Day 6 in Turkey, our second day in Bodrum, started with a day trip to the ancient city of Ephesus. This city was under ancient Greek control and was founded in the 10 Century BC! It was about a 2.75 hour drive from the hotel.
The coolest things to see here are the amphitheaters and The Library of Celsus.
The Library:
This was a pretty large complex and there is a lot more to see. The only thing was it was HOT. Make sure you bring a hat and plenty of water. We did not finish the whole thing because of the heat, but I felt like we saw the main parts.
On the way back to the hotel, we were hungry so I gave in to temptation and ate at a mall that was halfway between Ephesus and the hotel. Not my usual first choice but I wanted to cross off a few Turkish dishes off my list that I did not have a chance to try in Istanbul.
The first thing I really wanted to try was kumpir. This is basically a baked potato with an unlimited choice of various toppings:
We also had a Turkish sandwich:
I won’t comment on the meal because I don’t have a benchmark to compare. Further along the way home, I made redemption for my lunch choice by stopping at a random local spot for a cup of Turkish tea.
This redemption would be short lived because temptation would strike again at dinner!…but not before getting in some sunset beach time back at the hotel…
Dinner – Buddah Bar at the hotel –oh the shame! Being too tired to leave the hotel, and craving Asian food, in this case sushi, we decided to have dinner at Buddah Bar. There are Buddah Bars in various locations and this is the third one we have been to. The one in Paris is a nice spot for a drink. The one in Budapest, which we also shamefully ate at, was the worst (in terms of the sushi). This particular one had a nice setting, and actually, OK sushi (I’m not saying it was good, I’m saying that considering where we were, it was acceptable and not terrible like the one in Budapest).
Reluctantly, here is what we ate:
These were actually not that bad…the one with foie gras on top had potential…
…and these had potential too…its hard to go wrong with blue fin tuna…
Because they had potentially good ingredients, and maybe due to too much of the s*&tty sake they had on the menu, a lightbulb went off in my head. I asked if the kitchen could make me a blue fin AND foie gras roll. This is what came out:
I think I was too optimistic with this one. The rice needed a lot of work! Anyway, we had two other random dishes I don’t really remember (but will post anyway) and then called it a night.
So that was Day 6 in Turkey and Day 2 in Bodrum. Tomorrow, I will be back to our regular program and I promise to bring you 2 AMAZING local dining experiences…
I think we all succumb to taking chances on rando spots during travel, can’t plan every single meal. No fault to you, and at least you chose some spots which had a higher chance of success! and, your tactic of blinding your tastebuds to fine flavours with ethanol is acceptable in my opinion – s*&t happens