Tuesday, September 30 –

“Vacation from our vacation ” day–no scheduled activities.

I started the day with an early morning run. Usually don’t jog two days in a row, but this town was meant to be explored as the sun rose.

After I finished my 5K, I connected with Dan for a bit of a stroll before breakfast.

This morning, we opted to take the optional boat trip that was offered. We spent a couple of hours sailing along the coastline, stopping for a half hour so everyone could take a swim. Yes, Canaan Street Lake people, I actually went in, and I have the photos to prove it!

Dan and I grabbed lunch at a pub and then spent some time relaxing on the terrace of the hotel in the blissful shade. I did take a bit of a wander around town as sitting still for too long is just not my style, but Dan pretty much just set up camp there for the rest of the day.

Late afternoon brought the answer to yesterday’s cliffhanger. YES, Chris did decide to sign up for the Turkish bath. 11 intrepid tourmates climbed into a van and headed across town for a cultural experience.

And an experience it was. It started out with sitting through three different experiences of heat–hot dog rotisserie, air fryer, ostensibly, this opened our pores. I’m pretty sure you could have fit the Grand Canyon in mine by the end of it.

We then moved on to the scrape and soap portion of the program. That actually wasn’t bad, except it was slightly horrifying to see how much dead skin came off my body. Between that and the sweating, pretty sure I lost 10 pounds.

I finished with a massage, which loosened up the tight muscles in my legs and a sore spot on my shoulder, so I can’t complain about that. It not being hotter than the surface of the sun also helped. I will say, those women in that place do not mess around–this is in no way a spa experience. I did determine that was a career path I would never want to take.

Would I do it again? Nope, I’m pretty sure it’s my one and only. But am I glad I went? I am. It’s never bad to stretch beyond my comfort zone and try something that is unique to an area I am visiting. In good news (for me), there are no pictures of this!

Driving back, there was definitely a comraderie among us for having run the gauntlet. When we got back to the hotel, happy hour commenced, and we had fun regaling the others with our adventures.

Taylan had ordered in some pizzas and brought in wine for us – supposed to just be a snack, but I don’t think anyone left for dinner as the happy “hour” stretched into three. I think everyone enjoyed their “day off,” and this was a perfect denouement.

Tomorrow, back on the road.

23,733 steps

12.6 miles