As we left Pamukkale, the tour bus stopped to let us have one last look. The tour guide brought bread to feed the ducks and geese, which made me very happy because I loved feeding the waterfowl when I was three years old (my mom later told me that I was very enthusiastic but she was worried that the aggressive geese, which were just about my height, would peck at my face).
The first new stop of the day was the Aphrodisias
Archaeological Site, but it was the second day in a row that I wished I had my hat: as with Pamukkale, the rays reflected off the stone surfaces and intensified the already-hot sun. I soon got distracted by the impressive ruins of this Greek city named after Aphrodite, the goddess of love. It boasted a stadium, monumental gateway, council house -- and, of course, temple of Aphrodite. Formally excavated starting in the early 1900s, the available evidence indicates a construction date in the late 2nd or early 3rd century AD. A local cat, who posed primly next to some open pomegranates, was of a more modern disposition.
I was starving by the time we got to the tour bus -- thank goodness for the fresh figs and pears that we had bought earlier, which held me over until our late lunch at a cute rest stop clearly created for tourists. As we ate the signature flat bread with minced meat and cheese, a singer and his parakeet serenaded each table.
Our tour bus continued on until we reached our final destination of the entire tour -- Kusadasi ("hilly
like Beirut," Mohamed said). The hotel had neon-colored drinks ready for us, which were so sweet that they made my teeth ache. Fortunately, our room offered a completely painless experience: as Kusadasi is on the Aegean coast, the room we were lucky enough to have been assigned had a view of the harbor. We watched the sun cast a soft pink glow as it sank slowly at first and then quickly into the horizon.
For dinner, we had four jumbo shrimp and a whole grilled sea bass (yay, I got the fish that I had been hankering for). The seafood came with salad, hummus, yogurt with mint, and pepperade. Tasty!
