One of the best things about not planning the daily activities of a trip in detail ahead of time is the flexibility to make big changes on a whim. From our apartment in Kusadasi, Turkey we can look out and see one of the islands of Greece in the distance. So…why limit our adventure to 5 countries, when we can easily add a 6th? We found a ferry to Samos, Greece and just went for a day trip. The ferry takes about an hour each way so we left first thing in the morning, spent a day wandering around the cute town, and then took the ferry back home. We ended up getting 4 extra stamps in our passports (arrival and departure stamps from both countries)!
While we were in Samos, Ashton enjoyed watching some very large fish swimming in the ultra-clear water near the docks. We then went to a small archeology museum featuring a wide range of antiquities found on this island. We found a charming café in a small park and ate a leisurely lunch there while enjoying the shade (warning…bad dad joke ahead…it is really hot in the grease!). There is not much else to do in this town, so we wandered around a bit soaking up the architecture (which was distinctly different than in Turkey even though we had hardly traveled any distance). We found some ice cream and headed back to the ferry.
For dinner back in Turkey, we found a tiny restaurant (only 2 tables) that was extremely well-rated on Google. It was an “Italian” restaurant, but the cute couple running it are really from Berlin and the food ranged across every food category I could imagine. They have been cooking for 55 years and the food was amazing. I generally don’t love Indian food, so when Ashton ordered a curry pizza, I thought it would be marginal at best but I was VERY wrong. It was game-changing. Easily the best pizza I have had in my life.