I’ve said it on previous trips and I stand by it, “ It all depends on where you get off the bus”.  In other words first impressions go a long way. But before I get to the lows lets talk about the highs.

We left Ephesus headed for Fethiye with a stop at Pamukkale along the way. Having our own car means we get to leave the beaten path, skip highways and drive through small villages. As we drove to Pammaluke we found ourselves in a small cotton farming village. Every vehicle we passed on the road was a farmer on his tractor. Every driveway had a tractor instead of a car. Eventually we found the only place in town to eat, so we pulled in and parked in between two tractors. We could tell right away that they were confused why two tourists were there. No one spoke English and they didn’t have a menu as they only made one thing, so we sat down and waited for whatever would appear before us. It ended up being a kofte sandwich to die for. We each had one and a drink each and the bill was $2. From there we headed to Pamukkale, a town famous for it’s mineral-rich thermal waters flowing down white travertine terraces. It’s located next to the ruins of Hierapolis, an ancient Roman spa city. We entered from the north end with no other tourists and hiked 3km through the ruins before reaching the crowds at the pools. The pools didn’t have as much water as we expected and some were completely dried up but it made them no less spectacular. We walked around for a while before taking a dip. Absolutely amazing place. Well worth the 2 hour drive. After spending a few hours there we jumped in the car and headed to the beach town of Fethiye where we had planned to spend 3 nights relaxing in the sand. The drive was another 2.5 hours through what we can only describe as one of the most scenic mountains passes we have ever driven. Up to this point we have no regrets with having rented a car. Budget airlines make it really cheap to fly but we wouldn’t give up the small town experiences for anything. Plus I love driving in foreign countries. It’s always a rush. This is the 10th country I have gotten to use my international drivers license in.

Then we arrived in Fethiye and one by one things went south. From the highs of an amazing travel day to the lows of a bad night. The hotel we checked in to let us down at every turn. No AC and no wifi. We switched rooms only to get a room with the AC stuck on 60. The AC got so cold it started dripping water so when we woke up half our stuff was drenched. We went to the spa only to be told we couldn’t use it because someone was getting a “special massage” in it and we would have to come back. This is where the “it all depends where you get off the bus” theory comes from. Had we ended up with a better hotel experience we probably would have loved this town but once things went south Alyssa just wanted to move on so first thing in the morning we hopped in the car and headed to Antalya another, much bigger town on the coast. A happy wife a happy life……