Rest and back on the road

Our rest day was so awesome! I went riding - just me and the guide. Rode up in the mountains for about 3 hours and then 30 minutes along the beach and in the Aegean - the horses were small and FAT - too many horses in this country are SOOO skinny. I rode Asia, a bay mare with a blaze and "araby" ears. The other mare - "Ice Baby" (pronounciation, not Turkish spelling) was a better racking horse and was the one I rode in the Aegean. Both mares are gaited and smooth. It was fun being just me and the guide, as I rode ahead much of the time. I liked Asia because she would shy at things occasionally and was not a dead-beat horse. It was just so therapeutic for me to spend 4 hours on the back of a horse!
Back at the hotel went swimming at the beach across from the hotel with Abbey, Stacy, and Jeff, then shopping with Abbey and at 7:30 dinner with the group. Had to pack and get ready for an early departure - finally I slept well!
Friday morning we went to Pergamom and explored the acropolis area. Louise talked me into climbing down to the bottom of the theatre -wow! The climb back up was the hard part but the view was so worth it. The are not many reconstructions, but part of the library (dedicated to Cleopatra by Marc Anthony and once the largest in Asia - 200,000 manuscripts in the second century BC) Pergamom is also where parchment was developed and one of the 7 churches of Revelation. After Pergamom and lunch we drove to an island where Greeks and Turks were "swapped" in a population exchange mandated after Turkey became a Republic. Its a rather interesting solution to ethnic tensions - repeated in Kosovo, Macedonia, Armenia, and other places, but so unfortunate. Christians in Turkey were ordered to move to Crete/Greece and Muslems in Greece to move to Turkey. Needless to say the million plus involved did not fare well either in their reception or their economic well-being. We met a 91 year old man who was about 6 when his family had to leave Crete and move to Turkey. He told us about it and about the hardships it presented to his family.
We finally reached our hotel in the quiet resort town of Assos at 8PM - kind of bummed to be in so late as the water here is so clear and calm. Didn't get to swim until nearly dark. Did watch the moon rise though. It is an east facing beach, so I think I will rise early and try for some sunrise pictures.
Tomorrow we will visit the site of ancient Troy, take a ferry through the Dardenelles and into the Marmara Sea and then back to Istanbul. I am going to miss being in the country. I have loved my tour through Western Anatolia!
Saw the cutest little old man and his donkey today while we were at the resettlement site (can't remember the island's or town's name) They were sharing apricots and pretzels. Made me smile.