Today went almost to plan but unfortunately the plan itself was flawed.  Because we have convinced ourselves that we are so unfit and so unacclimatized to the heat, we decided to have as easy a day as possible.  We picked out a hotel just over ten kilometers from our very nice digs near the old town and set off in its direction soon after eleven o'clock.  Of course by now it was already over thirty degrees and very humid.

Most of the ride was on a cycle path but we deviated from that so that I could buy a gas canister from a Decathlon.  There was a small park opposite the Decathlon where Leigh could relax in the shade of a big Ficus tree while keeping an eye on the bicycles.  After my visit to Decathlon we spent some time resting in its shade.

Heart

3

Comment

0

Link

Log in to comment or reply

From there it was only a few kilometers to the hotel where we had hoped to stay.  Just before we reached it we stopped for an ice-cream.   I suspect this could happen a lot over the next few weeks.   

Heart

2

Comment

0

Link

Log in to comment or reply

Of course we hadn't booked any accommodation so on reaching the hotel I wasn't particularly surprised to be told that they had no rooms available.  I suspect it was because we only wanted a one night stay.  Yok, the Turkish word for full is one that we hope not to hear much of but I am not sure it was used honestly in this instance.  So we moved fifty meters down the hill and took an overpriced and rather crappy room at the first pansiyon we found.

In retrospect there were a lot of things we could have done better.  This is the height of the tourist season and accommodation operators would probably prefer longer stays than a single night.  Arriving for an unannounced one night stay isn't going to incline them to be accommodating.   We should have also realized that a short ride to start off with is OK but a ridiculously tiny distance is not.  Although today was hot the route was quite flat and we had a refreshing headwind for most of the ride.  We were hot but  weren't dehydrating and our leisurely pace was one we could have maintained for another hour or two.

So for tomorrow we have booked two nights at a hotel just over forty kilometers from here.  The route is even flatter than today's although a lot of it will be boring.  Tomorrow's hotel is about nine kilometers away from the Roman theater at Aspendos so we will use the rest day to visit the theater.