Hot bread and tomatoes.

DAY TWO of the Beaches & Ruins Road Trip: PAMUKKALE.

Our route had us drive back up north, and then east to Pamukkale. The drive is about 180km and was fairly easy (and boring), with a major highway all the way.

As we approached our destination, we made various stops for fresh (and very fragrant) strawberries, tomatoes, peaches, bread (still steaming from the oven!), and cheese.

We drove through the city of Denzali, then up to our hotel, which is located near the famous Pamukkale terraces, a natural phenomenon and the reason so many people come to this area. (More on that tomorrow after we've visited. ) We passed the gate to the site and saw dozens of tour buses and cars, and many, many tourists walking back down the path to the parking lot. Very busy! Things don’t bode well for tomorrow, so we will have to go as early as possible.

After a long meandering drive we found out hotel, the Colossae Hotel Thermal. It’s OK… nothing luxurious. They don’t cool the common areas and the lobby and hallways were so HOT! Our AC could not keep up and our room was warm all night.

We gathered our picnic foods and prepared a nice dinner on the balcony. The tomatoes were incredible…just like homegrown. The bread was still warm, 30 minutes after we had bought it! It was great with the tangy, slightly salty cheese. YUM. It was a great dinner, but it was scorching hot and our heavy red wine did nothing to cool us down or refresh us. Life is tough.

We’ll have an early night, as we hope to get up very early to beat the tour buses to Pamukkale!