At the suggestion of the guest services rep at our Antalya hotel, this morning, we skipped the semi-mediocre buffet breakfast at the Crown Plaza Antalya in favor of breakfast at Robert’s Cafe, large, spacious restaurant with indoor and outdoor dining overlooking the beautiful Mediterranean and lined with mountains. We shared yet another large Turkish style breakfast, fresh juices, coffee, and also some mini pancakes with fresh fruit, honey, and nutella. While enjoying breakfast with the stunning view that made us feel spoiled and extremely lucky, Chris remarked how much the baby growing inside of me must be benefiting from all the extremely fresh food that we’ve been privileged to eat during this trip. I really can’t get enough of the produce here in Turkey. The tomatoes are always extremely juicy, literally bursting in our mouths. The cucumbers are extremely crisp. The strawberries, though teeny tiny in size, beat every single strawberry at Whole Foods in terms of richness of flavor and sweetness.

We went about our day and left the city proper for more ancient Roman ruins at the Aspendos theater, waterfalls (that left something to be desired, honestly, but you can’t win them all, right?), and the quaint little town of Side, where more Roman ruins could be found, along with more restaurants with stunning views and more beach time. Although I truly love urban living, I always wonder how much clearer my lungs would be and how much better my overall health might be if I lived with air this clean, closer to the ocean and the mountains where everything always smells fresher and better.

We ended the day back in the city center, Kaleici, and satiated Chris’s craving for doner kebab. The hospitality here is always hilarious: Chris really wanted beer with his doner, but the place we selected didn’t serve alcohol, so one of the employees accommodated us by seating us elsewhere where there actually was beer to purchase, and then brought over our doner kebab meals to us. He had a plate, and I had a smaller wrap. The meat juices trickled everywhere, and it was a delicious and juicy close to the day.