A Medical Time-Out!

Hello!

I mean, if Roger Federer can take a medical time out in the middle of a tennis match, then so can I!  Very short blog today, as I think I have bronchitis and have been napping much of the afternoon.  For the past several weeks, my throat has been “thick” (if that makes any sense) but as I have had severe allergy problems here in Turkey before, I wasn’t altogether surprised – except then, the closer to the coast we got, the better I felt! (And yes, I am carrying the medication for Pink Eye, which was what I got here last time.)  I mean, I haven’t felt badly – I was just “aware” of my throat.  Well, I started coughing a couple of days ago, and basically spent last night awake, between bouts of coughing.  It definitely was not a good night.  So, this morning, I started the Z-pack (a specific dose of antibiotics) that we always carry with us when we travel.  We did go out for a few hours but then I was feeling really tired, so we came back to the hotel for a nap.  Up now, and it’s almost 5 pm, but R has pronounced that I am doing MUCH better, and am on the road to recovery!  (Of course, with all that coughing, I wasn’t the only one up last night…) So, after this preamble …

Up this morning around 8-ish, and down for breakfast about 9.  It seems that there are other people staying here, as there was a lady in to breakfast, and we ran into an American from North Carolina at one of the sites we visited as well. 

Klaros

Oracular Temple of Apollo

Really lovely breakfast buffet – including some most unusual eggs!  There were sunny-side-up eggs cooked and presented on a bed of peppers that were fabulous.  Also had the usual breakfast fare of cheeses, olives, salad parts, bread and even a chocolate pound cake sitting next to a HUGE container of Nutella!  (FYI, I took a slice of pound cake, but didn’t touch the Nutella … which is a statement that probably no one anywhere will believe.) 

Reassembling statues

R liked the way this column fell!

Some VERY big pieces on the ground!

Out about 10 and needing to get a few supplies in.  Most Turkish hotels do NOT provide Kleenex, and I just about ran us out of T.P. because of blowing my nose.  So, wanted to get our own box, as well as we both needed toothpaste and R wanted mouthwash.  Migros is the biggest grocery store in this part of Turkey, and there are two in town.  The problem, of course, is being able to find a place to park.  Eventually had to visit two Migros’ to get everything, and we still needed to find an Eczane (pharmacy) as I definitely needed some throat lozenges.  It seems that supermarkets aren’t allowed to sell even simple medications (aspirin, cough medicine, etc.).  Once I start coughing, it becomes basically uncontrollable without them.  Found a nice but very tiny shop down the street from Migros, and walked in with my Cepacol lozenges – and there, right next to the lovely pharmacist, were a stack of literally quite 15 or 20 different variations on a theme!  Just had to pick out the ones I wanted.  Got two different types, and hopefully that will do it! 

From Selcuk’s main street, we decided to look for a few other ruins in the general vicinity, and headed first to Klaros, which was about 10 miles away. 

Work going on under our balcony; I have to drive of that stuff!

Really an interesting site, although a lot of it is standing in or under water, and is still under excavation. Paste this link into your main browser (or press Control + Click on top of the link) for a complete run down on the site, as well as photos; it’s very interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claros We learned last year when we were in Greece that there were oracles other than the one at Delphi, but we had no idea there was one such oracle here in Anatolia!  Very interesting site!  We then attempted to find Colophon and Notion, but we looked but could not find the former, and there wasn’t really much left of the later.  Such is the hunt for ruins in Turkey!

Back to the hotel after that, about 1:30 pm and me to sleep, which really feels good.  R said he was able to use the box window for a nap as well.  Tomorrow, we are first going to stroll through Selcuk’s weekly Saturday market (our very first time here, we came in on a Saturday, and found the market rather overwhelming!) and then head out to sites as yet unexplored!

Stunning sunset from our window!

Much love,

m

xxx

Addendum: As we drove to the hotel yesterday, the normal route was closed because of street construction and we had to find an alternate way in. You know – you turn a corner, and suddenly the street isn’t there anymore?   It turns out that the city just installed new water, electricity and sewer lines in the area and the streets are a mess.  Today the mess moved to right in front of the hotel, with a squad of guys with shovels and a backhoe scraping dirt from one place to another with no clear plan in evidence.  All we are hoping is that they don’t rip up enough of the street to block our car.  Right now, our path has a few paving stones that we will have to move but, otherwise, our exit looks workable.

My HUGE chicken Shish

R's lamb chops

For now …

Back from dinner downstairs at the hotel.  There is another American staying here, named Rob, who joined us tonight.  He is traveling on his own, as he is Roman history crazy, but his wife really isn’t interested.  Apparently she’s a sports fan!  I can relate to that!  At any rate, R had lentil soup to start tonight, followed by the grilled lamb chops.  I had the chicken shish, which was excellent and thoroughly cooked!  Not much more to report, and we stayed talking with Rob for so long that now it’s time to hit the hay!

m

xxx