side street – nope the Ilayda was not there?

I double checked and we realised the coordinates were wrong, and we were in a town something called Diddymo – not Kusadasi! We needed to be an hour up the coast…. Shit. As chief Navigator I take no responsibility for this, as it was the actual booking confirmation link that was wrong. Mmmm. You may wonder about the suburb name or street. Well sometimes these can be different or part of a bigger area – so no alarm bells there. Also the street – Ataturk blvd. There is one called that in every town – seriously.

We shrugged it off, and put the right address in manually and an hour later we were in Kusadasi. The drivers today have been a lot better than previously – until we got to Kusadasi town which is quite congested and narrow streets and zero parking. There was no place to pull in and check in due to building next door, so we found a street not far away and parked there (free of course). This was after going round the block (which is no mean feat with one ways etc.) 4 times.

Our room has lovely views, although we are on the first floor so there is a bit of noise. Nothing earplugs wont fix for tonight. After a settle in we decided to go downstairs to dinner to a well reviewed restaurant. The meal did not disappoint at all.

I had the salmon (from Norway) with saffron sauce and saffron rice. It was one of the best salmon meals I have had. Vern had the kofta with tomato and garlic yoghurt sauces and the portion was huge, and yes, they were actually juicy. They were served on shoe string fries amongst the sauces and it was a delightful texture as well as taste. I braved a raki again, and thoroughly enjoyed sipping the aniseed flavour as we watched a beautiful sunset over the Aegean Sea.