Friday, October 23, 2015

Day 164: Xanthos to Fethiye

Leaving Kas was a little tough... Giving that little town one or two more nights may have been a good idea, but we will have to add it to the list for future exploration. In fact, from what I've seen so far, I'd like to come back here and go town to town for four or five weeks - it's such a nice corner of the world.

As soon as we got in the car, it started spitting, but it didn't last long. The road got really picturesque along the coast again. We were headed to the town of Fethiye for two nights, but stopping abut halfway at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Xanthos.

At one point, we were slowed by the familiar (only to us... We'd been in South Asia for weeks before this and were very accustomed to animals ruling the roads!) sight of cows and goats blocking the road. Beth did her best worst impression of a goat which really took the rest of us by surprise.... Or more like shock and discomfort.... Yeah, that was a weird...sound....she made there.


We only had two hours total driving time today, and two thirds of the way through, we reached Xanthos.


The ruins of the ancient Lycian turned Greek turned Byzantine city were pretty extensive, but the real gem was the amphitheater. Again, there wasn't too much information on the site nor an opportunity to get any information from a guide. In fact, the only information placards they had there just had some statistical information on a couple of the sarcophagi. Nevertheless, we were happy to get out for a stretch and get time to explore the really cool amphitheater.


The girls took in an imaginary show....


After about a half hour of walking around, it started to rain lightly, so we headed back to the safety of the car. On the way, we ran into two really young puppies (that were really cute) and their parents, so we had to go through the "can we get a puppy" conversation again.

Road trip! Back on the road, it started really pouring. We stopped at a covered gas station to top up our tank. When the full tank stopped the nozzle from flowing, a black dog came over and propped himself on my door through the open window, seemingly looking for payment. And then we had to go through the "no we can't get a puppy" conversation again. Jeez!


On the long run in to Fethiye, we were all thinking,"why did we leave Kas?". It was raining hard, and the drive went though roads that looked liked the main street in Collingwood (no offence Collingwood, but you're no Kas!). However, when we got to our hotel right near the marina (and predictably for us, it stopped raining! :-)), we discovered another little corner of Turkey that was rife with character and walkable little covered pedestrian streets.

Our hotel was nothing special from the little alleyway entrance in the middle of these pedestrian streets, but it opened up to a cute, modern little boutique hotel which was another winner for us! To top it off, the only family room they had "unfortunately" had a problem with the bathroom, so "unfortunately" we were given two rooms for the same price.... Yes! Beth and I immediately came up with a plan for a two-adult date night.

There was a great little restaurant that had beef aging in a conditioned glass case with tables set up all over the covered street just outside our hotel, so we got the kids some takeout food, packaged them in to their room with instructions and access to Netflix, and we were out of there!

We have not had a dinner on our own in way too long. Some of that has been that the conditions for leaving the kids alone in their rooms or wherever have not been ideal, but most of it has been that we were really trying to use this time for the family...... But enough was enough! We had a great dinner with zero bickering, and it was just what the doctor ordered (however the Builder ordered a steak and the Director of Talent ordered a filet mignon!). Good times. Here's a picture of Beth with an empty chair beside her to document the occasion!

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