I am really loving Turkish hotel breakfast buffets. They are typically bread with sesame seeds, eggs-to-order, cucumber, tomatoes, olives, cheeses, and then a variety of fresh fruits and jams. it’s the perfect mix of healthy yet filling. After eating a bunch of melon and apricots this morning, Nick said “I think this trip might turn me into a fruit for breakfast person”.

We put on our bathing suits and sunscreen layer #1 and went to get water and beach snacks. Today is Ice Cream Friday but at the shop Millie eyed something she has been wanting for a long time: a classic rainbow lollipop. We agreed she could have that instead of ice cream today. She was ecstatic.

We drove a very short distance from our hotel to Patara beach. The beach access is beyond the gate, so we had to pay €15 each to get in. A bit of a racket but feels like a bargain compared to Istanbul entry prices.

Since we were already at the ruins we did a quick walkthrough, but it was already very hot. Nick has realized that he can use Google translate to read some of the carvings. Who knows if it’s accurate since they are so old, but even seeing a few of the words come through feels like magic. Could the people who carved this ever have predicted this technology? This one made us laugh.

We quickly moved on to the beach so we could jump in the water to cool down. This beach felt very different than the last one we were at. There was soft sand instead of painful pebbles, and the ocean had more waves. The combo of waves and sand meant the water visibility wasn’t great, so no snorkeling. We took turns swimming with Millie in the ocean. She couldn’t get enough and after a couple of snack breaks and sunscreen reapplications we had to drag her away.

Throughout the day she would eat some lollipop and then put it away. It got smaller and smaller over the course of about 5 hours until it disappeared. Of course as we walked past the ice cream vendor a few minutes after she finished it, she wished she had chosen ice cream. Tough break sis.

We hung out in our hotel room to avoid the heat of the day in the afternoon. We made some itinerary decisions and booked a flight. I tried to deal with annoying health insurance / prescription things and then realized no one was answering the phone because it’s July 4th. I was annoyed to be sucked back into my real life for an hour.

We spent the late afternoon doing a repeat of yesterday. First we swam in the hotel pool and then we had the exact same dinner at the same restaurant because it was so good. If it ain’t broke…