By the beautiful sea.

On Monday we left Istanbul, headed for four nights in the seaside village of Kaş (pronounced "cash") due south of Istanbul on the "Med". Aside from the driver almost taking us to the wrong airport (Istanbul has two), we arrived in Dalaman after a short flight on Turkish Airlines. We picked up our cars and drove about 2 hours east to Kaş. The drive was mostly along the coast, with huge mountains coming straight up, seemingly right out of the water, to our left. After a particularly twisty, turn-y maze of passages, all alike (let's see how many of you get THAT reference), we made our way onto the Çukurbağ peninsula just outside of the village. The peninsula juts out into the Mediterranean for several kilometers, and has many private villas and small hotels built into the hillside.

Hotel Hadrian is a small, absolutely beautiful hotel. It's built into the hillside with stairs and terraces all down the hill to the sea. The sections of the hotel are built around a terrace with a pool, bar, sitting areas, and an outdoor dining room, with gorgeous flowers growing up the sides of the buildings. We have 3 rooms - one for each set of parents, and one "family room" for all 4 boys. We got the luggage sorted out and I haven't been back to the kids' room since. I am a little afraid of what I will find, so rather than ruin the trip by making a fuss over their mess, I'm staying away until the very end.

It is hot. No two ways about it. Well into the 90s. Little humidity, so you can bear to be outside, but the sun is very strong and it is definitely hot. Janet found a terrace with 4 lounges and big umbrellas, about half way down the hill, and we've planted ourselves there for the past 2 days. The boys have settled into a terrace right above us which has built in couches and a table, and have been playing games, reading, and swimming. Each time we need a dip, we have a difficult decision to make - down to the sea or up to the pool. Life is good...

The sea is definitely cooler (but far from cold) and is just rough enough to make you work if you don't want to drift away. There's no beach - the coast here is very rocky - but there is a big, sturdy ladder going down into the water, and also a spot, maybe 7 or 8 feet up, where you can jump off. The pool is my favorite - it's filled with salt water (a surprise the first time around) and is warm but still feels refreshing when you have been in the hot sun. The best thing about the pool is that you cannot sink - I imagine it's a bit like the Dead Sea. I could float in there for hours - it's effortless - you just tilt your head back and your entire body rises as if some invisible force is pushing it up. No need to tread water - you can literally "sit" in the pool with no effort whatsoever. That's me. Chris can still manage to sink like a stone. I guess this is one time when having some extra body fat is beneficial.

The food is surprisingly good. Breakfast and lunch are included, and they offer very reasonably priced lunches off the menu. Breakfast is the typical buffet - muesli cereal, cocoa puffs (probably not so typical), yogurt, raisins, breads, jams, olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, fruit, delicious apricot and peach nectar. The dinners have been excellent - buffet style, with many, many choices - loads of delicious meze (appetizers) of lentils, beans, salads, smoked eggplant pate (babaganoush, I suppose), tomato salad, etc., main selections of veggies (finally - a more Mediterranean diet), potatoes or rice, some kind of protein. Last night they had whole breaded and lightly fried fish. I have no idea what kind of fish is was - something mild and light - it was outstanding.

Tuesday afternoon Martin and I left the nest and drove into the village of Kaş to check out the local color. Not much going on - some boats in the Marina, typical shops in the middle of town selling suntan lotion, flip flops (which I needed to buy - forgot to pack mine), goggles (also had to buy for the boys), bottled water, snacks, etc. We walked all through the town - it was very hot - past an interesting mosque with a store selling Bosch stuff (not sure exactly what) on the bottom floor, and watermelons outside. In addition to the flip flops and goggles, we bought some fresh almonds (not roasted) which are delicious. There are Lycian tombs built into the hills right above the village - practically in people's backyards. Otherwise, there are restaurants and the ruins of a theater, and not much else. You can book many different boat excursions - to the Greek island of Meis which is just off the coast, to the "sunken city" of Simena (sunk by an earthquake in the 2nd century), scuba diving, and the like, but we've decided that this is the resort part of our vacation and we'll stay put by the pool. There will also be many boating excursions available in Dalyan once we hook up with the Bunnages.